Cal Newport
Computer science professor at Georgetown University and author of Deep Work, Digital Minimalism and Slow Productivity; writes about focus, technology and work at calnewport.com and hosts the Deep Questions podcast.
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What they believe
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Handing all code production to AI leaves junior developers with no path to becoming senior ones.
In addition to reliability issues, it often engenders a mind-numbing workflow and an environment where junior developers will never acquire the expertise to become senior developers capable of designing complex systems.
calnewport.comSaid 10 Aug 2026This on korrents
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Human rights, logic, progress and the very idea of an independent self are all children of the written word.
essentially every cultural attribute that we celebrate – from human rights, to logic, to progress, to the very notion of an independent self – are conceptual children born from the mind-shaping power of the written word.
calnewport.comSaid 13 Jul 2026This on korrents
The bold line is korrents’ wording; the quote is theirs. These 2: what they wrote before what they said aloud, one per source, newest first.
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10 August
From one piece On AI Coding and Its Discontents 3 beliefs · calnewport.com
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Their words
But if you zoom out, it becomes clear that almost every “breakthrough” since last summer has concerned the narrow domains of computer code and math, which are defined by highly structured languages and come accompanied by massive amounts of specialized training data.
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korrents.com
AI is a normal technology rather than an infinity machine, and it is time we started talking about it that way.Their words
It’s a normal technology, and perhaps it’s time we start talking about it that way.
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korrents.com
Handing all code production to AI leaves junior developers with no path to becoming senior ones.Their words
In addition to reliability issues, it often engenders a mind-numbing workflow and an environment where junior developers will never acquire the expertise to become senior developers capable of designing complex systems.
13 July
From one piece Why Reading Matters 2 beliefs · calnewport.com
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Their words
We should treat highly distracting digital garbage like junk food – something we largely avoid – and purposefully schedule a non-trivial amount of time each day to read, write, and self-reflect, just as we now dedicate time to walking, jogging, and weight lifting.
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korrents.com
Human rights, logic, progress and the very idea of an independent self are all children of the written word.Their words
essentially every cultural attribute that we celebrate – from human rights, to logic, to progress, to the very notion of an independent self – are conceptual children born from the mind-shaping power of the written word.
29 June
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Their words
it’s also true that their impact on our output was never as tremendous or as clear-cut as that of prior innovations, such as the steam engine or the power loom, and that integrating them effectively into the workforce took a long time
13 April
Nothing matches.
Beliefs
Korrents What they believe 17 beliefs — each backed by an exact quote.
Each is a — compiled by korrents.com, not by them: the one-line wordings are korrents', the quotes are theirs.
Recent
Handing all code production to AI leaves junior developers with no path to becoming senior ones.
In addition to reliability issues, it often engenders a mind-numbing workflow and an environment where junior developers will never acquire the expertise to become senior developers capable of designing complex systems.
On AI Coding and Its Discontents Said 10 Aug 2026
AI is a normal technology rather than an infinity machine, and it is time we started talking about it that way.
It’s a normal technology, and perhaps it’s time we start talking about it that way.
On AI Coding and Its Discontents Said 10 Aug 2026
Almost every recent AI breakthrough has been in code and mathematics, the two domains with highly structured languages and huge specialised training sets.
But if you zoom out, it becomes clear that almost every “breakthrough” since last summer has concerned the narrow domains of computer code and math, which are defined by highly structured languages and come accompanied by massive amounts of specialized training data.
On AI Coding and Its Discontents Said 10 Aug 2026
Show 14 more
Human rights, logic, progress and the very idea of an independent self are all children of the written word.
essentially every cultural attribute that we celebrate – from human rights, to logic, to progress, to the very notion of an independent self – are conceptual children born from the mind-shaping power of the written word.
Why Reading Matters Said 13 Jul 2026
Reading should be treated as cognitive fitness: scheduled daily, with distracting digital media avoided the way we avoid junk food.
We should treat highly distracting digital garbage like junk food – something we largely avoid – and purposefully schedule a non-trivial amount of time each day to read, write, and self-reflect, just as we now dedicate time to walking, jogging, and weight lifting.
Why Reading Matters Said 13 Jul 2026
The personal computer made countless individual tasks easier without delivering the productivity gains everyone expected, and AI may go the same way.
it’s also true that their impact on our output was never as tremendous or as clear-cut as that of prior innovations, such as the steam engine or the power loom, and that integrating them effectively into the workforce took a long time
Beware of Productivity Paradoxes Said 29 Jun 2026
Researchers are no longer divided about whether smartphones and social media are bad for children.
But, it’s also now clear that this field is no longer actually divided on the question of whether, generally speaking, smartphones and social media are bad for kids.
An Important New Study on Phones and Kids Said 22 Jun 2025
The precautionary principle now applies to children and phones: little is lost by restricting access and much is likely gained.
Little is lost by preventing a 14-year-old from accessing TikTok or Snapchat, or telling a 10-year-old they cannot have unrestricted access to the internet through their own smartphone, but so much will almost certainly be gained.
An Important New Study on Phones and Kids Said 22 Jun 2025
Life change never comes from one transforming plan; it comes from small adjustments to the life you already have.
One observation that rings true from my experience is that you should resist the urge to try to build a master plan that, once implemented, will transform everything for the better in one dramatic moment.
Cultivating a Deep Life Said 20 Apr 2020
The deep life is the one in which attention goes deliberately to what matters and is not spent on what does not.
I’ve been writing off and on recently about the notion of the deep life, in which you focus with energetic intention on things that really matter, and avoid wasting too much attention on things that don’t.
Cultivating a Deep Life Said 20 Apr 2020
The problem the smartphone was invented to solve is now better solved by other devices, so its place in daily life rests on habit rather than necessity.
The original smartphones solved a real problem: how do I check in on work when away from my office computer? This problem is now better solved by more recent innovations.
Are Smartphones Necessary Anymore? Said 8 Jan 2019
Passion for your work is not something you identify in advance and follow; it is cultivated over time.
But it’s not something that you “follow” (which implies you can identify it in advance). It’s instead something you have to purposefully cultivate over time.
Following Passion is Different than Cultivating Passion Said 29 Aug 2012
Remarkable careers take a remarkably large amount of training.
I like these examples because they remind of a simple truth: remarkable careers take a remarkably large amount of training.
On the Remarkably Long Road to the Remarkable Said 29 Jun 2012
Treating school as a trial to be survived leaves a person unable to say what the postponed life was ever supposed to be.
In other words, when you go through life thinking “if I can make it through this, things will be better later,” you eventually forget what “better” means.
An Open Letter to Students on the Danger of Seeing School as a Trial to Survive Said 27 Aug 2010
A student is judged in the end by how good they are at the one thing they do best, not by the sum of their activities.
These students recognize that they’ll ultimately be judged not by the sum of their contributions to diverse activities, but instead by the magnitude of their ability in the one thing they do best.
An Open Letter to Students on the Danger of Seeing School as a Trial to Survive Said 27 Aug 2010
Doing less and doing it better is worth pursuing as an end in itself, because a life with both freedom and focus is a life well lived.
These students practice the above rules not as a means but as an end: A life with both freedom and focus is a life well-lived.
An Open Letter to Students on the Danger of Seeing School as a Trial to Survive Said 27 Aug 2010
Work that matters requires tolerating discomfort and boredom rather than escaping into distraction.
Exceptional things — be it ideas, writing, mathematics, or art — require hard work. This, in turn, requires boring stretches during which you ignore a mind pleading with you to seek novel stimuli
Have We Lost Our Tolerance For a Little Boredom? Said 4 Feb 2009
Beliefs others hold too
Life change never comes from one transforming plan; it comes from small adjustments to the life you already have. 2 hold this
One observation that rings true from my experience is that you should resist the urge to try to build a master plan that, once implemented, will transform everything for the better in one dramatic moment.
Cultivating a Deep Life Said 20 Apr 2020
Work that matters requires tolerating discomfort and boredom rather than escaping into distraction. 2 hold this
Exceptional things — be it ideas, writing, mathematics, or art — require hard work. This, in turn, requires boring stretches during which you ignore a mind pleading with you to seek novel stimuli
Have We Lost Our Tolerance For a Little Boredom? Said 4 Feb 2009
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Recommends rcmnd
rcmnd What they recommend 15 things — each backed by an exact quote.
Compiled by rcmnd.app, not by them: the quotes are theirs, and each links to the post it was copied from.
Recent
Liked Living with a SEAL
The book was light and fun, but it makes a lot more sense if, like me, you first read Goggin's mega-bestselling memoir, Can't Hurt Me.
calnewport.com 4 Mar 2022
Recommends The Devil's Teeth
I'm a big fan of Susan Casey, who has perfected a style of nature journalism that's built around a narrative of personal adventures. (I recommend you start with The Devil's Teeth.)
calnewport.com 4 Mar 2022
Liked Cathedral of the Wild
I picked up this book after hearing Varty's recent appearance on Tim Ferriss's podcast and I wasn't disappointed.
calnewport.com 4 Mar 2022
Show 12 more
Loved Of Mice and Men
Steinbeck deploys a standard third person omniscient narrative style that avoids all the flash of the modernists, and then postmodernists, that soon after took over the literary scene. But in his hands, it's enough. I still think about the ending.
calnewport.com 4 Mar 2022
Liked The Loop
Science journalist Jacob Ward warns about a future in which AI technology forms a tight cybernetic feedback loop with the biases ingrained into the human brain, pushing our day-to-day existence in frightening directions. It's sort of like a version of The Terminator in which Danny Kahneman plays a starring role. As longtime readers and listeners of mine know, a big theme in my techno-criticism is the under-appreciated degree to which technologies exert powerful, unintended consequences on our personhood and culture, so Ward's warning hits a sweet spot with me.
calnewport.com 4 Mar 2022
Liked Hero On a Mission
I found myself unexpectedly (and perhaps dangerously) inspired by Miller's discussion of the 15-acre plot of land he and his wife bought outside Nashville, where they're carefully cultivating the forest, planting extensive gardens, and organizing retreats.
calnewport.com 11 Jan 2022
Mixed on When the Lion Feeds
It's definitely a book of its time (it was first published in the 1960s), but it introduces plot and style conventions that echoed throughout many adventure titles that followed.
calnewport.com 11 Jan 2022
Loved The World-Ending Fire
After years of people recommending him to me, I finally took the plunge into the literary world of Wendell Berry. Now I can't help but wonder what took me so long. This 2018 collection of Berry's best essays is a fantastic introduction into his genre-defining polemic style, which mixes razor-sharp commentary with a poetry grounded in lived experience, to argue on behalf of land, the environment, and a slower, richer approach to life.
calnewport.com 11 Jan 2022
Read In Praise of Slowness
This book, published in 2004, provides a journalistic account of the various offshoots of the "slow food" movement that originally began in Rome in the 1980s.
calnewport.com 11 Jan 2022
Liked How Star Wars Conquered the Universe
Though this book frequently digresses into discussions of the cultural impact of the Star Wars franchise, it also contains one of the most thoroughly-researched biographies of Lucas currently available.
calnewport.com 11 Jan 2022
What others say about How Star Wars Conquered the Universe →
Liked Number: The Language of Science
Though the book perhaps gets a little too math-ey by the end (and this is coming from someone who is literally teaching discrete mathematics to university students at the moment), Dantzig provides a compelling overview of what we mean when we talk about "numbers," and why this is a question that we must repeatedly keep re-visiting.
calnewport.com 3 Dec 2021
Liked Future Ethics
Bowles' 2018 book provides a useful survey of the various problems tackled by this nascent field, and the frameworks that have emerged to tackle them.
calnewport.com 3 Dec 2021
Mixed on K: A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches
As you might expect from a Times reporter, the writing craft is superb. As someone who came to baseball relatively late (my twenties), however, I occasionally found myself drowning in repeated references to players I didn't recognize.
calnewport.com 3 Dec 2021
What others say about K: A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches →
Read Steven Spielberg: A Biography
My key takeaway from the book: Spielberg, for reasons that McBride can never quite nail down, was capital-D driven. His story provides a master class in the potential of mixing relentless ambition, talent, and perfect timing.
calnewport.com 3 Dec 2021
Loved Relic
One of the best thrillers of the 1990s. I re-read this book in honor of Halloween this year (but didn't finish until November) and was pleased to find that it held up.
calnewport.com 3 Dec 2021
Where they publish
Site calnewport.com His blog and book site, covering focus, technology and work.
Recent
- The Good Thing About Hard Things 19 Oct 2026 A new research paper titled “AI Assistance Reduces Persistence and Hurts Independent Performance,” which was recently presented at the Conference on Language Modeling, has been ...
- It’s Time to Investigate the AI Labs 28 Sept 2026 Over the last several months, the two leading frontier AI labs have shown some brazen behavior. It started with a series of carefully planned announcements ...
- Superintelligence is a Fairy Tale. But Chasing It Can Still Cause Harm. 10 Sept 2026 Yesterday, multiple Anthropic employees casually announced online that they thought the types of AI they’re building could kill billions of people. Not in some distant ...
Show 5 more
- Anthropic Just Threatened to Kill Billions of People. This Is Not Okay. 9 Sept 2026 Yesterday, Jacob Coxon, an Anthropic engineer, resigned. As he explained on X: “[OpenAI and Anthropic] are racing straight to self-improving superintelligence and gambling with our ...
- Wendell Berry and the Promise of the Deep Life 7 Sept 2026 Wendell Berry died last week at 92 at his home in Port Royal, Kentucky, where he farmed his land using traditional techniques and wrote with ...
- Are We at War with AI Agent “Civilizations”? 31 Aug 2026 I thought I was done talking about the OpenAI hacking attack from July, but I was wrong. Last week, OpenAI released more details about the ...
- Has AI Gone Rogue? 24 Aug 2026 The AI story of the summer should probably be the uncertain financial position of the AI labs hoping to launch record-breaking IPOs shortly. Technology news, ...
- On AI Coding and Its Discontents 10 Aug 2026 Back in January, I received a note from a senior software engineer in Silicon Valley. He described himself as an AI skeptic who became converted ...
Link verified 5 Sept 2026. Recent items update automatically from the channel.
YouTube youtube.com/calnewportmedia Video feed of his Deep Questions podcast.
Recent
Link verified 5 Sept 2026. Recent items update automatically from the channel.
Podcast Deep Questions with Cal Newport Hosts the Deep Questions with Cal Newport podcast.
Recent
- Ep. 400: Should I Embrace “Slow Technology”? 13 Apr 2026
Link verified 25 Sept 2026. Recent items update automatically from the channel.
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