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
meta The 5 Mindsets of Late-Stage Capitalism 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
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"
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)
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
personal Personal Wednesdays: Brainstorming Topics Hey everyone! Today is my 1st "theme day" for "Personal Wednesdays". The macro goal here is to set aside some of my writing time to explore "traditionally non-work" ideas (which I'm underindexed on,
economics Club Goods, Digital Infrastructure, and Blockchains The goal of this article is to define, differentiate, and examine the following set of four goods: Private Goods, Public Goods, Club Goods, Common-Pool Resources. In my past writing, I've (lazily) used "public
meta Meta Mondays: Setting Up Writing Processes I want to do some "meta" work around my writing process. This is especially crucial when one hopes to write consistently/daily (as I do!), and when one has a bunch of random
book review Book Review: The Structure of Scientific Revolutions As part of DCI's efforts to "build a new field" (of blockchain and cryptocurrency technology), and as part of my personal interest in paradigm shifts, I recently read The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
abundance Getting $1000 of Free Stuff is a Manifestation of Abundance I write a good amount about the paradigm shift towards the abundance of capital. This is an abstract concept that is sometimes difficult to conceptualize, so I'm always on the look out for
music My Process for Finding Weird Music I love finding new music and I have a hyper intentional process to do so. Let's look at this process (and why it is starting to fail). What Is My Goal?Before looking
