Tag: gif
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Searching for context
You can skim the book, but the ending won’t make sense. You can skip practice, but you’ll be unprepared for the game. You can listen, but it won’t make sense until you write it down. Context is life’s black box and compass. It records a history of time and place so you can map out…
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Faulty attention
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We cultivate boredom the same way we incubate attention, that is, we latch on to things until we no longer see them. They camouflage into our awareness. The internet user runs into the cornucopia of visuals on Instagram. Liking becomes desultory, numb to the perpetual sting of dopamine. Are we not entertained? We are sloppy internet…
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Have an exaggerated sense of curiosity
We’re all fake artists, winging it to chase our dreams while simultaneously masking our vulnerabilities. It isn’t a thorny question of attribution. We all steal ideas from each other and recast them as our own. But having an exaggerated sense of curiosity pays off. The cash value of policing thoughts means that we can better sew…
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‘I have already lost touch with a couple of the people I used to be’
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“I have already lost touch with a couple of the people I used to be.” — [easyazon_link keywords=”Joan Didion” locale=”US” tag=”wells01-20″]Joan Didion[/easyazon_link]
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Making magical machines
We live in the age of robots, where machines powered by AI can drive your car, deliver you breakfast in your hotel room, or reorder you diapers on Amazon. But automata isn’t new. As craftsman François Junod points out in the video, “the oldest known automatons date back to the Egyptians.” They gained popularity as…
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Fearing a loss of mind
There are very few moments in the day when we pause. Instead, we latch onto the sugary obsession of tech and its distractions, awaiting the next shock of dopamine. But we can have tea with ourselves, going through what our worries and wishes are in the quest for ever-fleeting presence. Man is more versatile than…
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Alien Hand Syndrome
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What if you woke up one day and had a brand new second hand that moved on its own? This is what happened to Karen after she had brain surgery to help cure her epilepsy. After her operation, her left hand immediately took on a life of its own. For starters, it immediately began to…
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The simple technique that boosts your short and long-term memory
Want to remember more of what you read? Give your brain a 10-15 minute rest. No phones, no distractions, just pure boredom, a quiet room and dimmed lights. Why do we need to reduce interference? It takes longer for new information to encode and simply consuming more or squandering time on social media will make…
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Worrying is a waste of time. Greet your anxiety instead.
It is human nature to ponder anxieties that do not exist. The mind is a fabrication machine, developing worries before they deserve any attention. Wrote Carlos Castaneda in Journey to Ixtlan (Amazon):“To worry is to become accessible… And once you worry, you cling to anything out of desperation; and once you cling you are bound to…
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A high place 🌃
“Outside New York, a high place where with one glance you take in the houses where eight million human beings live.” — Tomas Tranströmer, “Schubertiana”
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Enjoying the silence of GIFs
The mind fills a silent GIF with sound. The flags flickering in the wind, the lightbulb dancing at a Mexico City bar, to the whistle of leaves swinging outside your window. Living in the distraction era, noise is ubiquitous. Standing still, the decibels around turn up to match the horizon. But the calmer it becomes,…