Interests are like lines on an infinite plane, extending across a never ending spectrum. Since interests are infinite too that means that the infinite plane is covered in a web of interest lines, many of which intersect with some point on other interests, but also many of which don't intersect at all.
Any interest that a particular individual holds will fall on some point along the line or spectrum of the specific interest as will everyone else who holds the same interest.
The main assertion that I want to convey is that although many people may hold the same interest, I think a variety of factors will influence and determine where they fall along the spectrum of that interest and thus will change their relationship - or lack thereof - to other interests.
2018년 8월 18일 토요일
Thoughtfulness: An Emergent Global Trend
Thoughtfulness has been a key feature of the commenters on avc.com and Hacker News now for around a decade. But their numbers have been relatively tiny compared to the overall readership (I am making an assumption that what's true on avc.com is true on HN, so I could be wrong, but I don't think that's the case).
Podcasts in particular have arisen as the gold standard of thoughtful discourse and conversation, and in my opinion are the single greatest contributing factor to what appears to be the global spread of thoughtfulness. That said, the number of people who listen to podcasts has been growing, but the percentage of people who listen to podcasts regularly is still very low.
I'm not sure I've read or heard anyone speak of thoughtfulness as a trend or trait. I've only seen it mentioned to either describe an individual team's approach to business or as an ideal for how users should behave.
To me though, thoughtfulness appears to be an elevated, evolved philosophy of living. It is the key to all problems, not because it's a solution, but because it allows for the solution to be sought after to begin with, then found, discussed and agreed upon.
Thoughtful people are emerging more and more. And they are impacting many more. But their numbers are still small. Imagine though, what would become possible if something allowed for thoughtful people to create strong bonds *and* encouraged many more people to live thoughtfully...
Podcasts in particular have arisen as the gold standard of thoughtful discourse and conversation, and in my opinion are the single greatest contributing factor to what appears to be the global spread of thoughtfulness. That said, the number of people who listen to podcasts has been growing, but the percentage of people who listen to podcasts regularly is still very low.
I'm not sure I've read or heard anyone speak of thoughtfulness as a trend or trait. I've only seen it mentioned to either describe an individual team's approach to business or as an ideal for how users should behave.
To me though, thoughtfulness appears to be an elevated, evolved philosophy of living. It is the key to all problems, not because it's a solution, but because it allows for the solution to be sought after to begin with, then found, discussed and agreed upon.
Thoughtful people are emerging more and more. And they are impacting many more. But their numbers are still small. Imagine though, what would become possible if something allowed for thoughtful people to create strong bonds *and* encouraged many more people to live thoughtfully...
2018년 8월 17일 금요일
Re-thinking *Everything*
Nothing is sacred anymore.
'Sacredness' used to denote pockets of culture, groups, or actions that were off limits from thinking and questioning.
The 'sacred' period of human history has thankfully passed us by and hasn't been dominant for centuries, but innumerable relics installed during that period still remain.
Many of those relics, such as the Catholic church for example, continue on relatively unchecked, unchanged and un-thought allowing their negative, rotten elements to continue to wreak havoc on those that are in it's wake.
The solution is not to thoughtlessly exterminate such 'sacred' relics from this world. We can't even be sure that positing that there should be a solution is correct.
Instead, growing and cultivating individual and collective thoughtfulness is the most important counter we can establish to protect ourselves before beginning the process of questioning and re-thinking *everything*.
'Sacredness' used to denote pockets of culture, groups, or actions that were off limits from thinking and questioning.
The 'sacred' period of human history has thankfully passed us by and hasn't been dominant for centuries, but innumerable relics installed during that period still remain.
Many of those relics, such as the Catholic church for example, continue on relatively unchecked, unchanged and un-thought allowing their negative, rotten elements to continue to wreak havoc on those that are in it's wake.
The solution is not to thoughtlessly exterminate such 'sacred' relics from this world. We can't even be sure that positing that there should be a solution is correct.
Instead, growing and cultivating individual and collective thoughtfulness is the most important counter we can establish to protect ourselves before beginning the process of questioning and re-thinking *everything*.
2018년 7월 11일 수요일
Via Negativa
A subtraction that stimulates a positive reaction.
That elegant little concept (paradoxically) provides so much food for thought...
That elegant little concept (paradoxically) provides so much food for thought...
2018년 7월 10일 화요일
Germinating Ideas
New ideas are like seeds. You can try to plant a raw seed of an idea into the soil of open social discourse, but your chances of it taking root in conversation are slim.
You could try to germinate your idea: Talk about it, in short bursts, consistently over a period of time. Then when you see roots emerge you can pot it amongst a small group of like minded thinkers. Water it daily with conversation.
If it is a viable idea, it'll sprout in each of the minds of those in your small group.
The next step is when you think it'll be ready to go outdoors and get introduced to the world🌱
2018년 6월 22일 금요일
Parties & Opportunity Costs
"It's always good to go to a party because the opportunity cost is low and the return could be high."
~ Nassim Nicholas Taleb
2018년 5월 31일 목요일
Dialogues on Cent
I got into a nice little dialogue over the past few days with @Chevcheli0s, a fellow Centian, in the sub-comments of his reponse to a bounty [here] that was soliciting topics from Centians that they want to see discussed on Cent.
The dialogue sprung out of a tongue-in-cheek response from @Chevcheli0s where he jokingly posted:
Below I have copied our dialogue in full because it highlights just a taste of the best of what Cent has to offer.
@matthew:
"I wonder though, how would the Centian army actually respond... My money would be on a saner conversation than is possible over in the States though. @Chevcheli0s you think it'd break Cent?"
@Chevcheli0s:
"It very well may break Cent. At best, it would turn off a percentage of people and cause them never to return again. Religion and Politics are 2 areas where people are, generally speaking, unwavering in their beliefs. To oppose them is to oppose everything a person holds dear."
@matthew:
"Yeah I agree that politics and religion are the most powerful examples of beliefs that once held make individuals almost gleefully ignorant and dismissive of any "other" beliefs and the people that believe them. And in general, at least in this current zeitgeist that we find ourselves living within, I'm not sure if there's anything as thought-provoking as the fact that reading, listening to, and considering *other* opinions, beliefs and viewpoints is becoming even more uncommon and fraught with risk.
Unfortunately I think a lot of people attribute this fact to a growing ignorance and indifference of those groups of "others" who believe or act differently than themselves.
But if you think a little more, why should people care about something they don't believe in anyways? There is certainly no immediate incentive to care, and if there is a long-term incentive, it's so bloody far away as to be rendered meaningless.
I think that if you want others to care about different opinions and viewpoints, you're going to have to pay them to do so.
Up until now (literally up until Cent was launched) that was an immposible thing to do. But on Cent, I think it may be possible to pay people to, at least for a short period of time, care about something else and pay deeper attention to it then they probably ever would have otherwise. That'a why I think bringing up politics or religion *on Cent* won't break it since people will literally have an incentive to consider the "other" side."
@Chevcheli0s:
"That actually is a very very very brilliant point. I didn’t consider it that way. I always wondered what the goal of Cent was or how it would make money long term but that explains it. And I think you’re 100% right in your thinking."
The dialogue sprung out of a tongue-in-cheek response from @Chevcheli0s where he jokingly posted:
Below I have copied our dialogue in full because it highlights just a taste of the best of what Cent has to offer.
@matthew:
"I wonder though, how would the Centian army actually respond... My money would be on a saner conversation than is possible over in the States though. @Chevcheli0s you think it'd break Cent?"
@Chevcheli0s:
"It very well may break Cent. At best, it would turn off a percentage of people and cause them never to return again. Religion and Politics are 2 areas where people are, generally speaking, unwavering in their beliefs. To oppose them is to oppose everything a person holds dear."
@matthew:
"Yeah I agree that politics and religion are the most powerful examples of beliefs that once held make individuals almost gleefully ignorant and dismissive of any "other" beliefs and the people that believe them. And in general, at least in this current zeitgeist that we find ourselves living within, I'm not sure if there's anything as thought-provoking as the fact that reading, listening to, and considering *other* opinions, beliefs and viewpoints is becoming even more uncommon and fraught with risk.
Unfortunately I think a lot of people attribute this fact to a growing ignorance and indifference of those groups of "others" who believe or act differently than themselves.
But if you think a little more, why should people care about something they don't believe in anyways? There is certainly no immediate incentive to care, and if there is a long-term incentive, it's so bloody far away as to be rendered meaningless.
I think that if you want others to care about different opinions and viewpoints, you're going to have to pay them to do so.
Up until now (literally up until Cent was launched) that was an immposible thing to do. But on Cent, I think it may be possible to pay people to, at least for a short period of time, care about something else and pay deeper attention to it then they probably ever would have otherwise. That'a why I think bringing up politics or religion *on Cent* won't break it since people will literally have an incentive to consider the "other" side."
@Chevcheli0s:
"That actually is a very very very brilliant point. I didn’t consider it that way. I always wondered what the goal of Cent was or how it would make money long term but that explains it. And I think you’re 100% right in your thinking."
2018년 4월 11일 수요일
The Podcast of Our Generation
I have just finished re-listening to what will probably go down as the defining podcast of our generation: the show down between Sam Harris and Ezra Klein about Sam's controversial podcast with Charles Murray.
Although I am a fan of both and listen to nearly every podcast that pops up on their respective podcast feeds, I want to make it clear that I listened to this particular podcast on Sam's feed.
I'm sure many listeners were disappointed with what turned out to be a stillborn debate that didn't really make it past the opening gates of discussion, but I was fucking riveted from start to finish.
What was most interesting to me was Ezra's refusal to separately consider the scientific study an individual has carried out (that is by now commonly accepted in mainstream science) from their social policy views.
Ezra believes the two sides are interminably connected to one another and cannot be separated.
It was this fundamental difference in thinking that prevented a deeper discussion with Sam from unfolding. It should be noted that Sam, like Ezra, stated multiple times he is not in agreement with Charles on his social policies.
That said, Sam repeatedly pleaded with Ezra to get him to see that the scientific issue and the social issue at hand should be discussed as two entirely distinct, separate matters.
Sam was doing so because it's the only way one can hope to have a rational, dispassionate debate of the facts at hand without having worry about running into the wall of your interlocutor's personal politics regarding a particular social matter.
This reminds me of the furor that erupts whenever anyone broaches the name or thoughts of Martin Heidegger.
As with Murray, most seem to accept that Heidegger's private, personal views (as well as his membership, however short and tenuous, with the Nazi party) have fundamentally polluted the man's entire philosophical thought and writing and therefore believe that the latter should be shunned and avoided and anyone who says otherwise is at best a Nazi sympathizer.
The ability to see that two thoughts aren't one and the same and to deal with each as such - this is the defining trait of a thinker. Unfortunately, there was only one person truly thinking in this podcast.
Although I am a fan of both and listen to nearly every podcast that pops up on their respective podcast feeds, I want to make it clear that I listened to this particular podcast on Sam's feed.
I'm sure many listeners were disappointed with what turned out to be a stillborn debate that didn't really make it past the opening gates of discussion, but I was fucking riveted from start to finish.
What was most interesting to me was Ezra's refusal to separately consider the scientific study an individual has carried out (that is by now commonly accepted in mainstream science) from their social policy views.
Ezra believes the two sides are interminably connected to one another and cannot be separated.
It was this fundamental difference in thinking that prevented a deeper discussion with Sam from unfolding. It should be noted that Sam, like Ezra, stated multiple times he is not in agreement with Charles on his social policies.
That said, Sam repeatedly pleaded with Ezra to get him to see that the scientific issue and the social issue at hand should be discussed as two entirely distinct, separate matters.
Sam was doing so because it's the only way one can hope to have a rational, dispassionate debate of the facts at hand without having worry about running into the wall of your interlocutor's personal politics regarding a particular social matter.
This reminds me of the furor that erupts whenever anyone broaches the name or thoughts of Martin Heidegger.
As with Murray, most seem to accept that Heidegger's private, personal views (as well as his membership, however short and tenuous, with the Nazi party) have fundamentally polluted the man's entire philosophical thought and writing and therefore believe that the latter should be shunned and avoided and anyone who says otherwise is at best a Nazi sympathizer.
The ability to see that two thoughts aren't one and the same and to deal with each as such - this is the defining trait of a thinker. Unfortunately, there was only one person truly thinking in this podcast.
2018년 4월 10일 화요일
Habits: Future Actions
Habits are the result of decisions about how to do something made long ago that have dissolved into all subsequent actions in the future.
You don't think about how you will tie your shoes or brush your teeth anymore (usually) - it's already been decided in advance, by you.
For simple actions, like attaching a roll of toilet paper next to the toilet, there are only two possible actions: right and wrong.
I attach toilet paper the right way.
My wife on the other hand does it the wrong way.
Joking aside, thinking deeply about what habits guide our actions throughout the day can be enlightening. Becoming deeply, fundamentally aware of everything is a good look for life.
Beyond that, becoming aware of our habits opens up the possibility of improving exisiting habits or developing even better habits. So there is still hope that my wife will make the right choice the next time the toilet paper runs out for her.
You don't think about how you will tie your shoes or brush your teeth anymore (usually) - it's already been decided in advance, by you.
For simple actions, like attaching a roll of toilet paper next to the toilet, there are only two possible actions: right and wrong.
I attach toilet paper the right way.
[The Right Way]
My wife on the other hand does it the wrong way.
[The Wrong Way]
Joking aside, thinking deeply about what habits guide our actions throughout the day can be enlightening. Becoming deeply, fundamentally aware of everything is a good look for life.
Beyond that, becoming aware of our habits opens up the possibility of improving exisiting habits or developing even better habits. So there is still hope that my wife will make the right choice the next time the toilet paper runs out for her.
2018년 3월 29일 목요일
Dream Fast, Write Slowly
Make haste slowly
There is something just so perfectly zen about this saying. It's derived from the Latinate motto 'festina lente' which in turn came from a Greek saying.
This saying literally carries wisdom through the ages, not too fast and not too slowly.
It also pretty much encapsulates this blog, and more specifically my writings and musings on the future of the internet, beta.cent.co.
Since first reading about Cent back in early November, my day dreams and fantasies about the site have always raced ahead of my writings, whose frequency have never really broken more than a brisk stroll.
The imaginative energy and stimulation from my fantastic thoughts have provided the perfect amount of inspiration and clarity to write simple, deep and thoughtful pieces.
I have achieved the ultimate equilibrium whereby I have managed to balance the fantastical with the repetitively subdued resulting in a constantly replenishing pool of daily creativity.
Now it's time to work towards those dreams, and get paid.
Not too fast, but not too slowly. That's how I'll keep on keeping on.
There is something just so perfectly zen about this saying. It's derived from the Latinate motto 'festina lente' which in turn came from a Greek saying.
This saying literally carries wisdom through the ages, not too fast and not too slowly.
It also pretty much encapsulates this blog, and more specifically my writings and musings on the future of the internet, beta.cent.co.
Since first reading about Cent back in early November, my day dreams and fantasies about the site have always raced ahead of my writings, whose frequency have never really broken more than a brisk stroll.
The imaginative energy and stimulation from my fantastic thoughts have provided the perfect amount of inspiration and clarity to write simple, deep and thoughtful pieces.
I have achieved the ultimate equilibrium whereby I have managed to balance the fantastical with the repetitively subdued resulting in a constantly replenishing pool of daily creativity.
Now it's time to work towards those dreams, and get paid.
Not too fast, but not too slowly. That's how I'll keep on keeping on.
2018년 3월 28일 수요일
Bounty Basics Part 2 - Just Cent It
*This is the fourth post in a series of how-to guides introducing and explaining some of the foundational features and functions of beta.cent.co*
What should I Cent?
Anything. Yep, anything you can think of.
If you've ever posted anything on one of those old, stale, staid social networks and gotten no love back or are craving something more than lazy 'likes', hollow 'hearts', or condescending claps, try Centing those thoughts next time - it'll change everything.
After you click on the '+' symbol in the top-right corner of beta.cent.co, jot your thought down in the title space and color in a bit of context in the description space so that Centians can know if you are looking for a conversation, a specific answer, action or something else and respond accordingly.
Since a bounty is attached to your Cent, many may understandably think they need to ask for something - which also happens to be an amazingly powerful use case for Centing - but that is not necessary.
You can say anything on Cent, and in return Centians give their two cents.
The power of the Cent network is the ability to activate unique insights and harness a staggering spread of sensibilities - the *Centience* of the network - that each Centian has to offer.
It may be a little too early to be so punny, if so I apologize.
So if you have a need or have anything to say - from crowd sourcing active responses, or figuring out what book you should read next, or what the best philosophical mode of living is, to getting your thesis or paper edited and reviewed, or simply want to crowd source ways to improve the Cent site that you are so passionate about - just Cent it.
Now go, stay Centient, and keep Centing.
What should I Cent?
Anything. Yep, anything you can think of.
If you've ever posted anything on one of those old, stale, staid social networks and gotten no love back or are craving something more than lazy 'likes', hollow 'hearts', or condescending claps, try Centing those thoughts next time - it'll change everything.
After you click on the '+' symbol in the top-right corner of beta.cent.co, jot your thought down in the title space and color in a bit of context in the description space so that Centians can know if you are looking for a conversation, a specific answer, action or something else and respond accordingly.
Since a bounty is attached to your Cent, many may understandably think they need to ask for something - which also happens to be an amazingly powerful use case for Centing - but that is not necessary.
You can say anything on Cent, and in return Centians give their two cents.
The power of the Cent network is the ability to activate unique insights and harness a staggering spread of sensibilities - the *Centience* of the network - that each Centian has to offer.
It may be a little too early to be so punny, if so I apologize.
So if you have a need or have anything to say - from crowd sourcing active responses, or figuring out what book you should read next, or what the best philosophical mode of living is, to getting your thesis or paper edited and reviewed, or simply want to crowd source ways to improve the Cent site that you are so passionate about - just Cent it.
Now go, stay Centient, and keep Centing.
2018년 3월 15일 목요일
Reflection
Reflection in the face of defeat is not acquiescence.
Sacred beliefs or causes today may, in hindsight, be viewed as divisive and destructive.
Unless you are a zero or one, there are very few binaries in life; we are all living together across a multiplicity of interconnected spectrums.
There will always be causes and beliefs, but there is no rule that says we need to hold onto past ones. Nothing, save for life, is sacred.
Life needs to be reflected onto the future for it to become a reality worth living for everyone.
Sacred beliefs or causes today may, in hindsight, be viewed as divisive and destructive.
Unless you are a zero or one, there are very few binaries in life; we are all living together across a multiplicity of interconnected spectrums.
There will always be causes and beliefs, but there is no rule that says we need to hold onto past ones. Nothing, save for life, is sacred.
Life needs to be reflected onto the future for it to become a reality worth living for everyone.
2018년 3월 9일 금요일
Living Algorithms
If it's a good place, order the special.
If it's a bad place, order what they can't screw up.
If it's a bad place, order what they can't screw up.
2018년 3월 7일 수요일
Achieving the Impossible
The ever eloquent and piercingly prescient Ben Thompson penned a gem in Stratechery yesterday.
He elaborated on his comparison of Spotify and Netflix.
What really struck me though was his breakdown of how Netflix went from being a pipsqueak DVD purveyor worried about getting crushed by Blockbuster to being the global content behemoth it is today with a library of over 700 original shows.
You don't just flick a switch and become the latter.
Instead you need to be able to piece together a series of (orthogonal) steps from here to the future that build on each other.
Each intermediary step should be a prerequisite to everything that follows.
That is it. That is the formula for achieving the impossible.
He elaborated on his comparison of Spotify and Netflix.
What really struck me though was his breakdown of how Netflix went from being a pipsqueak DVD purveyor worried about getting crushed by Blockbuster to being the global content behemoth it is today with a library of over 700 original shows.
You don't just flick a switch and become the latter.
Instead you need to be able to piece together a series of (orthogonal) steps from here to the future that build on each other.
Each intermediary step should be a prerequisite to everything that follows.
That is it. That is the formula for achieving the impossible.
2018년 2월 23일 금요일
Debt & Capital Mindsets
Nick Grossman penned a nice article yesterday that included a novel analysis of procrastination and self-improvement.
Both involve short amounts of time: the former involves the avoidance of something in lieu of some other short-term choice, whilst the latter involves engaging in short, productive acts.
In either case the results are compounding.
Each time you put off doing something it increases the time not spent on the issue. This can go very quickly from minutes to weeks to months and longer not doing something.
As more time goes by the burden of actually engaging with something likewise compounds. By avoiding something you give yourself less time to do it thus compounding the difficulty of doing it as well as the risk of penalty. If the activity involves health or work you are literally endangering your welfare and livelihood.
On the other hand, plugging away at something in short, sustained bursts will ensure that something gets completed or you become better and better at something.
A couple of steps a day can turn into a great separation over time placing you in a much better place. Moreover, if others haven't taken those same steps then you will be in an even better relative position.
So we can say:
Avoidance is a debt frame of mind, whilst habit setting and steady, self-improvement both exemplify a capital frame of mind.
Both involve short amounts of time: the former involves the avoidance of something in lieu of some other short-term choice, whilst the latter involves engaging in short, productive acts.
In either case the results are compounding.
Each time you put off doing something it increases the time not spent on the issue. This can go very quickly from minutes to weeks to months and longer not doing something.
As more time goes by the burden of actually engaging with something likewise compounds. By avoiding something you give yourself less time to do it thus compounding the difficulty of doing it as well as the risk of penalty. If the activity involves health or work you are literally endangering your welfare and livelihood.
On the other hand, plugging away at something in short, sustained bursts will ensure that something gets completed or you become better and better at something.
A couple of steps a day can turn into a great separation over time placing you in a much better place. Moreover, if others haven't taken those same steps then you will be in an even better relative position.
So we can say:
Avoidance is a debt frame of mind, whilst habit setting and steady, self-improvement both exemplify a capital frame of mind.
2018년 2월 20일 화요일
My AVC.com
I didn't set out to post daily, it just kind of happened. But I like it.
As Fred Wilson put it so succinctly in a recent tweet: "Writing is remembering."
These posts allow me to reflect on the day and return to what was top of mind, or interesting, or thought provoking. Put simply, writing helps me focus on what is worth remembering.
Since I think I will keep this little habit up, now is as good a time as any to pen one of my very quaint dreams: I hope that I can earn a few readers who want to join into a daily discussion below my posts.
I have said it many times, but the comment sections on AVC.com and Wolfstreet are amazing resources. The discussions that go on there by a steady cast of characters is food for my soul on a daily basis.
As an unknown, I know that discussion will never happen here. Why would it? It'll probably never happen on Steemit either. I will write about 'why' later.
My belief is that it will happen on Cent. Very soon (I hope) the site will add a section for content creators. Hopefully it will allow for two-way funding (i.e. a way for me to support those daily, commenting readers and for readers to support my writing). And hopefully I will be able to anoint my own Centurions - my steady cast of commenters.
Hopefully.
Anyways, until that becomes a reality, I will keep plugging away, writing things worth remembering.
2018년 2월 19일 월요일
The Autonomy & Dao of the Korean People
No other book in my life has come close to having as large an impact on both my personal growth and my intellectual development as this book has.
Its title is "The Autonomy & Dao of the Korean People."
I came across it serendipitously as I was browsing a random Korean bookstore just as I was beginning my university studies in Korea.
This book has given me so much. Not only did it help me gain a firm understanding of Daoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism (better than any English-language material I've ever come across) that worked a type of therapy on the way I view life, but it introduced me - via footnotes - to the two other major intellectual influences in my life: Lewis Mumford and Martin Heidegger.
I have read and re-read this book so many times that the original binding fell apart. Luckily I took it to a local copy store that re-bound it for me. It is full of my marginalia, notes and underlines.
It is my treasure.
Unfortunately, this book has been out of print for years now, and most Koreans aren't even able to read it anyways because of all of the Chinese characters in it. Of course there is no translation available, but I have translated a few passages throughout the years on this blog that may be of interest to some.
Check out those writings via this link, and I recommend you start with 'Dao and Study'.
2018년 2월 14일 수요일
Reading Books & People
The more books you read, the better reader you become.
Because books are written by people about either people or things people do, reading books also helps you read people.
You pay more attention to subtleties like past events, context, tone and word choice when you read books or people. There really is no difference.
Some people, like books, are harder to read than others, but if you have time and patience nothing and no one are absolutely unreadable.
It's a common refrain these days though that people really don't read anything. They skim or look something (usually very short) over from time to time, but beyond that they really don't read anymore.
If you don't read a lot of books, there must be some impact. Since reading sharpens your ability to detect and understand subtleties, by not reading your perception and understanding may remain dull and common.
Perhaps this explains the numerous misunderstandings that arise between people.
Whilst the work place demands absolutely clear and direct prose in communication, if you spoke to friends and loved ones in such a manner life would become as dull and staid as a generic floor in some corporate office.
These days, however, I have heard that several loved ones "need me to be clearer and more direct" about future plans and events that are in no way clear or directly knowable ahead of time.
Last night I heard it again. After I was told that, I took a long sip of my wonderfully bitter, slightly hoppy and perfectly fragrant Omija Ale, and thought, "How sad that no one seems to be able to read me."
I guess I expect more of others. If anyone bothered to read between my lines, or remember who I have always been and the loving words shared over long talks they would hear all that they apparently want stated directly, and more.
Reading isn't special. What reading allows for, though, is a richness and fullness of our human experience.
I would expect others to want to live as rich and full a life as possible, but since this requires people to read, maybe my lowly expectations of others are simply too high.
That is just so damn sad.
But at least I have you though, right?
Happy Valentines Day everybody;)
Because books are written by people about either people or things people do, reading books also helps you read people.
You pay more attention to subtleties like past events, context, tone and word choice when you read books or people. There really is no difference.
Some people, like books, are harder to read than others, but if you have time and patience nothing and no one are absolutely unreadable.
It's a common refrain these days though that people really don't read anything. They skim or look something (usually very short) over from time to time, but beyond that they really don't read anymore.
If you don't read a lot of books, there must be some impact. Since reading sharpens your ability to detect and understand subtleties, by not reading your perception and understanding may remain dull and common.
Perhaps this explains the numerous misunderstandings that arise between people.
Whilst the work place demands absolutely clear and direct prose in communication, if you spoke to friends and loved ones in such a manner life would become as dull and staid as a generic floor in some corporate office.
These days, however, I have heard that several loved ones "need me to be clearer and more direct" about future plans and events that are in no way clear or directly knowable ahead of time.
Last night I heard it again. After I was told that, I took a long sip of my wonderfully bitter, slightly hoppy and perfectly fragrant Omija Ale, and thought, "How sad that no one seems to be able to read me."
I guess I expect more of others. If anyone bothered to read between my lines, or remember who I have always been and the loving words shared over long talks they would hear all that they apparently want stated directly, and more.
Reading isn't special. What reading allows for, though, is a richness and fullness of our human experience.
I would expect others to want to live as rich and full a life as possible, but since this requires people to read, maybe my lowly expectations of others are simply too high.
That is just so damn sad.
But at least I have you though, right?
Happy Valentines Day everybody;)
2018년 2월 13일 화요일
Time & Place
Yesterday I read a pretty interesting article about digital nomads in the NY Times.
It went in depth about a specific brand of live-work spaces. At first glance the whole idea seems pretty appealing. The spaces themselves are clean, cheap and located in amazing cities.
But the digital nomad lifestyle doesn't seem to be sustainable over the long term.
The money quote for me in the article was this:
"Living anywhere is a lot like living nowhere.
Haid [the operator of the global live-work spaces] sees nomadism as a solution to our technologized, globalized lives, but it seems less like a fix than like an extension or intensification of the same condition."
Place is important. Context is important. A business trip in Hawaii is never a vacation, so why would "living" as a digital nomad skipping from Bali or Berlin to Bombay where you were always potentially working be any different?
It went in depth about a specific brand of live-work spaces. At first glance the whole idea seems pretty appealing. The spaces themselves are clean, cheap and located in amazing cities.
But the digital nomad lifestyle doesn't seem to be sustainable over the long term.
The money quote for me in the article was this:
"Living anywhere is a lot like living nowhere.
Haid [the operator of the global live-work spaces] sees nomadism as a solution to our technologized, globalized lives, but it seems less like a fix than like an extension or intensification of the same condition."
Place is important. Context is important. A business trip in Hawaii is never a vacation, so why would "living" as a digital nomad skipping from Bali or Berlin to Bombay where you were always potentially working be any different?
2018년 2월 8일 목요일
Thin Air
I hate when people say things like:
"You knew Bitcoin et al. were created out of thin air (or less)..."
~ Javert Chip
If this person used "out of thin air" in a sense evoking the process behind how most commercially produced nitrogen is made - which is to say "out of thin air" - then I have no qualms with their use of that expression.
But no one uses that phrase like that.
What is super ironic though, is how right they actually are in their wrongness.
'Bitcoin et al.' were created out of the nearly unlimited digital possibility constantly provisioned by networked computers atop which, methods from several distinct fields of cryptography, game theory, software engineering, programming and a few other fields were pulled together and combined in just the right order.
Being able to mine the first bitcoin on 3 January 2009 and not on 2 January 2009 is no different than how nitrogen was unable to be harvested from the atmosphere before chemistry had advanced enough to where knowledge and techniques could be applied to the atmosphere in just the right way.
If you think deep enough, ever since the atmosphere first formed, or from the time that the first networked computer system was set up, the possibilities of both nitrogen harvesting and bitcoin mining had always existed. It's just that those possibilities were concealed.
Because those possibilities were concealed, they were 'impossible'. Every possibility that has not yet been revealed is by definition impossible.
Pulling something out of thin air used to be impossible, and then one day, it was possible - it became true. In Greek 'aletheia' means truth. It's literal translation is 'unconcealed'. Truth is just the revealing of possibility.
So when someone mocks another's idea by saying it is 'impossible' because they are too thick to realize that concealed possibilities are continually being revealed, just tell them to go fuck themselves. That is, after all, how their life literally ceased being an impossibility and became possible to begin with.
"You knew Bitcoin et al. were created out of thin air (or less)..."
~ Javert Chip
If this person used "out of thin air" in a sense evoking the process behind how most commercially produced nitrogen is made - which is to say "out of thin air" - then I have no qualms with their use of that expression.
But no one uses that phrase like that.
What is super ironic though, is how right they actually are in their wrongness.
'Bitcoin et al.' were created out of the nearly unlimited digital possibility constantly provisioned by networked computers atop which, methods from several distinct fields of cryptography, game theory, software engineering, programming and a few other fields were pulled together and combined in just the right order.
Being able to mine the first bitcoin on 3 January 2009 and not on 2 January 2009 is no different than how nitrogen was unable to be harvested from the atmosphere before chemistry had advanced enough to where knowledge and techniques could be applied to the atmosphere in just the right way.
If you think deep enough, ever since the atmosphere first formed, or from the time that the first networked computer system was set up, the possibilities of both nitrogen harvesting and bitcoin mining had always existed. It's just that those possibilities were concealed.
Because those possibilities were concealed, they were 'impossible'. Every possibility that has not yet been revealed is by definition impossible.
Pulling something out of thin air used to be impossible, and then one day, it was possible - it became true. In Greek 'aletheia' means truth. It's literal translation is 'unconcealed'. Truth is just the revealing of possibility.
So when someone mocks another's idea by saying it is 'impossible' because they are too thick to realize that concealed possibilities are continually being revealed, just tell them to go fuck themselves. That is, after all, how their life literally ceased being an impossibility and became possible to begin with.
피드 구독하기:
글 (Atom)