Hello friends! In this essay, Blake Cesare reflects on the idea of hyperlegibility, or the phenomenon of seekers emphasizing the legibility of their outputs and gravitating toward that which is more easily decoded, understood, and absorbed (from tweets to jobs to VCs and their investment theses).
Cesare notices that we are tripping over ourselves to make ourselves easier to read, sharing more and more of our best ideas that we might have once exploited in silence, and cites examples like Tyler Cowen writing for the AIs and The Great Online Game where players must make themselves hyperlegible to be found.
The concept of hyperlegibility isn’t a new one, and it emerges with game theoretical certainty from our desire to win whatever game it is we’re playing (be it The Great Online Game or otherwise).
Hyperlegibility isn’t good or bad, it’s neither or both, but it certainly is, and in this age where information is no longer precious, those who are hyperlegible run the risk of being cooked by the competition.
In light of this, the question to ask is assuming hyperlegibility, “what do I do?
