philosophy
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The paradox of loneliness
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1 min read
To dine alone or bowl alone are events that blend strangeness and familiarity. Yet, they, too, are entirely social. The export of one human mind to another happens in an instant. Apes are always burning toward an ambition of experience. Psychology aside, we can ill afford to do nothing in spite of our paradoxical intention.…
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To the moon
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1 min read
So little it’s immeasurable — that’s how improvement works. Effort is compounding. To remain elastic means to remain wide awake. The template for true consistency emerges changed, not validated. Baby steps create a sense of dimension of age-related invincibility. Like the Puya Raimondii, we grow for years and shed it all in an instant. In…
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Under the trained eye
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2 min read
The eye works as a paintbrush, coloring the world with a palette of vitality. Unfortunately, the constant bombardment of external stimuli torpedoes our attention, bankrupting what’s interesting. After all, the attention merchants plant eye candy and other UX wiles to captivate us and throw us into a ludic loop. But we can see our way…
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Inseparable opposites
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2 min read
We’re always in the middle of fictional thinking — vacillating between what we’d like to do versus what we’re scared to do. Utopia and dystopia keep us on our toes before we filter for the truth. We’re also paradoxical role-players — toggling between obedience and standing out depending on our internal weather. Authenticity often remains…
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The spotlight of attention
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1 min read
Willpower rests on the brain’s set point for pleasure. Get used to indulging doses of dopamine, and the mind goes numb to any lack of stimulation. Redirecting the spotlight of attention enforces a deliberate curb on the amygdala’s hijackings. Overriding how we feel is at the core of managing life’s compass. When we’re under control,…
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The invention of things
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2 min read
Most creativity depends on building on top of what’s already there. Novelty exploits and aggregates preexisting stems to manufacture new and different, which is all people pay attention to. However, what’s new isn’t always copy-pasta, nor is it always welcome. Most inventions and reinventions are dull and undeluded, shocking just at their orientation. No to…
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Swallowing the elements
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2 min read
Deliberately bad, mashed up, distorted like a Francis Bacon painting. Ugly art brings the worst of our subconscious to the fore as a means of hobbling our concentration. It goads people into fully grasping how they feel, like a good old-fashioned puke, where the vocal cords saddle up and ride a ribcage as tight as…
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Tackling the brain’s anxiety bias
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1 min read
We take out the wind of anxiety by going toward the fear. The nerves left alone in anticipation, attrit our resistance with cruel swiftness. Uncertainty pervades all those who wish to consult it and acquiesce. The only way forward is to adopt the most extreme outcome and hyperbolize it. That’s right — export the scariest…
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Strength through struggle
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2 min read
Everything we know we learn from our handicaps. They are far better teachers than strengths. As the author Bernard Malamud quipped, “if you haven’t struggled, you haven’t yet lived.” Mental illness, speech impediments — these brain sprains muddle thoughts and make life hard to read. But the cognitive tips and tricks we use to cope…
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Passion project be damned
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2 min read
The banality of doing what we’re told gets bottle-necked at the top of free will. Eventually, one balks at the factory of someone else’s to-do lists. We do what punctures the heart. When we feel compelled to create life intentionally, the very bottom of our souls opens up. But outsourcing the work to robots is…
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Hope is a hedge against reality
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2 min read
We live in anticipation. The worker who looks forward to a vacation is probably far happier and more productive than one who toils away without the slightest carrot of free time dangling in their future. Without lying to ourselves, how do we unlock the treasure of hope (of more time, more freedom, and other imagined scenarios, etc.) without fabricating…
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The shared intimacy of the individual
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2 min read
Behavior operates at the amygdala level. Without conscious interpretation, we either fight or run away. Instead, what we seek is more constructive: long-term serotonin levels that strengthen emotional agility. Once we develop kinship between our senses and surroundings, we can level set and carry on when things go against us. There will always be those…