This is one of the greatest displays of the creative process I've seen. John Mayer perfectly demonstrates something that many of my favorite artists all say: You become creative by creating. "You just keep going 'til you get something," Mayer says/sings. "You gotta keep forcing it, forcing it, forcing it…it doesn’t matter [what comes out of your mind/mouth].” Dr. Andrew Huberman talks about how the brain circuits that turn on before those involved in creativity are of the stress system. I've heard him use 3 analogies to explain this. 1) It’s like you have to wade through sewage before you can swim in clear water. 2) It’s like when you try to lift your max on the bench press—it takes time to work up to that weight. 3) It’s like your best creative work is on the other side of a door at the top of a staircase—it takes time and effort to get up the stairs and through that door. In other words, Dr. Huberman says, you become more creative the more you create. Many artists talk similarly about what Mayer refers to in the clip as "ouija boarding" (just sort of spitting out words and sounds). John Legend says his songs start with what he calls “the mumble track.” “It’s just me humming and mumbling nonsense,” he said. Judd Apatow says his movie scripts are all a product of the Down-Up theory: “Get the ideas DOWN then fix them UP.” “Give yourself permission to suck," Judd says. "Anything goes. Just get something down.” Even if it’s nonsense, he says. Keep forcing it, forcing it, forcing it. - - - Before I started writing online, I told Ryan Holiday I was just waiting to know for certain what I wanted to write about. “Just start," he said. "You’re trying to map out the whole 9 innings. Just throw the first pitch…You’re better off starting imperfectly than being paralyzed by the delusion of perfection.” Rather than being paralyzed by the delusion that creativity comes to you, you're better off "forcing it, forcing it, forcing it," as Mayer said. "Go get it from the universe." Follow @bpoppenheimer for more content like this!

Important discovery for SIDS (infant deaths): biospace.com/article/researc…

War is coming to Europe. The U.S. was sucked into European wars twice in the 20th C. Here’s my read, with @DomCruzBus, on how we mitigate the risks to U.S. national security. The Day After Russia Attacks | Foreign Affairs foreignaffairs.com/articles/…

We will all start to opt-in for ads [read: personalized experiences]. Artificial intelligence will make personalization so damn incredible that opting out will be the equivalent going to a restaurant and getting served a random dish. 5/10

"While three-quarters of U.S. advertisers told us in April that they felt prepared to address the end of cookies, only 40% of them had already audited their reliance on third-party data and estimated the business impact of elimination." ow.ly/8pNF50Fxykt

For most organisms, decapitation is a harsh conclusion to life. Not for this sea slug. The creature separated its head from its body—and then dragged itself around to feed. So, uh, how and why? Here are science’s best guesses 1/ wired.trib.al/wBg129U

The news is Gouda! Research shows eating cheese has essentially no effect on weight gain. wired.trib.al/W7OJE2Q

Here's some footage (with sound!) from the surface of another planet, and you're just gonna scroll past it without even noticing to continue looking at memes, aren't you