Grey Mirror

Rhys' thoughts on systems, technology, society, and ethics

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Personal Wednesday: Using "I Am" Statements to Make Your Identity Large
personal

Personal Wednesday: Using "I Am" Statements to Make Your Identity Large

In general, it's powerful to keep your identity small. But it's also helpful to have a clear sense of self identity. To achieve this, I've started a simple but powerful habit: "I am.

  • Rhys Lindmark
    Rhys Lindmark
3 min read
What is #BlockchainEthics and Why Should We Care?
crypto ethics

What is #BlockchainEthics and Why Should We Care?

The goal of this post is to help the reader understand what #BlockchainEthics is and why it matters. What is #BlockchainEthics?#BlockchainEthics is a civil society-based movement to help shape blockchain technology for

  • Rhys Lindmark
    Rhys Lindmark
3 min read
#CryptoEthics Concepts: Decentralization-Enabled Unstoppable Code
crypto ethics

#CryptoEthics Concepts: Decentralization-Enabled Unstoppable Code

"One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws." — Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from a Birmingham JailThe

  • Rhys Lindmark
    Rhys Lindmark
6 min read
Personal Wednesdays: Understanding The Process of Therapy
personal

Personal Wednesdays: Understanding The Process of Therapy

I'm a huge fan of therapy (if you haven't done it yet, you really need to try it!). Thus far, here's my most succinct explanation of it (and its benefits). Therapy is a

  • Rhys Lindmark
    Rhys Lindmark
2 min read
The "Mother of All Demos" for Crypto?
blockchain

The "Mother of All Demos" for Crypto?

The crypto world has been super excited by PoolTogether this week (especially the ETH-focused cryptoeconomics world). It reminds me of the excitement around FOMO3D about a year ago. It has me thinking about

  • Rhys Lindmark
    Rhys Lindmark
2 min read
Meta Monday: Getting Back on the Writing Horse (and public accountability)
writing

Meta Monday: Getting Back on the Writing Horse (and public accountability)

It's been a while since I wrote my last post (12 days, eep!). But I would truly love to keep writing (almost) daily. To do this, I'm going to start experimenting with commitment

  • Rhys Lindmark
    Rhys Lindmark
1 min read
Defining Meta Existential Risk
fragility

Defining Meta Existential Risk

“Since Auschwitz we know what man is capable of. And since Hiroshima we know what is at stake." —Viktor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning"The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our

  • Rhys Lindmark
    Rhys Lindmark
5 min read
Use These 5 Powerful Mindsets To Understand Our Uncertain World
meta

Use These 5 Powerful Mindsets To Understand Our Uncertain World

We are still in the "touching the elephant" phase of the "ideological mindsets" that emerge from "The Transition" (away from late-stage-capitalism at the birth of the internet). In other words, we don't yet

  • Rhys Lindmark
    Rhys Lindmark
4 min read
Meta Mondays: (language to use when)  Seeing as a Human Organism
language

Meta Mondays: (language to use when) Seeing as a Human Organism

The goal of today's article is to give readers more understanding of the more recent neologisms that I use/support, especially ones that I use in the context of "systems thinking for good"

  • Rhys Lindmark
    Rhys Lindmark
3 min read
The Difficulties of a Non-Weaponizable Mindset. (e.g. Who is our enemy? Can we use shame?)
nonviolence

The Difficulties of a Non-Weaponizable Mindset. (e.g. Who is our enemy? Can we use shame?)

In general I try to embody a "non-weaponizable" mindset. i.e. A mindset that has the following property: If this mindset was duplicated across all humanity (i.e. if everyone had this mindset)

  • Rhys Lindmark
    Rhys Lindmark
2 min read
Personal Wednesdays: I'm Excited to Hang Out with My Dad This Friday
personal

Personal Wednesdays: I'm Excited to Hang Out with My Dad This Friday

This is a bit different than my traditional "Personal Wednesday" post, where I talk about things like emotional frameworks or my own vulnerabilities. Today, I just want to note something that has been

  • Rhys Lindmark
    Rhys Lindmark
2 min read
Meta Mondays (Language): Using "Find-Replace" for Multi-Perspective Thinking
language

Meta Mondays (Language): Using "Find-Replace" for Multi-Perspective Thinking

Unique language is a good example of "the future mindset is already here, it's just not evenly distributed yet." Today I want to focus on how to do "multi-perspective thinking" by using a

  • Rhys Lindmark
    Rhys Lindmark
3 min read
Better is Worse
systems

Better is Worse

There's a popular(ish) concept among the Twitterati/developer community known as "Worse is Better"—"the idea that quality does not necessarily increase with functionality—that there is a point where less functionality

  • Rhys Lindmark
    Rhys Lindmark
3 min read
Personal Wednesday: My "How to Work With Me" Manual (as API) + Thoughts on Big 5
personal

Personal Wednesday: My "How to Work With Me" Manual (as API) + Thoughts on Big 5

I'm a big fan of: Making internal docs publicly transparentThinking of humanity as a set of agents/nodes in an evolutionary gameThe How To Work With Me (HTWWM) manual (1, 2)Therefore, I'm

  • Rhys Lindmark
    Rhys Lindmark
2 min read
Blockchain Wins Over Developers with Self-Actualization (in addition to Integrity)
blockchain

Blockchain Wins Over Developers with Self-Actualization (in addition to Integrity)

All new technologies are driven by a feedback loop between the supply side (developers/employees who are excited to work on a product) and the demand side (consumers/enterprises who want to buy

  • Rhys Lindmark
    Rhys Lindmark
6 min read
The Remixability of Hashtags, #_____LivesMatter, and #FutureLivesMatter
memes

The Remixability of Hashtags, #_____LivesMatter, and #FutureLivesMatter

Disclaimer: I know this article touches on some possibly triggering topics (identity-based memes). I'm primarily trying to explore it from a meta/positivist POV, rather than a normative POV. I'm always open for

  • Rhys Lindmark
    Rhys Lindmark
2 min read
Personal Wednesday: Categorizing Needs
personal

Personal Wednesday: Categorizing Needs

I'm a big fan of nonviolent communication (NVC). For me, one of the most difficult parts of the practice is understanding our human needs. There are a variety of frameworks that break these

  • Rhys Lindmark
    Rhys Lindmark
3 min read
Different Types of Community at the MIT Media Lab
language

Different Types of Community at the MIT Media Lab

I'm part of a "community" working group at the MIT Media Lab. We're trying to re-imagine how academic institutions should interact with "community". However, because "community" can mean any n:n relationship, it

  • Rhys Lindmark
    Rhys Lindmark
3 min read
Book Review: "Just Giving" by Rob Reich, A Political Theory of Philanthropy
book review

Book Review: "Just Giving" by Rob Reich, A Political Theory of Philanthropy

I'm interviewing Rob Reich on my podcast soon. As preparation for that interview, I wanted to review his most recent book, Just Giving, which I loved (I highlighted 15% of the book, compared

  • Rhys Lindmark
    Rhys Lindmark
14 min read
Self-Tax Sunday: How a Self-Tax Constraint Breeds Creativity
self-tax

Self-Tax Sunday: How a Self-Tax Constraint Breeds Creativity

I have enough money, so I self-tax myself 20% post-tax ($900/month) to give to support civil society. By categorizing this 20% into a special self-tax bucket, this money now has a completely

  • Rhys Lindmark
    Rhys Lindmark
2 min read
What Emerging Movements Should One Track? (and a quick reflection on RadicalXChange)
movements

What Emerging Movements Should One Track? (and a quick reflection on RadicalXChange)

Civil Society will play an increasingly important role in our future. Movements are a leading indicator of the role these new "Civil Society groups" will play. Therefore, I try to "track" the different

  • Rhys Lindmark
    Rhys Lindmark
3 min read
Personal Wednesdays: Attachment vs. Non-attachment (Stoicism, Buddhism)
personal

Personal Wednesdays: Attachment vs. Non-attachment (Stoicism, Buddhism)

I've recently been working through a difficult tension in relationships. On one side you have "non-attachment". This is generally pushed by Stoicism / Buddhism. The macro idea is that attachment leads to suffering, therefore

  • Rhys Lindmark
    Rhys Lindmark
4 min read
Meta Monday: How I Use Punctuation
language

Meta Monday: How I Use Punctuation

Hmmmm. I'm not sure the best way to write about language, but I know I want to. It's nice to reflect on how one writes (compared to others). Let's start with certain punctuation

  • Rhys Lindmark
    Rhys Lindmark
2 min read
#SelfTaxSunday: Carbon Offsets as a Service
self-tax

#SelfTaxSunday: Carbon Offsets as a Service

I recently realized that Fred Wilson's "Funding Friday" is an example of self-taxing. In this vein, I'd like to experiment with #SelfTaxSunday! Today, I'd like to talk about Carbon Offsetting. Remember that your

  • Rhys Lindmark
    Rhys Lindmark
2 min read
What To Do When You're Behind on Writing? (Link folks to Good Content! Doctorow's Terra Nullius)
link

What To Do When You're Behind on Writing? (Link folks to Good Content! Doctorow's Terra Nullius)

I'm trying to write every weekday (and have a 4-day streak right now!). Usually I try to write for 30-60min in the morning. But today I was too busy and didn't make that

  • Rhys Lindmark
    Rhys Lindmark
2 min read
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