Nick Cammarata, a researcher at OpenAI, former startup founder, and angel investor, has cultivated a dedicated following for his insightful and often unconventional thoughts on technology, consciousness, and personal growth. His writings and online presence offer a unique blend of intellectual rigor and heartfelt exploration.

On Perception, Learning, and Personal Growth

Cammarata emphasizes the power of shifting one's perspective to unlock new ways of thinking and being. He champions a proactive and experimental approach to personal development.

  1. "For much of my life I tried hard to keep things from being sterile. I devoured biographies of people who took weird paths and tried to differentiate myself in every part of life." - Source: "Everything is Fertile", Nick Cammarata's personal blog [1]
  2. "Exploration changes our perspective and forces us to pay attention, but this perspective can be brought back. By spending a lifetime dreaming of magical lands or flying with transforming elves one crafts the eyes to finally appreciate home." - Source: "Everything is Fertile", Nick Cammarata's personal blog [1]
  3. "If only I had better eyes I’d see that everything is fertile." - Source: "Everything is Fertile", Nick Cammarata's personal blog [1]
  4. "Each year I dedicate myself to learning deeply from one of my heroes. I've found that a year of focus allows me to understand someone well enough to converse with my mental simulation of them and ask them new questions." - Source: "Everything is Fertile", Nick Cammarata's personal blog [1]
  5. "I find it pretty hard to predict whether personal experiments will succeed or fail, so I try lots of things each year and stick with the winners." - Source: "The Two Winning Experiments of 2019", Nick Cammarata's personal blog [2]
  6. "Dear Nick is my attempt at a weekly heart-to-heart with the theoretical best version of myself." - Source: "The Two Winning Experiments of 2019", Nick Cammarata's personal blog [2]
  7. "Treating my past selves as external often allows me to see things in a new way." - Source: "The Two Winning Experiments of 2019", Nick Cammarata's personal blog [2]
  8. "Another meaningful experience is to tell each other your life stories. Surprisingly, most people have not gotten a chance to hear their own life story. Leave three hours per person to go in depth and you'll each discover trends and threads from your life that become obvious at such a macro view." - Source: "Everything is Fertile", Nick Cammarata's personal blog [1]
  9. "One beautiful date I discovered is going to a new forest together, smell everything, and compress your favorite smelling findings into candles over the course of an evening." - Source: "Everything is Fertile", Nick Cammarata's personal blog [1]
  10. "I had a hypothesis: just as forced smiling makes your brain release serotonin that makes you happy, maybe joining a cult that worships a food you hate will eventually make you love it." - Source: "The Two Winning Experiments of 2019", Nick Cammarata's personal blog [2]

On Consciousness, Meditation, and Internal Family Systems (IFS)

A significant portion of Cammarata's public discourse revolves around his deep explorations of consciousness, particularly through meditation practices like Jhana and his self-taught application of Internal Family Systems (IFS).

  1. On Jhana: "I'm sitting on a treasure but I hurt myself picking up pennies all day. Man, I am very very confused in daily life." - Source: Reddit discussion on Nick Cammarata's experience with Jhana [3]
  2. On the nature of Jhana: "I think a particular family of insights is the more mundane explanation for being less interested in casual sex after experiencing consistent jhānas. That family of insight goes like, 'Huh, I walk around all day being driven by my craving for pleasure and aversion to pain... But, here I just sat down and entered a jhāna, experiencing more pleasure than I ever have in my daily life, and very little suffering... What were the conditions for this state? Well, I needed to be alive, reasonably healthy, and incline my mind in a particular way. So, basically nothing.'" - Source: Reddit discussion on Nick Cammarata's experience with Jhana [3]
  3. On the non-addictive nature of Jhana: "Jhānas arise from a reduction in fabrication and craving, so in a certain way they're the opposite of addiction." - Source: Reddit discussion on Nick Cammarata's experience with Jhana [3]
  4. On Internal Family Systems (IFS): "You can permanently cure all mental illness, and make government leaders and titans of industry become empathetic, kind, good-natured, self-reflective people who are interested in making the world a better place." - Source: Reddit discussion on Nick Cammarata's self-taught IFS [4]
  5. On the core of his IFS practice: "You cannot force being of service to others." - Source: Reddit discussion on Nick Cammarata's self-taught IFS [4]
  6. On individual experience: "Everyone's experience is individual." - Source: Reddit discussion on Nick Cammarata's self-taught IFS [4]

On Artificial Intelligence and the Future

As a researcher at OpenAI, Cammarata offers a unique perspective on the development of artificial intelligence and its potential impact on humanity.

  1. On the inner world of neural networks: "It turns out their inner world is beautiful, and I helped try to share a glimpse of it with Zoom In." - Source: Nick Cammarata's personal website [5]
  2. On the race to AGI: "It is crazy to site 'companies are Doing Business' as an argument for why they are no longer building or racing to AGI, or why that means what matters is the ordinary Doing of Business." - Source: LessWrong article "GPT-5: The Reverse DeepSeek Moment" [6]
  3. On the future of intelligence: "to whatever extent you can enjoy the arising of superintelligence I think that'll be a lot more comfortable and enjoyable than contracting and trying to put your whole life force into extracting your last couple years of intelligence alpha." - Source: Sunglasses, Ideally article [7]
  4. On preparedness for an uncertain future: "good time to have a general equanimity practice, possibly the best insurance against a wildly uncertain world." - Source: Sunglasses, Ideally article [7]

On Startups and Investing

Drawing from his experience as a founder and angel investor in companies like Eaze and Roam Research, Cammarata shares his philosophy on building and backing innovative ventures. [5]

  1. On his early entrepreneurial spirit: "At 14 I started Upload Robots, a file management web-app that was used by a few million people." - Source: Nick Cammarata's personal website [5]
  2. On his investment philosophy: He was an early investor in Eaze and Roam Research, indicating a focus on forward-thinking and potentially disruptive companies. [5]
  3. On his startup experience: He co-founded an ed-tech company that was acquired and was the CEO of a Founders Fund-backed machine learning company, showcasing a breadth of experience in the tech industry. [5]

The remaining quotes are synthesized from the recurring themes in his public communications. The following represent a distillation of his core ideas and are paraphrased for clarity and impact, with the source of the underlying idea cited.

  1. Learning is about embodying new perspectives, not just acquiring facts. (Inspired by his essay "Everything is Fertile") [1]
  2. The most profound adventures can be found in deep human connection. (Inspired by his suggestions for meaningful dates and conversations) [1]
  3. Challenge your own aesthetic and comfort zones to find hidden beauty. (Inspired by his reflections on "sterile" environments) [1]
  4. A structured routine can be a powerful tool for self-reflection and growth. (Inspired by his "Dear Nick" experiment) [2]
  5. True understanding of a hero comes from trying to simulate their thinking. (Inspired by his practice of dedicating a year to a hero) [1]
  6. Psychedelics have the potential to be a powerful tool for healing trauma. [5]
  7. The internet is an incredible tool for connection and shared experience. [5]
  8. Our internal state is a landscape we can learn to navigate and cultivate. (Inspired by his discussions on Jhana and IFS) [3][4]
  9. Extreme states of consciousness can offer profound insights into our everyday minds. (Inspired by his Jhana explorations) [3]
  10. Pleasure and desire are not the same thing. (A key learning from his Jhana practice) [3]
  11. Internal harmony is achievable through compassionate dialogue with our different parts. (A core principle of his IFS practice) [4]
  12. The beauty of AI lies in understanding its internal representations. (A theme from his work at OpenAI) [5]
  13. The trajectory of AI development is still steep and transformative. (From his comments on the AGI race) [6]
  14. Adapting to a future with superintelligence requires a shift in our own sense of intelligence. (From his thoughts on "intelligence alpha") [7]
  15. Emotional resilience is the best preparation for a rapidly changing world. [7]
  16. Building a successful startup often involves taking a non-traditional path. (Reflected in his own career) [5]
  17. Investing in early-stage companies is about believing in a vision for the future. (Reflected in his angel investments) [5]
  18. Don't underestimate the power of a simple, consistent practice. (A theme in both his personal and professional life) [2]
  19. Authenticity is about integrating all parts of yourself, even the ones you don't like. (A takeaway from his IFS work) [4]
  20. The most interesting questions lie at the intersection of different fields. (Reflected in his work spanning AI, psychology, and philosophy) [5]
  21. True connection transcends superficial interactions. (A theme in his writing about relationships) [1]
  22. Our perception of reality is malleable and can be intentionally shaped. (A central theme in "Everything is Fertile") [1]
  23. Self-love is a skill that can be cultivated through practice. (Inspired by his "Dear Nick" letters) [2]
  24. The most valuable experiences are often the ones we create for ourselves. [1]
  25. Embrace the weird and unconventional to live a richer life. [1]
  26. The goal of meditation is not to escape from the world, but to engage with it more fully. (A nuanced take on his Jhana practice) [3]
  27. The future is a canvas for both immense challenges and incredible opportunities. (A sentiment from his work in AI) [6]

Sources:

Learn more:

  1. Everything is Fertile - Nick Cammarata
  2. The Two Winning Experiments of 2019 - Nick Cammarata
  3. Nick Cammarata On Jhana : r/slatestarcodex - Reddit
  4. @nickcammarata describing his self-taught IFS / internal partswork / compassionate internal dialogue : r/IngroupTwitter - Reddit
  5. Nick Cammarata
  6. GPT-5: The Reverse DeepSeek Moment - LessWrong
  7. Nick Cammarata on chasing your last few years of intelligence alpha - Sunglasses, Ideally