Where does money come from, really?
A question that made me anxious when I was a teenager is “where does money come from really?” Most people tend to be s
A letter to my younger self, on the trip of our life
Dear Visa-17, Visa-29 here. So I recently got on a Singapore Airlines plane (I know, finally!) and flew across the planet to S
‘Smart Writing’ is about cultivating taste, suspending judgement and chasing your curiosity
I saw someone tweet “I wish smart writing came to me as easily as dumb tweeting” — and so I am here to share my strategy
#StrugglePorn – is it painting a false picture?
good conversation started here with Nat & Gary I’m not personally a fan of Gary’s overall brand, but I appreci
our metaphors for god adapt to keep up with our technology
Most of us inherit an idea of God as a “world craftsman”. If you think about it, this idea could not predate craft
minorities have to be extra-sensitive
(these were thoughts in response to Sarah Jeong being called out for being racist towards white men) I think one of the rules
women’s perspectives are criminally underrepresented
As I get older and hear more about women’s experiences, it gets clearer and clearer to me that movies and TV are dominat
mansplaining is sometimes (but not always) innocuous
If I had to do a “the difference between men and women” type of standup set, I think I would focus on the phenomenon of ma
menworld: a way of considering the patriarchy
(Clarification: for the whole of this thread, when I say Men, I’m referring to the subset of straight men who live &
smartphones and other linguistic legacies
Language is full of interesting legacy issues. The pocket supercomputer I'm writing this on isn't really a "phone
The utility of art (includes escape from myopic utilitarianism)
It’s often difficult to have a conversation about art because we’re almost always talking past each other. I once
how to unlearn your conditioning
First you need to recognize that you are conditioned. everybody is. But we’re also conditioned to assume that our condit
We have to learn how to live and play with supernormal stimuli
I was on the train a while ago without my phone (left it at home) and I was just curiously watching what other people were up
When arguing, strive to understand context
— 1. When arguing, seek to understand context — [Published 2016] Roughly between ages 13 and 23 I was thoroughly convinced
the jetpacks of 2020 will be whatever helps us navigate information overload
TL;DR: In the broadest sense, we already have powerful engines; to go faster we need better shock absorbers and handling. ____
people seem fundamentally unserious about their information diets
TL;DR: “Every new piece of news is seriously important” => fundamentally unserious about the nature of importan
Different perspectives are more kaleidoscopic than different “points of view”
Thought: Words and phrases like “perspective” and “point-of-view” don’t adequately convey how ra
Identity fragments and withers away when there’s nobody else to perform for
One of the most interesting things I’ve ever read was about this guy who was homeless and living in the forest for a rea
Making Sense Of Modern Civilization
1 To be born into modern human civilization is both a great privilege (for the safety and opportunities it provides) and a rat
An Analysis of Power And Social Dynamics In ‘Mean Girls’
Theory: The movie has such enduring power and is quoted so much because it sheds some incredible light on real sociological ph
Beware the moral failing fallacy
SELF-LOVE AND THE “MORAL FAILING” FALLACY: Here’s something that’s taken me a long time to be able to
The Seductive-Destructive Siren-Song of Fame
In 2010, I wrote a blogpost about Justin Bieber. In 2018, I want to expand this post into something broader, about celebrity a
Hypothesis: Artists perceive differently than regular folks
I have some kooky hypotheses about how people like this (and folks like Van Gogh) experience reality differently from the comm
One must imagine Sisyphus LOL-ing
Life, particularly in modern civilization, is an absurd circus. We’re all clowns living in boxes trying to amuse ourselves w
Guilt is a feeling that should inform action, not paralyze
Originally 0532. Guilt is a feeling. It’s often a legitimate feeling, and it’s a signal from the mind/body that something
Words are vessels of meaning; to investigate words is to discern meaning
I have loved letters and words for as long as I can remember. I love their shapes the way a painter might enjoy the smell of p
history is an underrated source of insight
I think history is interesting. It’s like binge-watching old seasons of current affairs – we get to go through a lot
Procrastination is a solvable problem
On putting things off [HN] I’m very passionate about the problem of procrastination, having suffered terribly from it a
Creativity is just connecting (and remixing) things
Everything Is A Remix (Full Video)Â [30 mins+] How To Steal Like An Artist, by Austin Kleon (Google him for Twitter). P
Motivation is anything that compels you to take action
Hello, World Finished Not Perfect [1:30] Why Do We Fall [6:13] Unbroken [5:57] Dream [6:20] Les Brown: You Gott
My MBTI Journey: Each new way of seeing can become a new set of blinders
MBTI: I remember when I first encountered MBTI. It was introduced to me over beer, by a friend of a friend. He was a self-prof
Hacking The 7 Deadly Sins: Greed
(image courtesy of blackeri) Greed is the untempered, unenlightened pursuit of acquisition. “Avarice” is more of a
The wisdom of the universe, and the stories and maps we create to try to comprehend it.
There’s a profound wisdom to be found in nature. To call it wisdom might be misleading because we only get to see what w