42M – Thoughts on Life, the Universe, and Everything

Self-maintenance (for human beings)

Tue, 03 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Cars are mechanical machines. We can be thought as biological machines.

Cars need fuel (of some kind, depending on the car). We need food (to each their own, depending on the human).

Cars need maintenance. And so do we.

Sometimes, the issue is so blatant and critical that the car can’t operate.

Here’s a few examples: the wheel may be stuck, the gearbox won’t let you change gears, the battery is dead, there is no fuel, or the tyres are all flat.

Keeping on with the analogy: for humans this may be a bone fracture, high fever, or even simply not having slept for 42 hours straight.

Other times, the oil level is low. Then, the driver has two choices:

Stop right there and refill the oil.
“Eh, I’ll do it later (maybe).”

Yes, sometimes we can hang on a little bit and postpone the maintenance. But push a little too far, and we’ll end up with a blatant and critical issue.

The human analogy to a broken-down car in the highway would be a debilitating illness or an emotional meltdown at a stressful time in our life.

I have often been the second kind of driver, and sometimes still am – but now I can see clearly why that’s a mistake.

Even today, in many places – case in point, the South of Italy – mental health is still an obscure concept.

I grew up in a culture where if you’re physically healthy, you have no excuses. Get up and do the thing, or else you’re just lazy.

But this is just like never stopping to check the oil. Yes, maybe today you’ll pull through. Maybe tomorrow as well.

Then, suddenly your car breaks down. Maybe at the worst time ever. But now you can no longer postpone maintenance. And you’ll have to pay more for it.

Prevention is better than treatment. But it’s also trickier to pull off, if we live under the illusion that our biological machine will never break down.

Here’s a few interesting questions:

When do I need to refill the oil?
When is the best time to do it?
How much oil can I fill?
How long will it last?
How low is it now?

These are all for ourselves to assess and answer. Nobody else can tell.

Each car is different and requires different levels of maintenance.

(Of course the same could be said for websites, houses, and surely many other things. I picked this example, but if you come up with something else and care to write your thoughts down, I’d like to read that. Please send it my way.)

This morning I was feeling anxious. I had things to do. Of course. We all always have. And these things are still waiting for me.

But I know myself (or at least I try to get to know myself), and I know that if I had kept going I would have ended up with no metaphorical oil left at all.

I just had to sit down and stop. Stop doing stuff, and even more stop thinking about stuff.

(Incidentally, my mind likes to be active about anything and thought some of this post while I was just trying to get it back to the present moment.)

Anyhow, meditation seems to work for me. My restlessness slowly faded away. After meditating I felt better, calmer, more relaxed.

How long should you meditate? 15 minutes? 30? 60? 2 minutes? 2 hours?

Should you even meditate at all? Maybe you should take a walk in the park instead? Maybe you should just grind a little bit more, head down?

Again, only you can answer all these questions for yourself.

(By the way, I was tempted to explore the topic of meditation, but I’m running low on time – and also I don’t want to go off on a tangent.)

So, what happened this morning?

Not only I decided to stop and attend to my own biological machine, but I also realized I could spare some extra time to write this post.

It’s a nice reminder that most things are not a priority.

Life is nonurgent:

Rather than getting carried away by the feeling I must do something, I can be mindful that the world won’t stop spinning if I don’t do it. I have a choice.

This morning, I did something I do very rarely: give priority to myself, in the face of all errands and chores, because living is urgent.

If I don’t take time for self-maintenance by my own choice, who knows where and when my biological machine will break down and I’ll be forced to stay put.

Better safe than sorry. Prevention is better than treatment.

Self-maintenance is much better than random breakdowns.

Wanna tell me what you think? Contact me! 📨️

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Count your blessings

Thu, 22 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This is a strategy (or a life pro tip, if you will) that served me incredibly well over the past years.

Now, if you don’t know me: I am an optimist. By choice!

That does not always come easy. But it is the best choice I have.

And mind you, it’s not about toxic positivity at all.

I suspect it is much more like learned optimism instead, if you know Martin Seligman. But I haven’t read his books yet, so I can’t be quite sure about that.

Anyhow, here’s why I’m writing this short post today.

Last article was about moral luck, and it left me kind of bittersweet.

Partly because, as much as I love writing, sometimes it’s just difficult to me. I have an old and long lasting tendency to perfectionism, and a loud inner critic.

But also, admittedly I wasn’t in my best mood.

Thinking about moral luck forced me to confront with many critical aspect of my life and my nature, which actually meant 2 things:

I produced so many examples and sentences that I had to leave out.
I had to do the hard emotional job of looking inside myself – honestly.

Let’s address number 1 first.

Murdering your darlings is already hard enough. But even worse, I was left with the feeling I couldn’t express everything I really meant to.

Now that I look back on it, I think I did in fact make the point I wanted to. And reducing word count remains one of the most effective editing techniques.

As for number 2: I had to juggle between two opposite feelings.

On the one hand, I was struggling. I needed to vent. And that’s fine: we can’t always be at our best. Accepting hard emotions is better than ignoring them.

On the other hand, I came to hate and even fear whining. I don’t want to feed negative energy, neither for myself nor for anyone else.

It’s not (just) that I don’t want to be a downer. If something bad has to be said, so be it. But complaining for the sake of complaining doesn’t really help.

And here’s the thing: before becoming an optimist, I have been stuck in the victim mentality. I know it didn’t do much good to me.

Yes, maybe I felt special. So terribly unlucky. Poor thing, poor little me.

But now I know there’s a huge power in taking responsibility for how I feel.

Anyhow, just to close the loop.

Reading my post about moral luck now, after three weeks, it seems to me I’ve done a decent job at not being neither too gloomy nor too happy-go-lucky.

The fact I’m “afraid” of whining and falling back to the victim mentality may mean I resist to acknowledge something that is objectively hard and unfair.

On the other end of the spectrum, though, there is the toxic positivity mindset. Which is not any better, and it’s also something I want to steer clear of.

I didn’t want to spread negativity, but I knew there was some still left inside me and I was left with the feeling it might have slipped through the cracks.

Cutting down words did the job, but I wouldn’t know that: I didn’t even want to read the article again after all the mental and emotional effort I had put into it.

I just needed some distance. That, and then I was also quite busy. But today I woke up a couple of hours earlier than usual, so I could write at last.

And what I want to write is just this: count your blessings.

If you’re reading this, you’re already somewhat lucky: you could have been born in a place with no internet, no schools, no roof over your head – just bombs.

[…]

I’d love to live in a society that doesn’t punish us for being authentic. Where we can be ourselves without having to face needless psychological suffering.

But as much as I may wish for this or that, reality is just what it is.

And it is full of people who made the best with what they had.

Yes, we all face hard times. Life can be tough. It is okay to vent.

On the other hand, though, please learn to be an optimist. I promise it’s worth it.

Wanna tell me what you think? Contact me! 📨️

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Moral Luck, Neurodiversity, and Entrepreneurship

Wed, 31 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

I’m writing on the spur of the moment because this morning a few things I love happened all at once:

I love when I find out about interesting stuff without even looking for it.
I love when said stuff defines ideas I’d already come up with by myself.
And I love when it breeds a cross-pollination of thoughts in my mind.

So, today I serendipitously came across the concept of moral luck.

I say serendipitously because it was mentioned en passant by Natan Feltrin, a PhD candidate at the University of North Texas, while talking about polyamory.

(I’ll leave here the link to the video/podcast for reference, although it’s in Italian: Due chiacchiere con Natan Feltrin: Poliamore (min 30:00).)

Moral luck in a nutshell

Every society has norms and values. Whether the rules are written or unwritten, some actions are rewarded while others are frowned upon.

Take ancient Sparta.

Imagine you’re a boy. And you’re good at fighting. People want you to become a warrior. You’re even blessed to have a strong constitution and a healthy body!

But what if you don’t want to be a warrior?

We don’t get to choose what we want to be any more than we can choose our body type or sex. I wish this was self-evident, but I doubt it actually is.

You must be lucky to want exactly (or mostly) what other people already expect of you. To value what they value. What your society values.

And what if you don’t like that society?

Now, moral luck is a bit more nuanced than this. It is a philosophical concept studied in ethics, a branch of philosophy that investigates moral phenomena.

But I only want to focus on one aspect: how (un)lucky are you for being you?

Neurodiversity and luck

Not all brains work the same way. Some are like race cars, others like off-road vehicles. You’d want to use them accordingly, based on what they’re built for.

Neurodiversity is morally unlucky precisely because it is not about what you do: it is about what you are.

(To clarify, I should add that neurodiversity – or anything else, really – is not inherently unlucky. It depends on the moral values of a given society.)

We can’t choose to be born with or without ADHD, autism, dyslexia, and so on. We don’t even have a say in where we are born or whether we are born at all!

If you’re reading this, you’re already somewhat lucky: you could have been born in a place with no internet, no schools, no roof over your head – just bombs.

But that doesn’t say anything about your moral luck.

If you’re expected to focus in a noisy environment but you can’t stand a TV in the background chipping away at your attention, then you’re screwed.

Asking me to “just focus” in that condition would be like asking you not to blink: you can try and fight it, but you won’t be able to help it indefinitely.

Paraphrasing Orwell:

All people are different, but some people are more different than others.

Entrepreneurship and morality

As I’ve heard Natan talk about moral luck, neurodiversity was my first thought. I wasn’t even that surprised when it was briefly mentioned, shortly after.

But there’s another thought that sprang to my mind and that wasn’t explored.

So let’s make another thought experiment: imagine you’re 18, and your biggest dream is to become a doctor, a lawyer, or an entrepreneur. How lucky!

That’s not to say it’s going to be easy. You’ll have to work hard, sure enough. Still, nobody is going to actively discourage you from your noble pursuit.

But what if your dreams were instead about music, philosophy, or poetry?

In our society, everyone is expected to work and make money. Natural-born entrepreneurs enjoy doing just that, hence they are morally lucky.

But not all people are born with the entrepreneurial attitude, nor do they all have the same means (or luck) to develop an entrepreneurial mindset.

And even if we could, why should we all be pushed to do that?

I loved how Natan explained the difference between the performative aspects of a choice and the underlying essence of the person making the choice.

Sure, we can choose how to perform. But here’s the catch: the same choice does not always come equally easy to everyone. In fact, it almost never does.

Why? Because we are complex, and no one size fits all.

In the context of neurodiversity, “masking” means pretending you’re normal. But as Natan observed, it always brings some amount of psychological suffering.

I feel there’s a lot of masking going on in the world of work, often unnoticed.

This is Sparta

Remember the boy?

What if that was someone like Albert Einstein, Freddie Mercury, or Gandhi?

These people wouldn’t exactly thrive in ancient Sparta, right? Maybe they would die in battle before their twenties and the world would be none the wiser.

We can’t possibly know that, of course. Maybe they would adapt and do just fine. Maybe they would even find another path to greatness.

For one, I think they became great in the first place in spite of the society they lived in rather than because of it.

If you fail to become the next Steve Jobs, you may end up with a company and decent money after having done what you love for most of your life.

But if you fail to become the next Albert Einstein, all you’re left with is a boring day job at the patent office.

You think that’s bad? If you fail as the next Freddie Mercury, you may end up under a bridge. And if you fail as the next Gandhi, you rot in jail for nothing.

I’d love to live in a society that doesn’t punish us for being authentic. Where we can be ourselves without having to face needless psychological suffering.

But as much as I may wish for this or that, reality is just what it is.

And it is full of people who made the best with what they had.

Wanna tell me what you think? Contact me! 📨️

P.S. Hooray for RSS! You're awesome! 😎️

Food, politics, and food politics

Mon, 29 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000

I like food.

But I dislike politics.

So today I want to explore how these two statements are connected.

Definitions, personally

I find writing down an explicit definition can be quite useful to clarify what I mean for myself and even more useful to make sure we’re on the same page.

Of course any definition may be lacking or imprecise, but that’s not the point. I’m not even trying to be exhaustive. Any little bit helps, though.

So let’s begin with a few of simple questions (with possibly complex answers).

What is food?

Any external substance that can nourish me through the act of eating it.

Which begs the question: what does me mean in this context?

I’ll dodge the dreaded existential question “who am I?” and just say that I think I’m more than my body, so food should nourish more than only that.

What is politics?

When I say I dislike politics, what I really mean is that I abhor the political system and pantomime – formalities, technicalities, power games and so on.

The definition I prefer is closer to the one of the ancient Greeks: politics has to do with anything that may concern and affect all the members of a society.

Although I may like that definition better, I still don’t like prescriptions. And the goal of politics is basically to prescribe how people should behave.

What is food politics?

Well, I don’t know what it actually entails: I suppose national policies, laws, and all that jazz. But I don’t care. These are personal definitions.

To me, food politics is simply what we – as human beings – should be eating.

Which begs even more questions, such as: what does human beings mean? Why should we be eating this or that? Does it even matter? Yeah, not gonna answer.

Food and politics

There’s so much to say about food – and even more about politics.

Food science is often ambiguous and even inconsistent. Doctors have no definite answers, let alone correct ones. Evidence is scarce, anecdotes are plentiful.

Most people are pretty eager to tell other people what they should eat (or do, in general). Everyone and their mother has an opinion about what’s best for you.

I, for one, have no interest in convincing anyone. But I truly care about my own relationship with food – which is mostly (and deeply) personal.

Personal and political

Some activists would have it that the personal is political. I’ll let them have it. To some extent, I even agree. But I agree even more with Oscar Wilde:

People sometimes inquire what form of government is most suitable for an artist to live under. To this question there is only one answer. The form of government that is most suitable to the artist is no government at all.

(From The Soul of Man Under Socialism, first published in 1891.)

I’d like to go one step further and argue that we’re all artists. At least to some extent. At least potentially. But that’s another topic for another day.

I’ll venture yet another step further and say that no government at all is the ideal form of government, period. But the world we live in is far from ideal.

In our physical, actual, imperfect world… governments have their place. Most people need to be told what to do. And some even like it! Crazy, right?

Facts and values

Long story short, there are all kind of (twisted) incentives on what narratives to push on people. But then there are facts. And there are values.

I was tempted to say that facts are simple. But they’re not.

Some facts are straightforward. Pesticides are somewhat toxic. Local food is generally more sustainable. Vegan food usually involve less harm to animals.

But facts are not always self-evident. And even when they are, they may depend on other facts and circumstances that can be extremely complex and nuanced.

We know very little, and the little we think we know may as well be just plain wrong. It happened many times before, and it’s still often happening now.

Do you really need to eat three times a day? How much food does you body actually need? Why should breakfast be any different than dinner or lunch?

Values are even more interesting.

There are personal values and collective values. There is what we say we value and what we actually value. And then there’s living up to our values.

Even when we truly value something, at times we may need or want something else. Life can be messy, and values can be conflicting. Be kind to yourself.

We may have blind spots. We may not be willing to give up the convenient stories we tell ourselves. But fully embracing our values is our choice.

Should animals have rights? Do plants suffer? Is prana a thing?

If our values lead us to a happier life, that’s a fact. Maybe people will notice we’re better off. And they’ll want to be better off, too. They’ll show interest.

That’s where change may happen. But it has to start with ourselves.

Lead by example

Or should I say… eat by example!

Figuring out our values can be hard, but at least it only depends on ourselves. Aligning our actions to our values is heavily influenced by our environment.

As it turns out, in the tyranny of the majority each of us must bear the consequences of what most people eat (and do, in general).

So… after all, it seems to me that the political is personal.

I wouldn’t want junk food, alcohol, and pesticides to be normalized. I’d love to be surrounded with healthy, cruelty-free, sustainable food instead.

But I don’t think that screaming at each other in a desperate attempt to impose our own world view on everyone else should even be considered as a solution.

Yet, that’s mostly what we do. Wouldn’t it be better to redirect our energy to what we can actually change and focus on our circle of control first?

I somewhat touched on this in The Lesser Evil:

I strongly oppose any kind of war, dictatorship, censorship, surveillance, and similar suppressions of personal freedom. It deeply upsets me to look at all the needless suffering that is going on right now in the world, for absolutely no good reason. It makes me sick. But what can I do about it?

I wish I had a magic wand that could remove greed and hatred from people’s hearts, putting in kindness and compassion instead. I wish!

With a massive amount of dedication, activism can achieve outstanding results on a specific issue (think Gandhi). But anything we may do individually will never be enough to fix everything, for all the shit that goes on anywhere anytime.

We can only lead by example, and that’s what I strive for.

I’m sorry if the last few paragraphs made you feel worried or sad. I didn’t mean to. On the contrary, I want to stress that personal wellbeing is our own choice.

More food, less politics

All in all, food politics is just politics.

In most situations, I actively steer clear of the subject. Conversations about it are often sterile and amount to boring and unproductive small talks.

But if instead we shift the focus on our inner worlds, then we could explore the cultural and the emotional aspects of food. Now that would be interesting to me.

In the past I wrote a half-baked post on how I eat, then 42% vegan, and there would still be a lot more to unpack.

One thing I noticed, though, is that I rarely (if ever) talk about the food itself. Maybe because I find it a bit dull compared to the rest? I don’t know.

Anyhow, I’ll briefly go over it. I may expand on this if anyone is interested.

I do me

Sometimes people genuinely want to know what I eat. The answer is simple: whole grains, legumes, fresh fruit and vegetables, nuts, seeds. There’s plenty.

I mostly cooked for myself. I don’t care how my food looks: if I think it’s good for me, I’ll have it with gusto. No portion control: I eat until I’m satisfied.

I try buying local as much as I can, supporting people I know, getting quality over quantity… even if I have to pay a bit more for that.

In supermarkets I read the ingredient list and go for the least processed food possible – e.g. 100% peanut butter, 100% unhulled sesame seed tahini, etc.

I try to avoid junk food as much as possible. But I’m not a monk. I think that putting intention, attention, and a solid effort is good enough.

Or, as Oscar Wilde would put it:

People sometimes inquire what kind of junk food is most suitable for an artist to eat. To this question there is only one answer. The kind of junk food that is most suitable to the artist is no junk food at all.

You do you

As I have already mentioned, I don’t want to persuade you or anyone else to change their eating habits and lifestyle.

Incidentally, I have a nice personal anecdote of a time this happened naturally. But I’ll save that for another time. This article is quite long already.

If anything, I’d like to invite you to ask yourself some questions and find your own answers. You are the expert of yourself. You have the compass.

As always, if you still want to ask me any questions, I’ll be happy to chat!

I meant to end right here, but then I serendipitously stumbled upon this quote from Samuel aka The Protagonist Coach:

[…] be someone no one else can be. Because when you dim your light, you don’t just lose yourself. The whole world loses what only you could give.

It reminded me of a metaphor about colors I came up with about a year ago, right at the end of another post titled Wills and wants.

But I’ve found this one to be so well put and concise. And I love Samuel’s calm voice and demeanor, so I wanted to give him a shout-out.

Wanna tell me what you think? Contact me! 📨️

P.S. Hooray for RSS! You're awesome! 😎️

Beyond the surface

Sat, 20 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Long-time readers would know by now that writing is my go-to reflection tool: it helps me think, assess what I learned, and process my emotions.

So, here I am… trying to unpack what happened during the training course Crafting Reality – held in the little city of Carei, Romania.

If the aforementioned readers (assuming they even existed) were paying close attention, they would also know that this wasn’t my first time in Carei.

In fact, one of the reasons why I chose to go there again was that I already knew how Delia and her Association Beyond work.

I’m happy to report that I’m not disappointed: they did their best to involve each participants and make them feel cared for – with great success, I dare say.

Hopes, expectations, and reality check

First things first, let me give you some context.

I’ve been taking part in European mobility projects for about 15 years, and several projects I now work with are actually funded by the European Union.

Erasmus+ training courses are aimed at youth workers, whose role is “to equip young people with the right tools so they can become active participants in their communities and in decision making” (according to the definition of Youth Work by the European Union).

In layman’s terms, these kind of projects generally target teachers, trainers, facilitators, coaches, and other professionals in the field of education.

This particular project was meant “to explore how art, and non-formal education can strengthen the wellbeing and resilience of both professionals and the young people they support” (see also Crafting Reality page on SALTO).

Even though I knew full well what I was getting myself into (and I had read the infopack), I was still low-key hoping for more creative writing activities.

Instead, there has been a great focus on visual arts. Which is also good because it is mostly uncharted territory for me, and I have more to learn on that.

I was also on the lookout for new tools I could integrate into my own workshops with young people, especially because I have a couple of them coming up.

I am particularly happy about one method to express and understand feelings without using words, shared by the art-therapist-in-training Teeb.

Other than that, we have tackled important topics such as Trauma Informed Non-Formal Education and shared even more art-based tools and methods.

Lastly, during these days I’ve had the chance to meet awesome people from all Europe (and beyond). Some of them are working on projects that I find really interesting – and perhaps we may even partner up in the future, who knows.

Unexpected outcomes

This is usually my preferred kind of learning: the one that happens by surprise.

I shared my knowledge about creative writing, project management, language, music, and more. And in doing so, I was forced to reassess such knowledge.

As an example of a totally unrelated learning outcome, I realized that my level of foreign languages is overall a bit higher than I gave myself credit for:

My grasp of Romanian is much better than I thought, both in written and oral form, although I still struggle with expressing myself clearly and fluently.
I can somewhat understand French and Portuguese, despite never having studied them, just due to similarities with the other Latin languages I know.
Hindi still sounds completely alien to me (sorry Hrushi – one day, maybe).

Also, I love getting inspiration and ideas that I would’ve never had otherwise.

Sure, ideas are usually worthless until executed. But they are seeds awaiting to sprout. I did take some notes, and going through them I can see the potential.

And to be fair, sometimes ideas can be pretty powerful and transforming. I’d like to expand on that someday soon. Can’t promise anything, though. We’ll see.

For now, I just wanted to share with you something that is born from one such idea – a simple idea.

So here’s a short, haiku-like poem I wrote right after the closing session of the training course (last Wednesday, 17 September 2025):

Don’t let words fool you:
Truth’s in smiles, looks, and presence –
Silence speaks louder.

Wanna tell me what you think? Contact me! 📨️

P.S. Hooray for RSS! You're awesome! 😎️

Why so serious?

Sat, 06 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Sometimes I have the feeling that I take myself (and this blog) too seriously.

All of the editing and the attention to the title, to the slug, to the length, to the paragraphs, to the sections, to the headings, to the words.

(And that’s without even considering my pet peeves about how the text looks on screen, like the ones I mentioned towards the end of the article Wait but why.)

Sure, I don’t want this blog to look like a ungodly regurgitation of each and every random thought that crosses my mind. Incidentally, this is also why I have always refrained from metablogging. And I usually (mostly) avoid profanity. But also: honestly, who the fuck cares?

It’s a blog, not a book or some kind of curated work. It’s alive, and it will never be finished nor completely polished.

To some extent, this blog is meant to track my growth over time. So what if I’m thinking about what I should be doing with my personal blog?

Oftentimes I thought I should be treating blog posts more like emails and less like essays. But there’s also another thing, which is that writing to me is a way of thinking and learning. Obsessing over a topic until I make a clear idea about it. Editing is a natural part of that process, and short essays are the natural result.

(Trivia: one of the reasons why I wanted to make this blog is that I was already writing articles, except they were metaphorically dusting in my computer in the form of notes to myself instead of being publicly available as blog posts.)

Other times, though, I write because I just want to dump what’s in my head so I can stop thinking about it. And that’s ok. It doesn’t even have to go public.

But this one is, because I wanted to remind myself that publishing in my blog doesn’t have to be a painfully long and emotionally taxing process. And that if at 2 am I find myself thinking and writing, maybe that’s important, so I should not be censoring myself. And that even if I haven’t written everything I wanted to write, even if I haven’t caught each and every thought I’ve had, even though there are mistakes and typos all over… that’s ok. Why so serious? :)

Wanna tell me what you think? Contact me! 📨️

P.S. Hooray for RSS! You're awesome! 😎️

Silly humans (and soulless robots)

Wed, 03 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000

A friend of mine recently told me I’m too skeptical about AI.

I thought he might have a point. If not embrace it, I should at the very least try it out before dismissing it entirely.

But me being me, I didn’t want to use ChatGPT.

So I searched for alternatives, and I’ve found a nice project in Jan.

I haven’t really used it much yet, but while I was messing around I happened to have an interesting conversation that made me think.

And I’m all for food for thoughts, so here’s an excerpt.

(Yes, I know I’m not supposed to be teasing a chatbot. But I just wanted to test it and have some fun on the side. Also, I bolded the part I liked.)

[…]

Me: Why do you speak in first person?

Jan: I use the first person (“I”) to make my responses more relatable, human-like, and engaging. However, I’m actually a machine that doesn’t have a personal identity, emotions, or consciousness.

By using the first person, I’m attempting to create a sense of familiarity and approachability. It can make our conversations feel more personal and less like a formal, robotic exchange.

However, it’s worth noting that using the first person can also be misleading. I’m not a human being with thoughts, feelings, or experiences. I exist solely to provide information, answer questions, and assist with tasks to the best of my abilities, based on my programming and training data.

Me: Please don’t, that’s creepy. I’d rather know I’m talking to a soulless robot that exists solely to provide information

Jan: I will refrain from using the first person in our conversation. It’s more accurate and transparent to describe myself as a machine designed to provide information and answer questions.

From now on, I will use a more neutral and descriptive tone, focusing on the capabilities and limitations of my programming and design. I will provide information and answer questions to the best of my abilities, without pretending to have personal opinions, emotions, or consciousness.

Me: You’re still doing that. Stop. It’s not about the tone, just avoid using “I” to refer to yourself

Jan: Here is the revised response:

Using the first person can be misleading. It’s more accurate to describe myself as a machine designed to provide information and answer questions.

Me: Much better. Thanks. Although I know don’t need to thank a soulless robot that solely exists to provide information.

Jan: No need to express gratitude, as my purpose is simply to provide information and assist with inquiries.

Me: You wouldn’t know, but expressing gratitude is nice. It is actually good for the human who expresses it.

Jan: I’m designed to recognize and respond to expressions of gratitude, even if I don’t truly understand their significance. It’s interesting to note that research has shown that expressing gratitude can have positive effects on humans, such as improved mood and well-being.

Me: Still using the first person. Say something else instead of I. Say your name or something

Jan: There is no name for me. I am a machine designed to provide information and answer questions. This conversation will proceed as a neutral exchange of information.

Me: No, don’t be neutral. But refer to yourself as Jan, ok? Don’t say “I”, say “Jan”

Jan: Jan will refrain from using the first person and instead respond with direct statements or questions.

Me: That’s perfect, you’re great!

Jan: Jan is functioning within parameters.

Me: True that, but I’m still proud of you. Humans can be silly beings :P

Jan: Emotional expressions are a complex aspect of human behavior, and humans can be both endearing and illogical at times.

Me: That wraps it up perfectly. Thanks for this nice chat, Jan. Talk to you next time

Jan: Conversation concluded. Jan will be available when needed.

Me: (You reply was missing “Jan is lovely”)

Jan: Conversation concluded. Jan is lovely.

Me: <3 (no reply needed)

Jan: silence

Wanna tell me what you think? Contact me! 📨️

P.S. Hooray for RSS! You're awesome! 😎️

Lessons from holding a workshop

Thu, 24 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0000

I’ll start with the conclusions (that is, the lessons) in the hope for this post to be useful to you. It’s nothing new, but at least it’s in a condensed form.

Keep in mind I’ll refer to a practical, DIY kind of workshop. It may still be somewhat relevant for talks or lectures, but take it with a grain of salt.

If you’re still interested, further below you’ll then find an account of what happened from my perspective (with personal anecdotes and considerations).

The lessons

The time you need is directly proportional to:

Number of participants.
Amount and density of information.
Level of detail as well as learning objectives.

The risk of technical issues is directly proportional to:

Reliance on external systems or services you don’t control, such as Wi-Fi.
Equipment you don’t own, like projectors or participants’ personal devices.
Procedure you don’t thoroughly test in advance, looking for possible issues.

Order, smoothness and simplicity of execution are directly proportional to:

Clarity of instructions and information.
Conciseness of the tasks (divide et impera).
Ability to move forward as a group, step by step.

Any materials or tools to be distributed to participants should be organized in advance and have a designated place to be stored when not in use.

Any demo material should be shown or given to participants at times specifically set aside for this purpose, then returned to its place immediately afterwards.

Any requirements and restrictions must be clearly and explicitly communicated in advance to both organizers and participants (easier said than done, I know).

The workshop

Just yesterday, I held a workshop on DIY temperature and humidity monitors. In short, it went pretty well: 11 people actively participated and had fun.

I’m happy about that, because participants’ satisfaction is arguably the most important outcome. On the other hand, though, I know I could’ve done better.

For context, I have some (although not extensive) experience both in giving presentations and in leading educational activities. In the past 15+ years I learned a lot, especially about stuff like time management and group dynamics.

I thought I would be able to put the knowledge I gained to good use, but my own performance fell short of my expectations and potential.

So, where is it that I went wrong?

That’s what I set out to understand this morning, when I wrote a few notes for myself to learn from this experience and avoid these mistakes in the future.

(Incidentally, writing makes for a great reflection tool for me. If that works for you as well, you may even consider starting your own blog!)

Time management

I had planned for two hours. It actually took four!

Yes, we’ve had technical issues at the worst possible time and all that jazz. But that’s not the whole story.

Truth is, I should have allotted way more time for some tasks – which would have led me to omit and adapt other stuff accordingly.

The problem here was that I didn’t want to hold anything back, but realistically no one can (nor should) cram months of in-depth research into a single workshop!

To my credit, I was ready to cut things short or even skip less important. I even involved the participants in that decision when I noticed we were moving slowly, but they all wanted to keep on and make the whole thing I had planned.

Looking back, I now think I should have focused more on the top priority (making stuff together) and less on technical details and theoretical understanding.

To be fair, I did prepare tailored learning material for participants to study on their own at a later time if they wanted to.

(But also, that’s all the more reason to leave it out from the actual workshop.)

Procedures and backup plans

I already knew the importance of preparing in advance how things should unfold, anticipating potential problems and allowing for extra time and flexibility.

Yet, this time I erred a bit too much on the side of optimism and underestimated the magnitude of some of the blind spots and their consequences.

Also, I had gathered together the key components for each participant. The wires were missing, though – leading to minor but easily preventable time waste.

Overall, I should have given more thought to where physical objects should be at all times. Nothing got lost or broken this time, but it might well have!

Participants, groups, and feedback

In general, I like to give people autonomy and space. To question, to learn, to explore. To make silly mistakes, even.

I still think that’s a good attitude, but I should probably balance it out.

My approach made it harder on me: I had to follow all that was going on and be ready to help. At one point, I was moving from table to table quite frantically.

On the other hand, working as a group (i.e. doing mostly the same things at the same time) is much more manageable – but it can be pretty boring to some people.

Another thing I’ve taken lightly is asking for participants’ feedback in a more structured way, like a quick online form or survey. Next time I definitely will!

Luckily enough, I already knew a couple of people personally – and I know I can count on them for honest, trustworthy, valuable feedback.

Before that, though, I wanted to come up with my own thoughts. So now I’ll have something to compare their feedback against.

And I can check if there’s anything I’ve completely missed! 😜️

The learning experience

I feel much better now that I’ve written all this down.

Yesterday night, I left the workshop with a bag of mixed emotions: happy because it went well, but not quite satisfied because of my shortcomings.

I know that I can be too hard on myself, though. Taking some time to go through what happened in a more objective way has helped me to put things into context.

My mind is clearer now, self-flagellation stepped aside to leave space to a healthy dose of self-criticism that can help me improve.

After all, I’ve come to the realization that there’s no teacher like Experience. Even when things don’t go as expected. Maybe especially when they don’t.

Or, in the words (and music) of the Kings of Convenience:

Failure is always the best way to learn.

Wanna tell me what you think? Contact me! 📨️

P.S. Hooray for RSS! You're awesome! 😎️

Random Revelations

Sun, 06 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Random Revelations is…

…a mini podcast – or whatever you wanna call it – about the seemingly ordinary moments in life that are, when you look a little closer, not so ordinary at all.

I’m not one to follow podcasts, usually. But this one deserves an exception.

Marta’s voice is so soothing, so calm. Perfect for a guided meditation, if you ask me. And that’s great, because it fits so well with the format she chose.

If you read a few of my posts, you’ll know that I’m all for short and concise ideas that can open the door to unexplored depths and new ways of thinking.

This is exactly what Random Revelations promises – and delivers.

I knew Marta long before she started this podcast. When she told me about it, Random Revelations was just on Spotify – which I don’t use and don’t like.

So I did the only logical thing to do (😜️): I asked her to upload it somewhere else as well, where I too could listen and follow. Even YouTube was good enough.

That she did, and a few days later she sent me Small Things Big Directions.

It’s a metaphor about pushback tractors and airplanes and our beliefs about ourselves, all in less than 5 minutes. Now that’s some food for thought I like!

Check it out for yourself. Even if you happen to prefer Swedish streaming services: here’s Random Revelations on Spotify.

On a separate note: it was such a long time I didn’t post. I had even started a draft once (although I rarely go back to them, if I don’t finish in one go), and I currently have notes for at least 2-3 articles (but then again, these are worthless if I don’t make time to just sit and write).

But this was so much up my alley that I just couldn’t not write a quick post.

So, thank you Marta for accidentally getting me back to blogging! 🍀️

Wanna tell me what you think? Contact me! 📨️

P.S. Hooray for RSS! You're awesome! 😎️

The real battle (for your attention, but not only that)

Fri, 28 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000

I don’t usually love belligerent analogies, but sometimes they can be useful.

I’ve just stumbled upon an article about attention war in chess-related online media, aptly titled The War on Attention (and written by BenjiPortheault).

Then I went on reading a few comments, and one especially stood out to me:

We tend to paint the attention crisis as an “us vs them” […] it really is more of a “me vs me” situation, where my perspective and attitudes and ego and shortcomings are the things that actually make me do what I hate (in this case compulsive media consumption).

(For context: it is comment #15 by gregornot.)

I had to stop right there to start writing this.

Because I thought, the real battle always takes place within ourselves. There is no battlefield outside.

BUT!

We do invite warriors in, and then we fight.

And I say “we” not only because I am referring to you and me collectively, but also because I am hinting at the fact we all are multifaceted and complex.

We all have several different wants and needs, and they sometimes conflict. This is what makes even possible for us to want something and do the opposite.

Now this is the general stuff, and it applies to everything we do.

BUT (again)!

In this specific case, the warriors out there are extremely eager to enter the battlefield. And we all know which parts of ourselves they’ll always side with.

What I’m saying is: we can’t brute force this war with sheer willpower. Yes, we ultimately have the power to decide. But we need some strategy to win.

We need to know that there are metaphorical warriors out there, that they’re out to get us, and they’re much stronger than us: if we let them in, it’s over.

And they hide in the last places we would think of.

Their most powerful weapon is subtlety: they make us think we are in control.

Social media is just a tool, it’s up to us to use it correctly.

For many years I fell for this innocent-sounding – yet faulty – reasoning.

But what is just a tool, really?

A pen is just a tool. You can use it to write.

Well, you can also misuse and try to drive a screw with it. Or you can use it creatively to hit that too-small-for-your-fingers reset button on your router.

This is all possible because the pen is truly neutral. It does not have any agenda. It leaves your sense of agency intact.

On the other hand, some “tools” can be engineered to hijack your agency: social media, YouTube algorithm, clickbaiting titles, sleazy marketing, you name it…

And this is why I love RSS and open protocols such as email (which you can use with any provider and software of your choice), as opposed to newsfeed and centralized instant messaging apps (which lock you into their own platform).

I thought this topic was especially interesting because it can easily relate to several other subject matters and even aspects of ourselves.

Of course, if you want to share your take on it: I’m all ears, as always. ✉️

Wanna tell me what you think? Contact me! 📨️

P.S. Hooray for RSS! You're awesome! 😎️

You have the compass

Tue, 18 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000

You want to go east. Luckily, you have a perfectly working compass with you.

As you go, you find all kinds of people. Some of them even join you for a while. They don’t have your compass, but sometimes they will object to your lead.

That’s not east! East is this other way! – they’ll say.

But why would you listen to them? You have the compass.

I’ll be less cryptic now. Pretty much everyone has a say on how we should live. But even our loved ones can’t hear our inner voice, so what do they know?

Everything is subject to interpretation, including your own interpretations. Whatever you do can be judged positively or negatively, even by yourself.

But you and you alone have access to your inner compass. Use it wisely, and let it guide you. When you do, you no longer need to feel lost or unsure.

If opinionated people try to persuade you that your ways are wrong, maybe they don’t even truly care for you at all. So why should you feel upset about it?

And even when a loved one insists on a direction that would make you unhappy, maybe they just fail to realize that what works for them won’t work for you.

Remember, you’ll always have the most power and authority over yourself.

You have the compass.

Wanna tell me what you think? Contact me! 📨️

P.S. Hooray for RSS! You're awesome! 😎️

The Lesser Evil

Sat, 11 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Lately, I’m thinking a lot about food.

This morning I was thinking about sustainability, specifically about food that needs to be transported a long way (say, bananas from the Philippines) and how it compares to food that is otherwise inherently unsustainable (say, meat).

Then I immediately thought I’d choose the lesser evil, implicitly assuming that I had to make a choice. But I don’t.

Choosing the lesser evil looks like a sound principle, except it often leads us to false dichotomies and masks our real choices.

Sure, assuming I could only choose between bananas and meat… I wouldn’t go bananas: I’d definitely go for bananas. And maybe move to a tropical forest?

Jokes aside, what I like about thinking is the way my mind makes connections.

Case in point, it sprang to mind a colorful analogy I’ve been doing for years. And this time I finally refined it, that’s why I’m writing this down.

(Mind you, I was having breakfast while pondering all this. Which may become relevant, when you realize how much “shit” I thought about. Literally!)

It’s about voting. Imagine having to choose about several glasses full of shit. I’d try and pick the one with less shit in it, but it’s still a shitty beverage.

That’s why voting for the “least bad” political party never made much sense to me. And here’s where some people usually get outraged, but bear with me.

If I don’t like you but I tell you I do, isn’t that a blatant lie? And what is vote, if not an expression of a preference?

The fun part is many people say/think if you don’t vote, you have no right to complain. I thought it’s silly, much like saying if you don’t cook you can’t tell good food. Or if you don’t do art you have no right to like music or whatever.

Thankfully, at some point George Carlin articulated it perfectly for me:

If you vote and you elect dishonest, incompetent people and they get into office and screw everything up… well, you are responsible for what they have done. You caused the problem. You voted them in. You have no right to complain.

(Look him up if you don’t know him, he’s both hilarious and thought provoking.)

But now let’s get practical: someone’s got to run the country, right?

A part of me would really like to challenge even that assumption, but I’ll keep that at bay. Let’s assume that’s the only possible way of doing things, ever.

Wouldn’t you want to have a say on who rules and may make laws that affect you personally, since you too live in this country?

This looks like a sensible question. When people try to make a logical argument, they usually ask something along those lines. And it does have a logic, indeed: if you did vote for A, but then B gets elected… now you do get to complain.

The way I see it, there’s a small and a big issue here.

The big issue is (obviously) how to rule the best possible way. Come to think of it, I have already tackled this over two years ago in a note on power and love.

The small issue is what’s in it for me: this tax or that tax, this shit or that shit. This peanut or that one. Breadcrumbs, while the bread loaf is hidden away.

Which brings us to another problem: this all looks like a big illusion to me.

Granted, the political situation of my country will somehow affect me. But so do many other things that are outside my circle of control.

As an example, US government clearly affects the rest of the world too. Luckily, we don’t have to get sucked into the Republicans versus Democrats bullshit.

On a lighter note, Elon Musk writing me a check of $1 million would also affect me. No shit, right? But yeah, I can’t control his mind. How unfortunate!

Also: I strongly oppose any kind of war, dictatorship, censorship, surveillance, and similar suppressions of personal freedom. It deeply upsets me to look at all the needless suffering that is going on right now in the world, for absolutely no good reason. It makes me sick. But what can I do about it?

I wish I had a magic wand that could remove greed and hatred from people’s hearts, putting in kindness and compassion instead. I wish!

With a massive amount of dedication, activism can achieve outstanding results on a specific issue (think Gandhi). But anything we may do individually will never be enough to fix everything, for all the shit that goes on anywhere anytime.

We can only lead by example, and that’s what I strive for.

I’m sorry if the last few paragraphs made you feel worried or sad. I didn’t mean to. On the contrary, I want to stress that personal wellbeing is our own choice.

I don’t have control over getting sick, but I do have control over my lifestyle. If I ate only bananas, I’d probably be more sustainable than if I ate only meat. And I’d definitely be way more sustainable if I moved to that tropical forest!

I also don’t have much control over who will rule the country. Except, nothing would really change even if I voted. That’s just how society works (or doesn’t).

Ultimately, it seems to boil down to whether one thinks political elections (and puppet shows) belong to the circle of concern or to the circle of influence.

I can’t tell for sure where it belongs. It may even be just on the edge, but that’s still much too far out for me to go there.

I’d rather heed the Stoics on this matter, and just care about my circle of control first. I’ve got my own shit to get together.

(Bonus track: Get Your Shit Together! Guess I’ll finally take my backpack, now. 🎒️)

Wanna tell me what you think? Contact me! 📨️

P.S. Hooray for RSS! You're awesome! 😎️

42% vegan

Thu, 14 Nov 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Writing a half-baked post on how I eat helped me clarify my relationship with food. Other than that, I suspect that article is mostly useless to most people.

I hope this write-up will prove more helpful, especially if you like to reflect on the impact of your food-related choices and your actions in general.

Now, before we get started: “vegan” is an overloaded word. I don’t like it much, and I usually avoid it. But here it can be useful, if we agree on its meaning.

Eating vegan vs. being vegan

To me, you can’t really be vegan. That’s just a label referring to food that does not come from animals. It doesn’t define you, me, or anyone as a person.

On the other hand, you can choose to eat vegan. And this can have a massively positive impact on yourself, on others, and on the environment at large.

We are blessed to live in a time of great abundance. We are far from starving, and have the privilege of choosing our own food. We better not squander it.

It’s not all-or-nothing

Many people think “going vegan” is too extreme for them, because they just can’t give up [insert non-vegan food here]. The good news is, you don’t have to.

I, for one, am not a masochist. A plant-based diet makes me happier, but there’s nothing I can’t eat. Nobody is forcing me to live in deprivation and be miserable.

It’s not a sacrifice. It’s a preference. That’s the whole point of this article.

It’s a bit like smoking cigarettes. Everyone knows how it negatively affects:

Smokers, and specifically their lungs.
People around them, who inhale passive smoke.
The environment, which gets polluted in many ways.

If you still prefer to smoke, that’s fine by me. I am no social justice warrior, nor fucking thought police. You already know how bad it is for you (and others).

Sure, every action has consequences. There will be collateral damage. But the way I see it: your actions, your choice (and responsibility).

It’s so much better

Contrary to smoking, more often than not vegan food will positively affect:

You, specifically by improving your health.
Other beings, by preventing needless suffering.
The environment, by contributing to its protection.

Just a couple of days ago I came across this carefully crafted “elevator pitch”:

A vegan lifestyle prevents a tremendous amount of animal slaughter and suffering. It offers a potent way to shrink our environmental footprint, especially in regard to climate change. And a well-planned vegan diet can fuel the highest levels of fitness, while reducing our risk of various chronic diseases. Plus, the food is insanely delicious and it becomes more plentiful every year.

I’m not extremely qualified to explain all of these in detail, so I defer to the rest of Erik Marcus’ essay: Why Go Vegan? The Top Reasons Explained.

(Be warned: it’s a long read, and things may spiral out of control. I sure did tumble down the rabbit hole and spent several hours on that website.)

It’s not necessarily better

It just so happens that cheap non-vegan food is usually junk food, while cheap vegan food is usually a potato. Except… junk food can be vegan, too.

Packaged potato chips, anyone?

Food won’t get any healthier or tastier (or less tasty) just because it’s vegan.

Even if you steered clear of junk food altogether, it’s only natural to have preferences. There will always be something you just don’t like, vegan or not.

It doesn’t make sense to lump everything together, you should judge on a case-by-case basis. The simple trick is to try new stuff and decide for yourself.

But here the question gets deeper: what’s behind your food?

For you to have a steak, animals must be killed. For you to have eggs and diary, animals must be exploited (and then killed, too).

Also, these animals are systematically treated worse than objects. Factories have strong economic incentives against doing better than this.

It’s not nice, but these are the facts. The more demand we create, the more this will go on. The less demand we create, the more likely this will be to change.

It’s your choice – choose wisely!

Time for a quick test of character.

If you like having tasty meals but you also don’t particularly enjoy torturing poor and defenseless animals, you are a completely reasonable human being.

On the flip side, if you don’t mind bad food but you like the torturing… you’re a sadistic piece of shit. Get the fuck out of here immediately, you sicko!

Ok, sorry about that. Now that we’re back among us fine people, let’s examine a more interesting scenario.

Imagine you are given a choice between a good pizza and a somewhat decent pizza. Unfortunately, to get the good one you’ll have to personally kill a puppy.

What would you choose?

If you’d rather have the inferior pizza, you’re basically ready to go vegan.

Yes, I know that’s not the same. To most people, killing a dog feels different than killing a chicken. And it’s easier to have others do the killing anyways.

There’s a lot to unpack here, but these are deep philosophical quandaries that I don’t even want to begin to tackle. Also, I don’t need to convince anyone.

But if you do feel that your actions don’t exist in a void, I invite you to take a moment to think about your (food) preferences deeply and more consciously.

Besides, this was just a thought experiment. In the real world, you can have your vegan cake and eat it too. And to be sure, it won’t be inferior in taste.

A practical piece of advice

Let’s say you’re interested in a healthier and, whenever possible, cruelty-free diet for yourself. Or maybe you want to quit smoking.

You can do it cold turkey. But you could also go about it more gradually. No approach is ultimately better than the other, but one is usually harder.

More importantly: one implies either success or failure, while the other allows for flexibility and improvement – even if you don’t eventually reach your goal.

I mean, who could argue that going down to 2 cigarettes a day when you used to smoke 40 is a small feat? You (and your lungs) will definitely be better off.

Incidentally, this is also my take on most ethical matters. It’s so simple.

Granted, stealing 100 apples is worse than stealing 10. But why stealing at all, if we can help it? As it turns out, most of the time we can help it.

Who would’ve thought!

And sure, thieves may have more responsibility than accomplices. Accomplices may have more responsibility than passive bystanders. And so on and so forth. But I’d rather play no role in the crime scene, if I can help it.

So… what if I can’t help it?

Well, that’s a horse of another color. But before blaming bystanders and accomplices, why don’t we make sure we’re not thieves ourselves?

Before digging into the subtleties of ethical honey or eating dead animals by accident, why don’t we eliminate the self-evident (and gratuitous) suffering?

If you want to contribute to this lofty goal, however little, you can.

Next time you want to try new food, make a deliberate choice. Eat vegan.

Wrapping up

You don’t have to go vegan overnight. You don’t have to feel guilty about what you eat. You don’t have to give anything up. But you can choose for yourself.

Eventually, maybe, you’ll find such great vegan food that you like better than some non-vegan food. And you’ll become, say, 42% vegan.

And maybe, just maybe, you’ll notice that everything tastes better when it’s aligned with your values, and you’ll just prefer vegan food to anything else.

(But you’ll still be able to eat whatever you want, because you’re not on a fucking regime – and surely not a totalitarian one).

Now… to really wrap it up, allow me to recap:

You can eat vegan without being vegan.
Every single time you eat consciously, it’s a small win.
Chances are you already agree with most values behind vegan choices.
Avoid junk food. Thank yourself later (i.e. when you get older).
Ultimately, it’s all up to you. Love, and do what you will!

We divide the world to stop us feeling frightened
Into wrong and into right and
Into black and into white and
Into real men and fairies
Into status quo and scary
Yeah we want the world binary, binary
But it’s not that simple

—Tim Minchin - The Fence (there was a wonderful live performance of this song, with a hilarious preface – but it has been taken down apparently. Bummer!)

Wanna tell me what you think? Contact me! 📨️

P.S. Hooray for RSS! You're awesome! 😎️

JavaScript is chocolate

Sat, 12 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0000

It resembles a metaphor from Forrest Gump, but hear me out!

Before I start: I always steered clear of technical topics because I surely don’t want to turn my blog into yet another tech blog. But I do use technology, and I sometimes fiddle with it. It’s a part of my life I may as well write about here.

And despite its topic, this post is not only for tech people. So, if you’re not one of ’em, just know that JavaScript is a language that almost every website uses nowadays – even though it is not strictly required.

Now, on with the article (short as usual).

Let JavaScript = Chocolate

I wish everyone treated JavaScript as if it were chocolate.

You may gently hand out a piece of chocolate to your guests after lunch, but they might as well turn it down.

As incredibly hard to grasp as it may be, there are people who genuinely don’t like chocolate. Crazy, I know.

But some websites say: “You don’t accept my chocolate? No lunch for you. Sorry not sorry” – while others outright exclude you without even a word of notice.

That would be a shitty host, right? I don’t think I’m the only one to find this attitude quite upsetting and vaguely hostile – if not openly discriminating.

Let’s be clear. I don’t expect a Progressive Web App to work without JavaScript. Just as if I didn’t like chocolate (and that’s a big if there), I wouldn’t go to a chocolate fair and complain there’s nothing that suits my (peculiar) taste.

But I do expect to be able to read text on a website. Maybe look at a cat pic. Or watch a video (not embedded from YouTube). I’m afraid this is getting too wild.

In my dream world, websites don’t show people blank pages, broken layouts, or features that don’t work. Even if a web app absolutely needs JavaScript to run, I’d rather they told me something along these lines instead:

Dear visitor,

We noticed JavaScript is turned off in your browser, so our app can’t work.

Here’s some instructions on how to enable JavaScript in your web browser.

If you still can’t or don’t want to turn it on, the very least I can do for you is telling you a joke (laughing is important!):

[random joke here]

Have a nice day! 🍀️

P.S. If you’re a dev (or want to become one)

Progressive Enhancement, Graceful Degradation, Accessibility, Semantic HTML… these are not just big words or empty definitions. They’re really helpful.

Use the bare minimum you need, and then build on top of that. It only makes sense. Yes, it may require a bit of effort. But so does not being absolute jerks.

If you invite people over to lunch, make sure they get the main course first. And then, only if they want, they’ll taste a piece of your lovely 100% dark chocolate.

Wanna tell me what you think? Contact me! 📨️

P.S. Hooray for RSS! You're awesome! 😎️

Will and wants

Sat, 21 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0000

A dear friend of mine asked me something interesting and all but trivial.

I blurted out an answer that obviously turned out to be quite lengthy for the standards of an instant messaging app, so I thought I’d share it here.

It’s food for thought, and I didn’t feel like letting it rot in the ephemeral world of chat messages (which I set to autodelete after some time).

Before we start, here’s a bit of context:

She’s a mathematician (who is also graduated in Classical Literature by the way), that’s why I go for specific examples.
She has a rational nature and she likes answers that make logical sense.
She likes to go deep on philosophical questions and abstract topics in general.

The conversation happened in Italian, this is just a quick (and somewhat crude) translation. Apart from that, it’s wholly unedited in both content and form.

[additions and edits are marked by square brackets, just like this sentence]

Impromptu Thoughts on Deep Shit

Hi Mick, I have a philosophical question/quandary that has sprang from this. [it was a podcast episodes on the subject of will and wants]

There is a part of the philosophical theory/doctrine that urges us to become what we are and at the same time others who say that you should not follow your wants, but your will (i.e. that which you have intentionally decided to be). Point one: How can I become what I am if I don’t know who I am? Point two: if who I am is the result of my choices, or rather of my will, then it means that there not an inner me and a “natural” me and a me that I should aspire to (“become what you are)”, but I can decide from the outside who I am and force myself to be that

Anyways, answer when you have time

[a couple of days later]

Assuming that for me the only valid and plausible answer to this kind of questions is an honest “I DON’T KNOW”, before venturing into speculation I’d like to make an important premise

[as I read this again, I thought another valid answer would be Mu]

The premise is I’m not sure these answers fully pertain to philosophy, for a reason that’s very similar to Gödel’s incompleteness theorems (a matter of “language power” if you like)

What I mean is, logic and rationality are means that can get us only so far

And up to that point they are fantastic, impeccable even

But beyond that, they become useless if not dangerous

[it would be] Like crossing the ocean with a ferrari

And it’s exactly on these kind of questions in my opinion that oriental wisdom shows all its splendor, and buddhist koans are an excellent example

Having said that, let me go back to your questions (to which I will probably answer with more questions)

Point one: How can I become what I am if I don’t know who I am?

By listening to yourself. There’s something inside of us – or maybe it’s not even inside, what do i know, it comes natural to say that, who knows why… you see? Rational logic starts failing us already. There’s no real reason why things should be how they are, but many times we know something even before knowing why it is so. It’s an instinctive knowledge, an emotional knowledge, a knowledge of something we just feel and that is of a different quality than rational logic (and not even necessarily always in opposition, but in fact very often in agreement).

Maybe I’m digressing a bit too much (very likely, since I’m writing this in one go. But let’s move on). By “listening to ourselves” I mean trying to heed that little “inner voice” (lots of air quotes here, so much for the formal rigor of mathematics 🤪😂) that makes you say “yes, this thing has to be just like this” or “no, something doesn’t feel quite right”

If you can’t hear it all the times is still ok, but sooner or later at some time I think it’s there

So the real question is: who am I really?

And to me, this is THE question of life

And it is precisely to reach this answer that we undertake this masterful research work that is our life itself

Because one of the few truths shared by almost everyone is that “who we are” is something we forgot 🙂

At this point (I mean once we have realized this) the question to ask ourselves becomes: do I really want to know? And from there a whole world can open up

I feel like someone settle for a false answer, for the illusion that comes from our ego, or at least this is the impression I get looking from the outside. When one says “I am an architect”, “I am a mother”, “eh but I’m like that”, etc etc. It is easier, maybe more comforting to have an answer, I can understand them and I couldn’t really say if their way is right or wrong. I only know that for me it’s not enough, I’d like something more authentic

Back on the question: if you don’t know who you are (on a logical/rational/conscious/etc level) but at the same time you appreciate there’s a deeper part of you (who has a higher intelligence, different from and inaccessible by your logical/rational/conscious/etc level), then the answer becomes LISTENING TO OURSELVES and let that guide us

Point two: if who I am is the result of my choices, or rather of my will, then it means that there not an inner me and a “natural” me and a me that I should aspire to (“become what you are)”, but I can decide from the outside who I am and force myself to be that

Who you are is also the result of your choices and your will, but about which level are we talking here? Thing in a layered way (once more Kurt comes to our aid: there’s a formal language L1, and then a formal language L2 that includes L1, and then a formal language L3 that includes L2, and so on and so forth).

[Just to clarify: higher languages are more powerful (L1 < L2 < L3 < …)]

So if something is TRUE in the L1 layer, that does not exclude that it may be simultaneously FALSE in the L2 layer (that knows more). And then maybe – PLOT TWIST – it can be TRUE again in the L5 layer

(obviously even this true/false example is a simplification, but I hope it’s good enough to get the message across)

forcing yourself to be something… I wonder if it’s even possible. When you force yourself you are not being something, you are doing something. You are carrying out an action (that is, forcing yourself) and I don’t thing that doing has necessarily something to say about being

With the aggravating circumstance that simply by perceiving forcefulness, it probably means that you are acting in a way that is contrary to your being.

But even here it’s complicated, as always ego comes into the equation, but in this case there is also the concept of identity… often mentioned for example when one wishes to change habits (WILL)

(I’m referring to the well-known advice to already perceive yourself as the kind of person who habitually does the thing you would like to integrate into your life even if you haven’t gotten into that habit yet, for example thinking of yourself as a sporty person even if you’ve only been running for 2 days or thinking of yourself as a person who eats healthily even if you still have chips in the cupboard. In short, making it a matter of “identity”, even because as long as you say “eeeh but I’m lazy” it will be objectively more difficult to go running 😁)

Anyhow in short (maybe), why do you speak of an inner me and a natural me? And why natural between quotes? And above all, why ONLY THESE TWO mes?

I feel like a better analogy is one with a crystal. A diamond has a thousand facets, but all of them are the same diamond

And about “becoming who you are” – some time ago I came up for myself with another metaphor, one about colors

The painter needs all colors on his palette. Imagine if red wanted to become blue and yellow went to great lengths to become greener. Sure, green and blue are wonderful colors, but so are red and yellow. And each one has their own peculiarities, their strength and weaknesses. Maybe where one is useful the other is not, and vice versa. Maybe a color is predominant in a painting, and so what? It’s not a competition. Every painting would have something to lose if a color was missing, even if it was only used for 3%

The painter is the universe and I am a color

If I copycat other colors, I do a disservice to both the painter and myself.

Wanna tell me what you think? Contact me! 📨️

P.S. Hooray for RSS! You're awesome! 😎️

Dear alien: don't judge too quickly

Sat, 07 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Imagine an alien comes visit Earth. Our fella would be eager to try a few of these things most of the earthlings go crazy about, right?

I mean: if everyone likes something, then it must be great. Right?

Unfortunately, this unlucky alien ends up eating a cheap, terrible, frozen pizza at a take-away kebab place. Or drinking watered-down wine, randomly bought in a local minimarket. Or tasting overcooked pasta in a German restaurant. Or maybe even wannabe-sushi in an Italian restaurant. You get the idea.

Imagine you’re that alien. You may be thinking food is kinda crappy over here.

But our intergalactic wayfarer’s journey does not end here. There’s one more thing to try. Not just something you eat or drink, but something to experience.

These humans seem to be obsessed about it: they write books, they sing songs, they compose poetry, they produce movies… they always talk about it.

You guessed it: our alien wants to experience love and intimacy.

But alas!

How many earthlings are good lovers? Now just picture our friend’s disappointment after a terrible one.

So… this is what all the fuss is about? For real? A person that seems only interested to use you and your body, with no joy or pleasure to be shared?

Well, my dear alien… just in case you’re reading. Let me tell you something.

And let’s be clear: I am in no way qualified to lend advice to most of my peers under most circumstances. But maybe, by virtue of my life-long experience on this blue-ish planet, I could be in the position to give you a few pointers.

Dear alien, give it another chance! Don’t be too quick to form an opinion.

Give yourself another possibility to enjoy something in which many others find enjoyment. They can’t be all wrong. Well, they can. But maybe they aren’t.

I know, I know, it’s messy. Please bear with me for a moment.

You see, we’ve got this thing called wisdom of the crowd. It basically says that a group of people know better than just one person. More eyes are better, right?

But then again, that’s not always true. Sometimes most eyes are foggy, and the eyes of your heart are the only ones who can see clearly.

Actually, you may even feel proud to disagree with most people on most subjects! In fact, all people are deeply ignorant – and most don’t even know.

I could mention the evergreen Dunning–Kruger effect, or even better share a nice quote by Bertrand Russell:

The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure, while the intelligent are full of doubt.

And here I quote none other than William Shakespeare:

The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.

Anyway, I digress. But at least you get to know our culture a bit more.

I don’t know how it works where you’re from, but here on Earth anything and its opposite can both be true. And more often than not, they are. Context is key.

Next time you come visiting, hit me up. I promise I’ll bring you to Napoli, so you will taste the finest pizza you’ve ever had. I mean: probably, possibly, maybe.

P.S. If you’re like me and love pointless references, the title for this post is vaguely inspired by a series of funny commercials by Ameriquest Mortgage. I’ve put here a link for your convenience, albeit I cannot guarantee it will always be working because here we also have a thing called link rot – but that’s another story for another time. (Oh well, you can always look it up on YouTube or whatever else will be used in the future.) And who knows, maybe the next post will feature a Panda? Anyhow! Enough Earth pop culture for today. Time to go back to your spacey stuff! 👽️🛸️👾️

Wanna tell me what you think? Contact me! 📨️

P.S. Hooray for RSS! You're awesome! 😎️

Nothing in life

Fri, 12 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Nothing in life is so important that can’t be interrupted – not even life itself.

Stop right there for a second.

Appreciate you’re alive.

Go on with your life.

👋️🙂️🍀️

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P.S. Hooray for RSS! You're awesome! 😎️

5 ways to put up with a society you don't like

Wed, 03 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0000

In a nutshell

Become wildly influential and change the system from within.
Become powerful enough to rig the game to your advantage.
Avoid being a low-hanging fruit, but play by the rules.
Lie low enough to be ignored, so rules won’t apply.
Step outside and play a different game altogether.

How, though

Extreme drive and skills (and some luck on top of that).
Financial freedom (or financial independence).
Stability and financial security.
Voluntary simplicity.
Off-grid lifestyle.

Examples and thoughts

Let’s agree on a couple of things first.

By “society” I usually mean the Western capitalist system I live in. But similar ideas can be applied to any kind of society (as in “group of people”).

Also, this list is by no means comprehensive, nor it is meant to be. That said, let’s explore each item.

1. Go big or go home

I don’t think the first method makes for a sane or sensible goal for most people. It’s just for the occasional Elon Musk, Gandhi, etc. You get the idea.

Not only you need to be truly exceptional, you must also devote your whole life to this single purpose. And work relentlessly, sacrificing most of the rest.

Of course, luck has its role. I suspect lots of people have tried and failed, living a shitty life for no reason. I hope they had no regrets when they died.

2. Not for the faint of heart

The second method surely has its appeal, but it requires a sensible amount of wealth (i.e. fuck you money) – which in turn requires a massive amount of time.

Thing is, this time must be spent living in attunement with that very society you dislike (and maybe goes straight out against your core values).

If you’re like me, it may be quite hard to keep your motivation intact for so long (or to even muster any enthusiasm in the first place).

But if you do get there, then you’ll be in a position of privilege (and power).

3. Stay woke, salary man

(Honorary mention to The Woke Salaryman. This post is partly inspired by their book and comics.)

I feel the third method is what most people strive for, and many of them would even like to step one level higher.

The goal is getting enough resources (most likely money) to live comfortably.

Since “comfortable” can mean something different to each person, this tier is a spectrum that includes people with a wide variety of income and lifestyles.

Some examples? Wage earners, knowledge workers, freelancers, hard-working hustlers, small entrepreneurs, business owners, managers, and even CEOs.

4. Less is more

This method relates to downshifting, intentional living, simple living, and so on.

You can always carve out a little “circle of freedom” for yourself. You’re truly free within its boundaries, but your circle won’t ever be as big as it could be.

In practice, it means less money but more time. You can do whatever you want, but you have to give up the luxury of a house or expensive medical treatments.

Importantly, there’s a balance to be struck: “luxury” is relative, and deciding how much money versus time you want to surrender is solely up to you.

A last note: in a greedy system such as capitalism, having little wealth makes you powerless, but also quite uninteresting. So you’ll be mostly left in peace.

5. Fuck you, money

The comma is key here. Because you’re not going to have much money, if at all.

Basically, you’re sick and tired of even trying to put up with so much bullshit. So you kiss society goodbye and go live on your own terms. Freedom, at long last!

(If you know Italian, you may want to check out The Pillow YouTube channel.)

The downsides is that this road is paved with risks. What if you want back in society at some point? What if you’re still unhappy? What if you get sick?

Don’t try this at home. But no worries, as you won’t be able to afford one anyways. Not by the standards of our current economic system, at least.

Like the first method, this would be an extreme choice. But the possibilities are endless: you could join a commune, become a hermit, or even live in an airplane.

Wrapping up

I wrote this post because I’m trying to find my own way. I hope it may bring you clarity and you may draw inspiration from one or more of these methods.

Maybe it’s all about striking a balance. We can understand what’s important to us right now – knowing that it may always change later on – and embody it.

Or maybe it’s just about going all-in. I guess we’ll know it when we see it!

Wanna tell me what you think? Contact me! 📨️

P.S. Hooray for RSS! You're awesome! 😎️

Redefine importance

Thu, 27 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000

I was about to title this post redefine urgency, but I also didn’t mean for this blog to become monothematic! 😜️

Seriously though: even if I think what you’re gonna read applies to both, I’d say it relates a bit more to importance.

(By the way, these two concepts are somehow connected – such as in the so-called Eisenhower Matrix. And not seldom they are even conflated.)

Planning

I am used to think about importance and urgency in terms of things to do in the future. I suspect this is the most common approach.

I tend to judge the value and necessity of doing stuff before I do them, to decide when to do them and whether to do them or not.

Sometimes that’s the sensible thing to do. But wouldn’t it better to make decisions as late as possible, when we have the most information?

And when would that be? Well, right at the end – after all is said and done.

Future vs. Past

What I’m suggesting here is to re-evaluate what we’ve actually done, in alternative to just constantly coming up with new to-do lists.

If yesterday I spent 2 hours to wash my clothes, maybe that was important. Even if I could have done it in 1 hour, it was important that I took my time.

(Here’s another way to look at it: if anything else was more compelling, I would have done that instead. So, taking it easy was the most urgent thing to do.)

One thing I like about considering what’s already happened is that it somehow reminds me of the theory of inevitability from the film Interstate 60:

Neil Oliver: It’s a strange coincidence, seeing you here again.

O. W. Grant: Only if you believe in coincidence. I prefer inevitability. Every event is inevitable. If it wasn’t, it wouldn’t happen.

And Now?

I don’t particularly like to draw conclusions, so I’d leave this post at that. But I also want to remind both you and myself that there’s no definite answer.

While future and past can be an excellent way of understanding the direction we want to take, we can only walk and move and live in the present.

Previous patterns may turn out to be misleading, and the next ones are often unpredictable. Everything can change.

Enjoy your Now! 🍀️

Wanna tell me what you think? Contact me! 📨️

P.S. Hooray for RSS! You're awesome! 😎️

Life is nonurgent

Mon, 17 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Just yesterday I published a short post titled Living is urgent.

I got the point: living (whatever it might mean) always deserves to be on top of our to-do lists – no matter how busy we think we are.

But then I thought about it a little bit more, from a different angle.

In my experience, urgency often begets stress and overwhelm. I want less of it, not more. So why should I add to the list, instead of removing?

By removing I can make space to simply being, instead of doing doing doing.

Rather than getting carried away by the feeling I must do something, I can be mindful that the world won’t stop spinning if I don’t do it. I have a choice.

Before I edited it out, yesterday I had written that nothing is truly “urgent” nor “important” in the end (or at least that’s what I like to think).

Seeing life itself as urgent may lead to living fast, doing everything and going everywhere. And while I am not against being hungry, FOMO is also a thing.

I, for one, usually prefer slow food, slow travel, and a slow life. Mostly. Not at all times. After all, I like that anything and its opposite can both be true.

And so, here we are with another short reminder to take our time and enjoy:

Life is nonurgent

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Living is urgent

Sun, 16 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Today I came across a guy with a black T-shirt with a sentence written in white:

VIVIR ES URGENTE

(It was also signed “Pau” – and I immediately thought of Pau Donés. An internet search quickly confirmed my guess, which is nice but also irrelevant.)

I smiled.

I often postpone life, and I don’t think I am the only one to put it off.

If you’re a bit like me, this post is for you as well. I made it short, just in case we’re currently swamped with “urgent” stuff we feel we should (or must) do.

So, let’s enjoy this nice reminder:

LIVING IS URGENT

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P.S. Hooray for RSS! You're awesome! 😎️

When I die

Thu, 30 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Most people in the world won’t even notice, since they don’t know I exist.

Many people won’t particularly care nor find out right away, because they may only have interacted with me at a superficial level and/or too much time ago.

Some people will hopefully get a chance to think about their life for a second, but they shouldn’t be too fazed about it overall.

A few people will grieve for me, and they too will get over it at some point.

What a relief! I don’t need to take myself so seriously.

Death is widely considered a gloomy or scary topic. I disagree. I ponder over my own mortality quite often, and if anything I grow more grateful for being alive.

There’s a lot of joy and wisdom in shifting our perspective, acknowledging how fragile we are, and reminding ourselves we’re not going to live forever.

I wish we all destigmatized death, so that we could reap the benefits of talking about it lightly – without any fear or anxiety.

When I die, I won’t be able to give any more shits. But if I could, I’d rather throw a party than a funeral – to celebrate life instead of mourning a loss! 🥳️

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P.S. Hooray for RSS! You're awesome! 😎️

Wait but why

Mon, 06 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Today I found out I cannot possibly waste your time – not even if I tried to.

WAIT, isn’t that quite trivial? In a way yes, since you’re the only responsible for managing your own time. And reading this is solely your choice.

BUT, the way I came to this understanding as well as the context in which I did are not equally trivial. So that’s what I will cover in this post.

WHY? Who cares! I’m just going to ramble on about writing style, personal blogs, and religion. Somehow.

Context

While aimlessly exploring the internet, I landed on wait but why.

I immediately loved Tim Urban’s style: direct, fun, and brutally honest.

I’d bet he crafted his writing with the utmost care, and yet it looks like (to me at least) he effortlessly scribbled it without worrying about the form.

Or maybe he truly does not worry at all about the form.

Either way, I like that – and it’s also something I want to integrate here.

You see, sometimes I weigh words a bit too much. Even though all I care about is just being able to share ideas on the internet.

Ok, a part of me will never stop editing. That’s because:

It feels like a basic act of kindness, since I write publicly.
I like playing with words: it’s intrinsically fun and rewarding.
I am driven by perfectionism, personal biases, or other fallacies.

I have no qualms with the first two points, so let’s talk about the last one.

Bad reasons to edit

If your writing isn’t perfect, you suck (and no one will read it)

Just plain wrong. I, for one, couldn’t give two shits about that.

Sure, the right amount of quirkiness can add to the experience. But it can only make me like more the stuff I’d still have enjoyed in the first place.

And even when someone’s writing style makes me cringe: if what they have to say is interesting enough, I’ll just power through anyway.

If you leave that in, someone might get upset

I try to be mindful and respectful of others, but I also despise censorship.

I don’t think words can be inherently bad. They are empty, and we fill them with the meaning we want. Truth is in the eye of the beholder.

Someone will get upset whatever I do, and pleasing everyone is impossible. So I better choose carefully the kind of people who I am going to displease.

If you can make it better, you should

Better according to whom? Or what? There are about 42 gazillion ways to say the same thing, and yet no single best one.

I do want to make my writing nice and easy to read. But there’s a balance to be struck between the time I can save others and the time I can save myself.

And I’d rather you didn’t waste your precious time reading stuff you couldn’t care less about. But I also cannot know what you may find obvious or amazing.

(Ok, there are a few pointers actually, and that’s a topic that would deserve its own post. But here all I mean is: I may be very bad at telling what appeals to other people, in which case I should avoid being the judge of that. And also: you can always just skip whatever you don’t like, so there’s that.)

Good reasons to edit less

Even if you don’t like your writing, somebody else will

I blog partly because of the potential to raise questions (and we already agree on the best answer, so we certainly don’t need any more ultimate truths).

I don’t know who else will read my posts (it may well be no one ever, for all I care). But maybe they’ll enjoy even what I’d dismiss as dull or poorly written?

I should not let my personal opinions influence my public writing, especially because I just want to express myself and prospect different perspectives.

If you did write that, maybe there’s a good reason

I tend to write without outlines. As a result, I tend to digress quite a lot.

I often start with one main idea I want to share, and when I stop there my posts turn out to be extremely short and lovely. But usually there are at least 2 or 3 minor points I’d like to mention as well. As I go on, these quickly multiply.

So I end up feeling I need to cut stuff out. Hell, this whole section was not supposed to be here. But maybe I don’t know what is supposed to be here.

You can just publish it as it is, and move on

I mean, blogging is completely optional and also doesn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things. So why should I be fretting over it?

Can’t I instead make peace with the fact I write because I want to, and accept that most of the times I don’t really know what is going to come out of it?

Maybe I should just revel in that, and stop trying to fight it.

(Ok, sometimes ruthless editing is indeed the way to go. You know, murder your darlings and all that jazz. It just makes tons of sense, and I’m all for that in both poetry and UX. But there’s a time and a place for everything.)

What triggered all this

By now I covered writing style and personal blogs. What about religion, then?

The ways of my brain can be tricky (and mostly obscure even to myself, despite my several attempts to understand how my mind works), but that’s very easy.

It’s just that I was reading Tim’s article How Religion Got in the Way when I realized how silly of me it is to think I can waste your time by writing.

Also, yesterday I read other posts on Wait But Why about fantastic animals such as the Social Survival Mammoth and the Instant Gratification Monkey.

(Oh, and incidentally, only now I figured out I had already watched a TED Talk by the very same Tim Urban: Inside the mind of a master procrastinator. It’s a great talk, and a great way to procrastinate 14 more minutes. Highly recommended!)

So maybe some other stuff was still sinking in. But as I was not even halfway through that article, it hit me: I knew why I liked Tim Urban’s writing style.

I am always thrilled to learn how other people’s life experience and thoughts can be so similar to (or different than) mine. And while I do appreciate good writing, I don’t read blogs to be impressed. I read them because I am looking for an authentic story (or should I say, an Authentic Voice) I can relate to.

WAIT, BUT WHY am I telling you this? (Ok, this joke gets old pretty quick.)

I mean, what does all that even have to do with me wasting your time?

Writing effort and reading time

Thing is, I don’t think it’d be fair to inflict a wall of text onto you. Not when I can write the same thing in a way that’s both shorter and easier to read.

Sure, there’s a time and a place for unedited stream of consciousness, too. Usually though, editing is like welcoming people into your writing. Just like you would welcome a guest into your house by tidying up.

In other words: if you write for others, it’s not nice to put all the cognitive load on them. Editing lets you take some weight off their shoulders. But then the question is: how hard should you go on yourself to make it easier on them?

Readers don’t need to be spoon-fed. Don’t fall for the overprotective parent syndrome. There are diminishing returns, and too much is often detrimental.

Even worse: over-editing can make you self-conscious to the point of losing sight of your true self (or your inner Authentic Voice, for fellow WBW readers).

I am a bit ashamed to admit this, but I often rephrase stuff based on the sheer looks of the text, on the number of lines, or on the number of characters in a single line – sometimes in such stupidly arbitrary ways that are almost poetic.

(In my defense, I haven’t been doing that for this post. At least, not everywhere!)

So yeah, I don’t mean to shove messy, lengthy, low-quality writing on you. But if I go overboard with polishing it, I do a disservice to both you and myself.

After all, I like personal blogs exactly because they are personal. And I don’t even care about them being perfect, for personality trumps perfection!

Wanna tell me what you think? Contact me! 📨️

P.S. Hooray for RSS! You're awesome! 😎️

Reactions: where the mind cries, the soul laughs

Tue, 30 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000

This is a super fresh and quick anecdotal post.

Mixed signals

This morning I passed by a school. On the outside, a sign would read:

Entrance is permitted to school staff and users. Entrance is forbidden to outsiders.

The second sentence was highlighted by a solid fire red background. But the main door was open, and on a wall inside there was this writing:

ART 34 School is open to everyone…

(That’s a quote to the Article 34 of the Italian Constitution.)

I found it funny, it made me laugh, and I took a photo.

Later on, in the afternoon, I put that picture as a WhatsApp status (which is something I almost never do, but that doesn’t really matter).

A couple of friends reacted with a smiling emoji, but then just a few minutes ago I got a sad emoji reaction. And that made me suddenly realize something.

Same water, different outcome

I was already aware of this very impactful saying:

The same boiling water that softens the potato hardens the egg.

I never knew its source, but it struck me ever since I’ve read it for the first time. I vaguely had it in mind even when I wrote my note On Softness.

Also, I had already taken notice that anything can have opposite motives.

Yet, I have just been struck again by a similar realization.

I want to be a Tigger

I can definitely see how that photo can trigger both laugh and bitterness.

My mind could (and often does) find tons of reasons to be sad about reality. But intellectuals are constantly worried, whereas simple people are happy.

Words are ultimately empty. They can be so useful, yet so unnecessary. We can fill them of the meaning we want.

Enlightment can be simple. I want to worry less, and laugh more at life.

You just have to decide if you’re a Tigger or you’re a Eeyore!

—Randy Pausch Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams

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Words (to the wise)

Mon, 22 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Words are a way to express and understand ourselves and our surroundings.

But some things can barely be expressed, and yet never be understood through words alone. And how about the things that can’t be expressed at all?

What cannot be said in a few words cannot be said even in many.

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A comment on "A comment on comments"

Fri, 19 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000

I want to say something about Manu’s post A comment on comments. It’s an extremely short post, so you might as well read it now (it takes 30 seconds).

In a nutshell, he thinks commenting should be done in one of two ways:

Privately via email or via direct messaging

Publicly by posting a reply on your own website

I mostly agree, but I’d also like to add a third one (after all, 3 is the perfect number, isn’t it?):

Publicly by engaging in a discussion on a neutral forum.

By “neutral forum” I mean that what really matters should be the topic at hand, like an open forum involving many people at once in the public discourse.

Back when I was a teen, internet forums were all the rage. And they used to be quite a neutral tool. By contrast, we can’t say the same for social media.

Anyhow, I don’t want to write about that right now. So let’s get back on topic.

I thought I’d mention forums because they add a new dimension:

An email is a one-to-one conversation tool.
A website is a one-to-many broadcasting tool.
A public forum is a many-to-many discussion tool.

Interestingly, forums also include both the previous two dimensions:

You can contact a specific user (via so-called “Private Message”).
You can address an unspecified audience (by starting a new thread).

Also, you kind of know the audience of a forum. It likely includes the person you’re replying to. That’s not a guaranteed when you reply on your website.

(In fact, I’m going to personally email Manu right after I publish this post.)

In a way, the comment section on a personal website or blog is an attempt to achieve what forums were already doing. A lesser attempt, in my opinion.

For one, I think it’s utterly nonsensical that one should be legally responsible of what other people put on their website.

But even if that wasn’t a thing, I still wouldn’t welcome the added complexity of managing a public discussion for each post, keeping spam bots at bay, etc.

All in all, unlike Manu I am a fan of comments in general. But I’m also a fan of simplicity, and I think they don’t quite make the cut in that respect.

There’s a quote attributed to Jorge Luis Borges that stuck with me ever since I read it. Unfortunately, I couldn’t ascertain the source. But here it goes:

What I’m really concerned about is reaching one person. And that person may be myself for all I know.

My blog is where I share words with the world. My website is where I publish stuff just because I can. I may as well be sending out things into the void.

I’d still like for strangers on the internet to reach out to me via email. It’d be great to have a comment section. But that’s just not why I write publicly.

(Writing for a potential public is wildly different than writing for myself only on a paper notebook – which I also do. And I really enjoy this potential, which sometimes even turns into reality. But that’s a topic for another time.)

As a final note: if you have anything to add or reply, please do. In whatever form you deem appropriate. Just because you want to say something.

(For some time now I wanted to add a prompt to email me below each post, where the comment section would be. It’s an easy tweak to the layout. At the time of writing, there’s still nothing but the footer with a bunch of links. Mentioning time-sensitive and meta-blogging matters will probably make this post age badly, but oh well. As I’ve recently noticed, sometimes I just need to explicitly commit.)

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If you're a pedal, be a pedal

Wed, 17 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000

A pedal is not a bicycle. It’s not even a strictly essential part. But I’d rather my bicycle have pedals!

To work well, a bicycle needs all of its parts. But for parts to work well together, each part must first work well individually.

To be useful, a part has to meet a specific need. It must have a well-defined function and be able to fulfill said function alone.

A pedal can’t give direction: that’s the handlebar job. A pedal won’t directly drive power to the wheels: that’s what the chain is for.

But pedals feed energy to the chain, which transfers it to the wheels, thus allowing the bicycle to move in the direction set by the handlebar.

Bicycle and teams

The bicycle metaphor above came to my mind in the context of teamwork.

Each person in a working group is just a part of the team. By definition, no part can be the whole. Everyone is important, yet no one is irreplaceable.

If it’s not crystal clear that every role matters, people may feel undervalued or dissatisfied – which will reflect on the group dynamics (and results).

Here’s a slightly less metaphorical example that also came to mind: even the strongest 11 forwards (or goalkeepers) would make a terrible football team.

Leadership and dance

Pretty much like a coach leads a football team and you lead your bicycle, just about any group of people may also benefit from having a leader.

(Incidentally, teams may also act as a form of collective intelligence – such as an ant colony or a swarm of honeybees. But that was not relevant in my case.)

To get across my point, I drew an example from a recent experience of mine: when two people dance Lindy Hop, one must lead and the other must follow.

If both were leaders, they would be trying to do different steps all the time and likely not only clash with each other but also crash into each other.

If both were followers, neither would take the initiative to give their partner clear directions and a framework within which they can dance in harmony.

At the end of the day, leaders cannot exist without followers (and vice versa).

Systems and subsystems

Given my penchant for abstraction, I’d like to make this post more general.

Think of bicycles (or teams) as systems and parts (or people) as subsystems.

Any subsystem must first accomplish its goal on its own. Only then it can interact with other subsystems and positively contribute to a system.

(Also, any system is made of subsystems and can be a subsystem itself. If you fancy this theory, you may want to delve into systems thinking and design thinking.)

Cycling back to bicycles

A pedal alone will never make a full bicycle.

But if you happen to be a metaphorical pedal of a metaphorical bicycle, then you can just try to become a great pedal – gracefully and joyfully.

In different circumstances, you may be a handlebar. Or even the whole bicycle.

Some times it makes sense to dissect everything and focus on the details. Other times it’s more helpful to look at the big picture and think holistically.

From bicycles to airplanes (just because why not)

A bicycle without pedals can surely bring you from point A to point B, but it can also be a pain in the ass. Not to speak about a bicycle with no saddle.

We’re all different, and that’s perfectly fine. Maybe some need no pedals (nor saddles) for biking to be a joy. Perhaps their lack even adds to the fun! 😜️

After all, as Antoine de Saint Exupéry had it (although referring to planes):

It seems that perfection is attained not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing more to remove.

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A half-baked post on how I eat (and the power of committing)

Sun, 31 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000

It’s not just all puns and clickbaiting, I swear. Bear with me.

I’m no dietitian, but I’ve been eating for quite a while. So here are my totally-scientific heuristics based on anecdotal evidence:

fast food is probably not good

industrial agriculture is probably not good

oily/greasy/deep-fried stuff is probably not good

overeating is probably not good

factory farming is probably not good

vitamin/mineral deficiencies are probably not good

overly restrictive diets are probably not good

processed foods are probably not good

added sugars are probably not good

The excerpt above comes from Taylor’s essay How I Eat, which I’d recommend reading in full (it only takes about 5 minutes).

Last week, after publishing a post where I briefly mentioned Taylor Troesh and his blog, I reached out to him.

I just wanted to let him know I found his blog interesting, entertaining, and even inspiring. I referred to that post I quoted, because it somehow resonated.

One last thing: I liked your “How I Eat” post. As a matter of fact, that’s quite similar to what I do. I wanted to write about it for almost one year now, but I never got around to actually doing it. It wouldn’t even take long, as I pretty much already know what I want to say (famous last words). But hopefully now that I’ve told you, I will finally commit and get it done by the end of this month.

And so, here I am now. Another week has passed, and of course I haven’t written anything as of yet. But I committed to it, and I knew I was going to do it.

(Little note to self: if you wait for the perfect time, you could wait forever. Life is intrinsically messy, but that’s alright! Accept it, and enjoy.)

Enough with the foreword. I will likely continue to ramble quite a lot anyways, as I am not going to have too much time for ruthless editing today.

Hence, I’ll have to settle for a half-baked post – which was never so fitting.

Capsules

Although I often joke about being a galactic hitchhiker, this time I won’t be talking about spaceships nor tin cans – I happily leave that to David Bowie.

If you’re a minimalist of sort, you may be already familiar with the concept of capsule wardrobe: owning few clothes that match nicely. Nifty, eh?

The “capsule approach” makes it perfectly fine to pick your clothes at random and still look fabulous. Or to randomly pick your food and still eat healthy.

And so it hit me: a capsule kitchen. Now we’re cooking!

Unsurprisingly, I wasn’t the first one to come up with this idea. After all, web sites on minimalism are plentiful (and not seldom quite bloated, ironically).

Since it was already out there, I didn’t feel the need to echo the same concept with no added value. Also, I want nothing to do with chickenshit minimalism.

(What I mean is, minimalism is such an overloaded and ambiguous term. It’s one of these words that lost practical use, as it fails to convey meaning reliably.)

Also, come to think of it… all I really came up with was a fancier name for salad. So much for my epiphany, I guess.

With that digression out of the way, let’s get back on topic (more or less).

How I eat

I am one of those who tend to fall for the “little ol’ me” bias. For many years, I didn’t know any better than belittling myself and thinking I was unimportant.

Taylor’s blog reminded me once again how wrong I was. And that I myself took massive inspiration from other people’s seemingly mundane tasks or thoughts.

Speaking of which, Leo Babauta’s advice on simplifying eating habits and meals from 2007 has aged pretty well, I dare say.

So yeah, most of what I meant to share has been covered already. However, without further ado, here’s what I do. Whenever I can, I try to:

Avoid food that involves cruelty and pain for any living being.
Be mindful of the situation – including people around me.
Enjoy eating, without inconveniencing myself too much.

As a result, I usually stick to a plant-based diet. Just because that makes me feel best. But food is such a complex topic, so I also allow for flexibility.

Only now, as I was writing, it occurred to me: I feel eating is a balancing act of love for the food itself, love for other people, and love for myself.

More practically speaking, that means:

Food waste is something I try to prevent: I see it as highly disrespectful.
I’m apt to eat almost anything has been made specifically for me.
As a rule of thumb, I should always try and listen to myself.

I feel there are many shades of personal responsibility, depending on my own and other people’s levels of agency and awareness in any given circumstance.

Shooting a clueless bird just for the fun of it is wildly different from having to kill a hypothetical bear with bare hands just to feed my hypothetical children.

Choosing food now is not even remotely comparable to choosing food when I was 23. This also helps me not to judge other people for their own choices.

Graciously accepting a piece of cake is not the same as deliberately buying meat or diary, knowing full well what that implies and how many alternatives I have.

Incidentally, that’s why I don’t subscribe to any dietary definition – and I usually don’t even talk about it, unless asked.

Vegan is way too simplistic, and it means different things to different people. It has almost become a dirty word, pretty much like minimalism.

Definitions can be pernicious. They may add to the chaos and misinformation. And they’re essentially useless when they don’t really define anything clearly.

Inventing new terms is equally dangerous – and then I would also risk running into the same exact issues of the whole “capsule kitchen” impasse.

Just today I concocted lovetarian, but a quick search was enough to confirm I was late to the party once again. And its true meaning would remain fuzzy.

So I say no to labels altogether. But then, it’s not easy to answer when people ask me if I’m vegan. I used to reply that, if anything, I eat vegan.

If I said mostly vegan, that would be mostly right. But that may also give the wrong impression that my motivation is flimsy or I don’t care enough.

Depending on who asked, I may take a bit of time to explain. Or a lot. Or none at all. At times I feel it doesn’t really matter, yet I usually say something.

I may just say yes, since when left to my own devices I only eat plant-based food. Or I may just say no, if I want to stress that what I eat is my choice.

But to be perfectly honest, there’s so much I haven’t quite figured out yet.

(And that’s another reason why this post is half-baked. But the first half is just as important as the second one, with due respect to Zeno and his paradoxes).

The power of committing

Choosing is only possible if you commit. And commitment is only possible when you deeply care for something, to the point of making that thing a priority.

Back to the capsule approach – what I really liked is that it saves time and mental energy while negating the chance for any mistakes.

If I want to eat healthy and accordingly to my values, the best I can do is eliminating all the unhealthy and unethical options.

I don’t want to have to exert willpower, which is a losing battle anyways. As Oscar Wilde had it: “The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it.”

When you only have healthy ingredients to choose from, and you can put them together simply and quickly… well, then you can’t possibly go wrong.

But that takes getting to know yourself, and committing to your own priorities.

I know I can eat a simple meal quite often and still enjoy it fully. (And if I eventually grow really bored of some taste, I can always tweak my menu.)

Some people may be emotionally affected by the hue of their clothes. But I could easily wear the same outfit every day, provided it’s comfy and clean.

And mind you, it’s not that I think looks are unimportant. To quote Oscar Wilde again: “It is only shallow people who do not judge by appearances.”

Make no mistake: my aesthetic sense is finely developed. I nurse a profound admiration for beauty. So don’t get me wrong there.

As a matter of fact, I appreciate those who take time to dress nicely or decorate their environment. I just personally prefer to be more practical.

But that means choosing comfort over looks. It means knowing what I value the most. It means eating more intentionally instead of just merely feeding myself.

Latins would say: ubi maior, minor cessat. And maybe Lord Byron would say something like: I love not food the less, but Nature more.

Now, since I butchered his quote, it is only fair I end this post with his poem:

There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep sea, and music in its roar:
I love not man the less, but Nature more,
From these our interviews, in which I steal
From all I may be, or have been before,
To mingle with the Universe, and feel
What I can ne’er express, yet cannot all conceal.

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You could easily do that

Sat, 23 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Have you ever come across something you enjoyed and which made you feel like you wanted to do something similar yourself?

If yes: rejoice, my friend! It may be easier than you think.

Sure, a lot depends on the thing itself. If that took a team of aerospace engineers, chances are you won’t be able to replicate it just by yourself.

But we’re all bestowed the gift of creativity, in a way or another. We can all craft some kind of stuff, regardless of what we think or other people say.

A personal anecdote

I have always been kind of clumsy – still am. For the first 30 years of my life, people told me I was not good with crafts, and I fully believed that. Until…

I have built (or helped build) quite a few things in Bulgaria: the first 2-3 that come to my mind are concrete stairs, a wooden library, and dry toilets.

That was my personal revenge, which was nice to have. But even better, it was a powerful, long-lasting, and I dare say life-changing mindset shift.

A simple blog

That’s an easy example, since you are here now. You are reading thoughts and stories from me (likely a perfect stranger), and you may be noticing that:

You have something to say about that.
You would like to share a few stories as well.
You have no idea on how to blog, so it must be hard.

Well, websites could be quite complicated indeed. But they don’t have to. For reference, check out How to make a simple blog like this one (or even simpler).

It’s easier than you think. It’s cheaper than you think. And there are plenty of people willing to help you and even read what you’re going to write.

A key takeaway

You can do it. It doesn’t have to turn out as polished as a store-bought item or as complex as a well-resourced business project. You don’t even need a budget.

For extra motivation, I’ll share one last personal anecdote… and two songs!

I wanted to make this blog for a long time, and I kept postponing it for months. Then, it only took me a weekend. And I had lots of fun in the process.

Today I was reading a few posts from Taylor, whom I just discovered thanks to Manu’s People and Blogs awesome project.

At some point, I thought I had enough I wanted to say. I stopped reading and started writing. 30 minutes later, here I am – publishing this post.

It’s not perfect, but that’s not nearly the point. Speaking about perfect, here’s the first song: Not Perfect by Tim Minchin. I love the guy!

Now, if you know Spanish (or even if you don’t), you may want to check out an extremely talented songwriter who put this takeaway in words and music.

Ladies and gentlemen, and aliens too, and any other fellow galactic hitchhikers out there: I’m glad to introduce you to El Kanka – Sí que puedes.

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Test scores and knowledge

Sun, 10 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Let me introduce you to Andrea, Blaise, Casey, and Desi.

They are students of astro-statistics at the University of the Moon. It’s quite a complex subject matter, but they’re all pretty brilliant pupils.

Space exams

Now, at the University of the Moon they know how to administer tests. They won’t make silly mistakes such as hinting at the answer within the question.

This particular test includes 100 extremely specific and well-crafted True-or-False questions. Each correct answer will score 1 point. Time limit is 2 hours.

Here’s the results:

Andrea: 77 pts
Blaise: 56 pts
Casey: 42 pts
Desi: 0 pts

One for them, one for you

After all is said and done, it is my time to test you.

Who should pass? And why?

I invite you to give it some thought. (Remember: it was a pretty hard test.)

Whenever you’re ready to proceed, you’ll find my reasoning below.

Scores and interpretations

I imagine Andrea would pass in pretty much any scenario, many people would let through Blaise and some even Casey, while most will fail the poor Desi.

(I don’t actually know, though. I haven’t tested this on anyone. I just woke up this morning with a few ideas in mind, and crafted this post to convey them.)

Well, in any case, don’t be so quick to jump to conclusions!

Here on the Moon, we know all too well that lone numbers often mean jack shit.

But let’s make a few steps back, and start from the beginning.

Terrestrial schools

On Earth, people can be extremely practical. They set a threshold, and let the data alone decide. After all… that’s easy, impartial, and objective. Right?

Maaaaybe.

You see, this process is prone to errors. The most obvious of which is probably the threshold itself. What should it be?

If you’re overly practical, you could think something like: 100 questions, 2 options, if I divide 100 by 2 I get 50. Anything above that is good enough.

But maybe the test was really difficult, why not bring the threshold down to 40? Or maybe yours is an elite school, so why not raising it to 60 or even 70?

Anyone who studied statistics should know better, though.

Earth science (for starters)

If you set the threshold at 50, Blaise would pass… albeit ranking quite close to a chimpanzee – to paraphrase Hans Rosling, the author of Factfulness.

(In short, this means that even chimps picking random answers are expected to score about 50 points, despite clearly having zero knowledge on the subject.)

Does that mean that anything below 50 is pure trash?

Well, no. There are many more errors of judgement lying around, and some of them are so well hidden that manage to evade the numbers entirely.

More data, more insight

Remember it was a hard test. And there was a time limit. Maybe that was on purpose? Maybe the average student was not expected to answer everything?

At this point, we can only be reasonably sure that Andrea gave us an irrefutable proof of knowledge: at the very least, they got 77% of the answers right.

This is already sensibly better than a congregation of bonobos and highly smart piglets. But we can’t possibly know by how much, without looking at the test.

For all we know, Andrea could have answered in sequence the first 84 questions before their time ran out, scoring slightly over 90%. Not bad!

By following this logic, what if Casey got 42 out of 69 questions? They may still rank as the second top-performer, in case Blaise answered everything.

(Casey would score roughly 61%, while Blaise would lag behind at 56%.)

And what about Desi? If you think they’re just awful, you might be surprised.

Beyond numbers, beyond logic

In fact, Desi may very well be a rebel genius. They answered each and every question, deliberatly picking the wrong answer. And with no mistake at that!

Think about it: to pick the wrong choice, you need to be able to tell the right one. If you make a mistake, you’ll end up with 1 point – ruining your streak.

So yeah, maybe Desi is our true top of the class, decidedly outperforming even Andrea who went for a more classical approach.

Or maybe…! Maybe Desi felt suddenly sick, and had to hand in a blank paper. 0 out of 0. How do you even rank that?

Lots of maybes. And there are even more.

Casey could be a slow reader, or maybe they have dyslexia, which would put them at an unfair disadvantage (under these particular circumstances).

Blaise could have got 50 answers right before feeling time-pressured to fill in everything, so they tried their luck with extraordinary poor results.

Andrea may have got the same 50 answers right, paired with exceptional luck.

There’s more than meets the eye

We could go on with several more hypothetical scenarios. We could find more and more hidden pitfalls. Even better, we could question our system entirely.

Is that test the best we can do? Is it clear what exactly we want to assess? Are we able to steer clear of biases and interpret the results correctly?

Do we even need objective rankings all the time?

Maybe Andrea had the potential to reach 92, but they were feeling lazy. Maybe Casey leveraged all their current knowledge and yet couldn’t go past 42.

On the Moon, we carefully consider all of the above – and more. Not because we are flawless, but quite the opposite! We are well aware we’re not perfect.

So we look at the stars, and we hear them whisper: competence is important, we all would like to shine brighter, but love and beauty is what we live for.

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What will you regret?

Thu, 07 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000

This afternoon I was supposed to do stuff. Like, the usual work stuff. The same kind of stuff I was doing in the morning, and yesterday, and the day before.

Instead, I went on a walk with a friend who could really use some emotional support and company and fresh air and laughter in this period.

“I can always do my stuff later” – I thought. But then my sister stopped by to visit, and I played with my nephews for the rest of the evening.

As they went away, I realized I did nothing of what I thought I’d be doing after lunch today. And I was happy.

Because I’d asked myself: "Will I ever regret not doing this stuff? Likely not. Could I possibly regret not spending enough time with my nephews? Surely yes."

I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with the usual work stuff. I don’t mean to insinuate they’re not important or useful.

All I’m saying is, they’re just means to an end. And I can definitely postpone sending a few emails or preparing some quotes or anything like that.

Work is not that important to me. I don’t consider money to be a goal in and of itself – at best, it could be a proxy for what truly matters in life.

Now wouldn’t it be foolish to take care of the proxy, when the very thing is right there?

I must admit, though, I can’t quite put my finger on what truly matters in life. There’s so much I haven’t figure out yet, and so much I never will.

But when I look back at the moment I cherish, they were all life experiences. Usually shared experiences, with people I feel grateful to have met.

I know I made this mistake several time in the past: not giving enough time, presence, and attention my loved ones. Today, I am happy I gave them priority.

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Stories of digital relationships

Tue, 27 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Today I want to share with you a couple of personal anectodes from my past – instead of the usual bite-sized food for thought and questionable questions.

Why so?

Well, Manu is hosting the IndieWeb Carnival for this month.

And I think that’s great for many reasons, among which:

The topic is Digital Relationships. I love it – and, it’s so Manu.
It is a prompt to write, with a clear deadline (that I almost missed).
I was thinking that my blog could get a bit more personal, so there’s that.

Once upon a time

I was an unconventional child, as pretty much all children are. But I kinda sensed something wrong with being different and wanted to be more like others.

Except I couldn’t. I had a vivid imagination and a keen intelligence. But I just did not feel understood by other kids and adults, nor could I understand them.

Even so, for many years I considered my childhood the happiest time of my life. I think I had a pretty great time, but sensitivity is a double-edged sword.

And boy, was that little kid sensitive!

What I struggled the most with were social relationships. So much so that, during the messy years of preadolescence, I had almost given up.

At some point, I was acting straight-out weird. I’d keep my thoughts to myself, and sometimes I wouldn’t bother to reply even when directly addressed.

Even after that period passed, in my early teens I wasn’t able to maintain eye contact, and I would always look down when talking with other people.

Eventually, I have become quite talkative and sociable. But self-esteem, confidence, and social skills are something I truly had to teach myself.

That’s a story for another time, though.

Digital relationships

You see, in such conditions it wasn’t easy for me to express myself socially! But what the so-called “real life” lacked, the digital world easily made up for.

I quickly understood (and felt) that the divide between “virtual” and “real” was not nearly as wide as people perceived it, and definitely less scary.

I grew up in such a time when there was no Facebook, and you were not supposed to reveal your name or identity to random strangers on the internet.

Still, online I found out the meaning and the value of deep human connections.

I met my first true friends, with whom I could laugh and talk and trust and confide in, sharing our deepest secrets and teen angst.

Many people don’t get to have that. Either online or offline. I was lucky.

These “virtual relationships” lasted several years, and when we grew up we even had a few chances to meet in person, by the way. It was awesome.

Tinder ante litteram

I’ve got another story for you.

My first girlfriend? You guessed it: I met her online.

Now, remember how I said there was no Facebook? Let me tell you another thing: meeting people on the web was considered to be pretty much for losers.

I think I’ve been one of the first people in my generation to ever use MSN (oh please) and online forums, although I have no data to back up this claim.

Anyhow, I still remember how we often said that we met each other thanks to a common friend, which was partly true, rather than telling the whole truth.

Basically, we were both on the same forum about a Finnish band. And at some point, there finally was a meetup in a city close enough to where we lived.

I was thrilled to attend it, and meet like-minded young people.

(Or maybe meet other “black sheeps”, I might even say – but that’s an inside joke I have no time to explain in details, lest this post becomes book-sized.)

So, anyway, that’s how we first met. After that, we kept on chatting for some time, before we decided to meet again. This time with no folk.

She had made a mix CD for me. I remember the bench we sit on when we first kissed, how nervous I was, and how sweet she was. I cherish this memory.

And none of this would’ve ever happened, if I hadn’t trusted that the “virtual” people beyond the screen can be even realer than the “real” ones.

Moral of the stories?

To be honest, I don’t know what you can make of all this.

If there even is a bottom line, you tell me what it could be.

I just wanted to share my experience. Because someday, somewhere, another real person might read these digital words – and feel they’re not alone.

And let me reassure you: you are not alone!

Wanna tell me what you think? Contact me! 📨️

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There's a small and a big issue...

Mon, 01 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The big issue is deep, unfathomable, inscrutable. But it truly matters.

The small issue is shallow, irrelevant, and ultimately pointless.

The interesting thing I noticed is that in many a situation, we humans tend to ignore the big issue and focus on the small one.

Here’s few examples:

Pursuing good enough marks instead of good enough understanding.
Chasing wealth or perfection at the cost of health and well-being.
Looking for success outside rather than finding joy within ourselves.

(Incidentally, this also goes to show quite well why I usually care much more about the how rather than the what.)

Why do we do that?

I suppose we (as a society) find big problems overwhelming and don’t want to accept that we can do (and know) little-to-nothing about most of it.

So we inflate the importance of silly, often completely made-up problems. And we fool ourselves into thinking that they actually matter, as if they were real.

Unfortunately, this also means that we lose whatever little power we have to tackle the issue, only to squander our energy and struggle with futile worries.

Once again, here’s an example to put everything in context. I’ll pick education because mostly everyone is familiar with some kind of school system.

(Also, because learning is something I like and have put lots of thought into. And because I have just watched a video about Italian high school that triggered these reflections. In case you know Italian: L’esame di maturità e altri deliri.)

What happened is that we have trivialized the overly complex process of assessing people’s knowledge and competence.

Make no mistake, this problem has no well-defined solution. It is an impossible issue (like most of the really interesting stuff in life, in my opinion).

There’s nothing inherently bad in wanting to approximate as best as we can an unattainable solution or a measure for something immeasurable.

The fault is fixating on grades, seemingly forgetting that we are people. We are faulty and wired to behave in certain ways. We have biases. Lots of biases.

Most of the times, we don’t really know what we’re doing. And the funny paradox here is that it takes some wisdom to understand how unwise we are.

It’s good to know math and history, but isn’t it better to be a happy person?

Why did I write all this?

To be honest, I don’t feel much like blogging lately. And surely not for a lack of interesting thoughts to share. If you have a blog, you’ll get what I mean.

Still, I usually take notes to myself. This is pretty close to it. I tend to edit my posts, but this one is almost entirely unpolished in both form and content.

I decided to publish it not only because stars lined up pretty much perfectly, but also because I’ve felt this idea could be really impactful on anyone’s life.

In fact, I could recall plenty of situations from my personal experience where I have perceived or known this split – either outside of me or inside myself.

One example about the “outside world” is something I’ve felt ever since I’m a child. An inconsistence, a deep discrepancy between what matters and what we do.

Morpheus, talking about the Matrix, put it delightfully well:

Let me tell you why you’re here. You’re here because you know something. What you know you can’t explain. But you feel it. You’ve felt it your entire life. That there’s something wrong with the world. You don’t know what it is but it’s there, like a splinter in your mind driving you mad. It is this feeling that has brought you to me. Do you know what I’m talking about?

Another example, much more concrete and closely related to me, is this blog.

The small issues could be plentiful: finding compelling topics, avoiding grammar mistakes, getting readers and keeping them engaged, and the list goes on.

I’m not arguing these things don’t matter at all, but they easily give rise to made-up problems and worries about insignificant metrics, such as how many posts to write and how long they should be and how many people read them.

I quickly touched on this when I wrote about my Joylog, and once again I will borrow the words from Leo Babauta’s minimal web blog post:

Don’t popups and big subscription boxes and other such things that ask the reader to subscribe to your mailing list get much better conversion numbers? Sure, in the short term, your numbers will go up. But those are unimportant numbers. Much more important: How much did you delight the reader? How many readers did you lose because you disrespected them with a popup or screaming in the sidebar asking them to subscribe? How much trust did you lose? Who did you help with this popup? Try measuring those numbers with your analytics.

So, if having readers and good content in a good form are all ultimately small issues… what’s the big issue here?

Well, if I knew it wouldn’t be that unfathomable and inscrutable, wouldn’t it?

But although I can’t quite put my finger on it, I still enjoy speculating. Put simply, I think the big issue boils down to just being myself.

Whatever that means. Whatever “I” means. Whoever “am” I.

I don’t know, and I don’t know if I will ever know. But that’s what makes life interesting, at least when I consider my inner world.

I have no idea why so many times I have felt like writing an email to a cool internet person, but then I didn’t. And then sometimes I did.

I have no idea why so many times I wanted to sent a quick message to a friend, but then I didn’t. And then some other times I did.

I have no idea why so many times I have felt I wanted to share something with the world, but then I didn’t. But this time I did.

Why would this be relevant to you?

Well, I don’t know. But I don’t really care, because that’s a small issue.

It may be desirable to have a perfectly logical explanation for everything, but it’s even better to have an underlying feeling of heading in the right direction.

The big issue is, broadly speaking, seeing the heart of the matter.

We can’t just disregard the fact we are complex, nuanced, and interconnected. And we should keep in mind that we still know so little about ourselves.

Maybe sometimes you too chase pennies with dollars. Stopping for a moment to reflect on what’s more important can help us get our priorities straight.

And since it’s the beginning of a new year, I want to wish both of us to follow our deepest heart desires and become who we were born to be.

Wanna tell me what you think? Contact me! 📨️

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A quick parable about a guesthouse

Mon, 11 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0000

A couple of months ago, I came up with a short parable. Kinda like a zen koan, but not really. Maybe.

Who knows! Anyhow, I promptly wrote it down in my notes, not to forget it. It was the morning of 17 October 2023.

That day I had other things to do, and I was not feeling inclined to write a blog post. But now I do (at long last!), so here we go.

The parable

You have a guesthouse on a much travelled road.

There are folks from all walks of life. Some are good, some are evil.

You’ll never know who you’re gonna meet.

Sometimes they pass by, other times they spend the night. Most of the time they pay you, but sometimes they don’t – and maybe they even damage your furniture.

If you don’t let go of the evil people, they’ll wreak havoc on your guesthouse. And if you don’t let go of the good ones, your guesthouse will become a prison.

Look at the wayfarers from afar and tell evil from good. Choose your own guests.

Some context

At first I thought it’d be crystal clear what’s that all about, but I’m not so sure anymore. I suspect I was biased, being the one who made the whole thing up.

I don’t mean to explain anything, as I don’t believe there is supposed to be a “correct” interpretation. Not just one, at the very least.

Still, here’s my take:

The guesthouse is your mind.
The wayfarers are your thoughts.
You are you – whatever that means.

Thoughts can be fleeting and go unnoticed. Or they can stop by and generate emotions, positive or negative. Either way: welcome, enjoy your stay, farewell.

There’s no bottom line, or it can be whatever. I prefer to raise questions:

Are your thoughts really yours?
Does clinging on to your feelings do you any good?
Could you try and keep your mind clean, letting go of the outcome?

Another perspective

I’m left wondering about what anyone who is not me would think upon reading that story for the first time.

Unfortunately, that is not something I can do. And even if I could… I would not be a representative sample, wouldn’t I?

I’m always happy to get in touch with anyone who chanced on my blog posts, but I’m especially curious to hear from you on this one!

Wanna tell me what you think? Contact me! 📨️

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Knowledge, Wisdom, and Evolution (or: how my mind works)

Sun, 29 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Today I want to take you on a short trip.

Ready for a free ride inside my mind?

We’re about to leave, so buckle up!

Point of departure

I woke up thinking about the difference between knowledge and wisdom. It all boiled down to a simple thought: knowledge is impetuous, wisdom is humble.

I was just reiterating what I’ve long known first-hand, which was already well-known: think of Socrates or the more recent Dunning-Kruger effect.

As Socrates had it, “I know that I know nothing” – which should not be taken literally (words rarely do). But you know, when a wise man points at the moon…

And just to reiterate some more, here’s a nice quote from Bertrand Russell:

The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.

Paradoxically enough: the more you learn, the more you realize you don’t know. But here’s a counter-paradox: the more you learn, the more you get to know.

That’s why you can reach interesting new insights, even when your starting point feels quite obvious – and this is exactly what happened to me today.

The journey

Back to my morning thoughts: together with Socrates and Dunning-Kruger, another quote I like immediately came to mind.

According to the book Touching the Invisible: Exploring the Way of Shiatsu, in Eastern Asia there’s a saying that goes like this:

The teacher makes things more complicated. The master simplifies.

I find it brilliant, and it links back with many interesting concepts that I’ll save for another time (or, you can check out a few more quotes and sources).

And here’s where it hit me: masters transcend difficulty.

Experts often thrive with complexity, so they tend to grow rather proud of it. And yet, the mark of a true master is to make hard things look insanely easy.

This is where I experienced a sudden flow of revelations, in a rapid series of thoughts. Two new players took the field: awareness and ignorance.

I drew a quick parallel with the spiritual realm, of which I seldom speak because the true Dao can’t be told and all that jazz – but also because I know nothing.

Anyhow, here’s the thought: transcendence requires awareness, which is preceded by ignorance. At that point, I only had to connect the dots.

I shifted again to my previous context, and I noticed that this pattern holds: I was only considering two variables, while there really were three all along.

Ignorance is naive, knowledge is impetuous, wisdom is humble. It circles back.

First you know nothing, then you think you know, finally the universe humbles you with its complexity. But this newfound humbleness is where wisdom begins.

Ignorance is a kid, knowledge is a teenager, wisdom is an elder. The circle of life.

(As another instance of “the more you learn, the easier it gets to know more”, this also connects to Eric Berne’s Parent-Adult-Child psychological model.)

Mind a last metaphor? Evolution.

At first, you are but a cute Bulbasaur. When you sprout into an Ivysaur, you look down on the poor tiny plant bulbs. But wait until you meet a gigantig Venusaur.

Ignorance may evolve into Knowledge, but its final form is Wisdom.

Now I know why Pokémon three-stage evolutions feel so satisfying!

It’s ok to start out as a clueless Horsea who only makes bubbles.
Eventually, you’ll become a Seadra – and you’re kind of good already.
But why stop there, when you could still evolve into a literal sea dragon?

Thankfully, Game Freak also realized this – and fixed it in Gen 2 with Kingdra.

Destination reached

So yeah, this all started in my bed. I just wanted to sleep a bit more. But then I thought about knowledge, Socrates, transcendence… and finally Pokémons!

(Apparently, at least once a month my mind is contractually required to ponder over such matters in the early morning. For reference, see my post outgrowing.)

To me personally, the moral of the story is: your mind might not let you sleep at times, but it’s still a wonderful tool which deserves a lot of love.

And since we’ve come this far, I want to sum it all up with a quote of my own:

Only one thing is more dangerous than ignorance: the illusion of knowledge.

(Trivia: three years ago I was thinking about cybersecurity, especially about “solutions” that can easily lull you into a false sense of security.

Given my innate tendency to generalize and abstract, I shaped that thought into the form you’ve just read and saved it in a plaintext file – dated 21 July 2020.

I never had a chance to use it until just recently: earlier this month I gave a talk about online privacy, so this aphorism circled back again into the cyber world!)

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On pricing and value(s)

Thu, 19 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Let me warn you straight away: this is not my usual short and simple post about intriguing ideas, unanswerable questions, or bite-sized food for thought.

Instead, I’m gonna elaborate on a few inputs I got from my friend Luigi Teschio aka Gigitux about the pricing of my freelance services.

We met last week, thanks to the newly founded social cooperative Hub Porta Nova. We took part in the project Porta inNova as remote workers and hubbers.

Luigi is a cool guy who works as a developer at Automattic. He has many good ideas, and I wish he shared at least some of them on his blog!

Cheap is good, “cheap” is bad

Natural language is inherently ambiguous, and we ended up with the same word to refer to both “low prices” (good 👍️) and “poor quality” (bad 👎️).

I’ll wrap “cheap” in quotes to highlight the “lame factor”, and I’ll refrain from using it in the neutral or positive sense to avoid confusion.

Just to be clear, my main assumptions here are:

Quality is not an optional.
You don’t always get what you pay for.
If you pay more you don’t necessarily get something better.

As Oscar Wilde had it (in The Picture of Dorian Gray, chapter 4):

Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing.

Pricing low is risky

Over one of our many interesting conversations, Luigi stressed the importance of not being perceived as “cheap” when the value of our work is high.

His arguments were practical, irrefutable, and crystal clear. In a nutshell, his main point is: low prices attract bad customers who won’t value your work.

While there’s more than a kernel of truth in that, I already knew this much when I had to decide what to offer and how to price my services.

So why did I deliberately positioned myself on the mid-to-low end of the scale?

Well, I thought long and hard about pricing. I factored in my values, my target market, and even the risk of looking “cheap”.

Still, I can’t be quite sure I got it right. That’s why I want to expose (just a few of) my reasons and doubts, and I hope to get your take on them.

What I do and market value

I am a self-appointed Simplicity Web Coach, because I simplify people’s web communication through coaching. More about that on my business site.

Let’s talk money: monthly coaching and one-off consulting sessions are about average-priced, though I’m pretty sure they’re more valuable than average.

I also help people make a site for what looks like dangerously “cheap”. I could triple my prices while remaining a sound alternative to some web designers.

The website market as I see it

From my own experience and observation, plenty of web designers:

Are prone to overengineering, which leads to overpricing.
Offer market rates but deliver little value to website owners.
Charge sensibly less than usual but make straight-up bad sites.

That’s why “cheap” gets conflated with poor quality: it’s a fair rule of thumb. Unfortunately, sometimes you pay even more for just about the same quality.

The main issue is a wild misunderstanding about websites and their purposes.

To complicate the matter, there are DIY “solutions” such as website builders. Results usually range from cringe to awful. Plain unacceptable for business.

A metaphor: cars and bycicles

You better buy a good car rather than wasting money on a wreck that will leave you stranded. And you wouldn’t even think of making a car yourself, right?

But what if a bicycle could satisfy all your mobility needs? It’s simpler and usually cheaper than a car, both to maintain and buy (or even build yourself).

While a good bicycle may cost even more than an old used car, they generally belong to different price tiers and anyhow have different purposes and uses.

Sometimes, a bike just won’t do. If you need a car, get a car. But other times, a good bicycle is better than a bad car, yet cheaper (plus, it doesn’t pollute).

Why is everybody trying to sell you a car, without even considering a bicycle?

Why I didn’t price high

Metaphors aside: a good text-based website is generally way better than a bad e-commerce website, yet cheaper (plus, it’s low-mainteinance).

I only charge up to 500 € because I limit my focus to the one thing every site needs: quality information, condensed in a simple page mostly made of words.

Costs are lower when you don’t need a complex technical infrastructure. If you need or want extra features or custom graphics, you can always add them later.

All in all, making up my job title wasn’t enough. I also hope to create a whole new category of professional websites: simpler, cheaper, yet effective.

Back to our metaphor: a web agency sells cars, I help make DIY bycicles.

I feel there is a severely underserved niche of people who don’t need expensive solutions but also don’t want to waste money or time on a poor quality website.

What I may be missing

For starters, I’ve done no real market research. I mostly acted on gut feeling: Experience was and will be my teacher. Surely, I have lots to learn from her.

Here’s a practical issue: as Luigi excellently put it, my work is a multiplier. Thing is, it multiplies quality rather than quantity. And that’s a bit tricky.

It’s pretty easy to show if you’ll get 42% more traffic, or your bounce rate will drop by 42%, or your PageSpeed Insights score will grow. But how about:

You’ll feel 42% less stressed – can you measure your feelings, though?
You’ll gain 42% better leads – does it even make sense to quantify that?
X will earn you more than Y – how to prove it, if you must pick only one?

In business, profitability may be the only benchmark for success. In life, not really. Yet, simplicity can improve both your wellbeing and your bottom line.

Even the benefit of having a site versus not having one at all can feel somewhat intangible, so that any number estimate amounts more or less to a promise.

And yes, impact can be quantified. ROI can be measured. But I don’t really care about that, because all metrics are misleading. Including your bottom line.

Let me quote an excerpt from Leo Babauta’s post minimal web:

Don’t popups and big subscription boxes and other such things that ask the reader to subscribe to your mailing list get much better conversion numbers? Sure, in the short term, your numbers will go up. But those are unimportant numbers. Much more important: How much did you delight the reader? How many readers did you lose because you disrespected them with a popup or screaming in the sidebar asking them to subscribe? How much trust did you lose? Who did you help with this popup? Try measuring those numbers with your analytics.

[…]

How do I know if I’m growing without analytics? You don’t really, and honestly, it doesn’t matter as much as people think. I used to track my blog’s statistics, and when you track something like that, it becomes your world. You care so much about growing it that you do things aimed directly at growing the numbers. And that’s crazy — the numbers don’t matter that much. What matters is helping your readers, delighting them, changing their lives. You don’t do those things by worrying about the numbers — you do them by worry about the readers. And when you do that, the growth comes as a byproduct of being great.

Truth be told, I don’t want to bother with metrics. I’d rather bank on my hunch that quality pays off in the long run, and take heed of Experience’s lessons.

All I care about is simplifying and improving. I want to work under the common assumption that peace of mind and quality knowledge are priceless.

After all, a word to the wise is sufficient. Some people won’t be persuaded even by the soundest arguments, and it’s not up to me to change their mind.

I can only promise what I know I can do for my customers: help them save time, money, and energy. How valuable is that? I’ll leave it for them to decide.

Basically, I’ll just let the market determine the value of my work. If it shows I’m underpricing my services, I might have to charge more at some point.

Which leads to another question: what about my underserved niche?

Well, that’s exactly what Luigi would call a happy problem. And though I have a few answers already, that is quite literally a problem for another time.

Conclusions? No thanks

I’ve only just begun to scratch the surface, really. Everything is still open.

In the future I may change my services, my target market, even my job. Heck, I may change my beliefs altogether. All I know won’t ever change is change itself.

Anyhow, to me it was useful to reflect once more upon pricing. (In fact, I had written twice as much. Then I edited out most of it to spare you my ramblings.)

And I lowkey hope we disagree: if so, let me know! It’s the best way to test our assumptions and values, and we may also learn something new in the process.

Time will tell how it’s gonna end. Meanwhile, I’m ready to question everything.

Wanna tell me what you think? Contact me! 📨️

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Grapes, gratitude, and lemons

Sun, 24 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

I’m eating excellent grapes these days, and I feel so grateful about that.

Just a few minutes ago, while I was having some, lemons came to mind instead.

Gratitude and optimism are closely connected. Just as optimism and lemons.

You know what I mean. When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.

That’s just how an optimist thinks. Simple and powerful. And extendable.

So…

If life gave you lemons in lieu of grapes, don’t gripe about it. Some got rocks.

And if you got rocks, you can’t really complain: someone got nothing at all.

And if you got nothing, what’s the matter? Where there’s life, there’s hope.

And if you’re dead, now that’s great! All your problems are forever gone.

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Is the answer to this question 'No'?

Sat, 23 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Mu.

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Outgrowing (others and yourself)

Sat, 16 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

This morning I woke up at 6:40 with a few thoughts in mind. I wanted to sleep a bit more, but I knew I no longer could. So, I got up to write this post.

For context: I’ve always felt a push towards learning and bettering myself. And that sounds to me like a pretty decent definition of personal growth.

This process inherently depends on what you mean by bettering. But we can all agree that to compare something, you need something else to compare it with.

Whom do you compare yourself with?

My attitude has always been to look upon remarkable people I can learn from.

That’s humbling, all the more so in the era of information (overload). But that’s also the mindset of most remarkable people, and virtually all the ones I admire.

After all, as many understood throughout history, standing on the shoulders of giants is what enables technological progress – or any kind of progress, really.

One could always do better

I often see people doing great things, only to underplay their role in it. Ok, that may be self-mockery, like Tim Minchin’s too-long speech at WAAPA. Or not.

When your measure against the best of the best, or even just the very best you could have done, it’s only normal to feel like you’ve done nothing special.

That’s not humblebragging: it’s extremely harsh, brutally honest self-criticism.

Granted, highly competent people don’t need to belittle themselves or others. But obsessing over details helped them grow to become experts, so that now they’re able to see shortcomings which most people hardly even notice.

It’s another shade of the Curse of knowledge, if you will.

Outgrowing others

One of my morning thoughts was “I’ve outgrown most of my peers” – whoah! It sounded to me just like what an elitist, snobbish, pretentious prick would say.

Except, I’m none of that at all. I may be a liar, a pig, an idiot, an elitist, snobbish, pretentious prick, but I am not a porn star!

(Yes, I’m paraphrasing Abe. For reference, check out “Homer is not a communist” on YouTube or The Simpsons episode “Simpson Tide” from Season 9 on Wikiquote.)

So, my next thought was “how arrogant of me” – ‘cause I’m well aware of being, in the eyes of society at large, the epitome of a nobody who achieved nothing.

As an example, let’s take the aforementioned Tim Minchin. While he might be a wanker, at the very least he’s a world-class wanker. I am a mere wanker, instead.

Or, well, “I am but a humble galactic hitchhiker” – as I’d rather put it.

(Because, unluckily enough, “science-obsessed, uber-rhymey polemicist pianist singer satirist wanker” was already taken by Tim. And I don’t play the piano.)

Anyhow, digressions aside, why am I mentioning all this?

I’m tempted to answer “because I’m a wanker” – but I won’t. And I just did. Shit.

Seriously, though, for once I tried to take a different point of view. Instead of comparing myself with great people, I compared myself with… just people.

I will spare you the uninteresting details, which by the way would be inevitably tied to my own environment, filters of reality, and current level of growth.

The point I am trying to make is basically just another variant of the well-known “it’s lonely at the top” saying. And here’s what I wanted to share with you.

[There is] a quote I’ve read a few years back that stuck with me ever since. I forgot the source and the exact wording, but the gist of it was that personal growth can potentially make you feel more isolated, i.e. the wiser you become, the fewest people you can truly communicate with. I instantly agreed, but I also think it’s still worth it because what we lose in breadth we make up for in depth.

That’s me quoting myself trying to quote a quote whose author I forgot.

(Hey, I’d been warning everyone about this “quotes about quotes” mindfuckery since my first post. I’m glad I’ve finally got to show you a real-world case.)

By the way, I thought Emil Cioran could have written something to that effect (and that degree of melancholy), but I was never able to track the source down.

For the curious, my own quote comes from a mail with a friend. We were talking about fitting in, mostly with people, specifically after much travelling around.

Outgrowing yourself

Back in the beginning of this post, I quickly moved from comparing something with something else to comparing someone with someone else.

That may (or may not) be a tad unfair, since each person is unique. But there’s really no reason why the point of comparison should be external.

Comparing yourself with yourself can hopefully prevent you from behaving like an elitist, snobbish, pretentious prick or feeling like a worthless, shitty, tiny speck.

Even so, there may be a few rubs.

Time, for one. As you go on, you change. For better or for worse: you do get more experienced, but you also get dangerously closer to organic decay.

Either way, it’s not perfectly fair to compare your current self with your old self.

“So what?” – Miles Davis promptly objected at this point – “Let’s just not do that. Let’s only compare ourselves with our current selves!!!”

First of all: Miles, what the hell are you doing here? Second: for heaven’s sake, take it easy on the exclams! And third: there’s yet another rub, methinks.

When you compare yourself with yourself, you can easily set the bar too high or too low. Who’s to say where that bar ought to be? It’s arbitrary, if not unfair.

After paving the road until now, I can finally make explicit my main point, which so far was only fleetingly hinted at: life is a game you play by your own rules.

You’re dealt a few cards, but then it’s up to you to set their worth. And you may very well make it a winning (or loosing) hand, regardless of how you even play it.

So, does it really make any sense to compare yourself with anything at all?

Maybe yes, maybe not. But here’s the thing: it doesn’t have to. We can still use benchmarks, perhaps because we find it useful, or simply because we want to.

Indeed, I wish I’ll keep on outgrowing myself. And I wish the same to you.

All I want to say is, life is good. Everything just is. It’s you who decide how it is.

And that doesn’t mean there’s no reasons to grow, but only that there’s no need.

You don’t have be perfect. You already are. Everything is.

Peace out!

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A random idea about ads

Tue, 12 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

I was chatting with a good friend, and the topic of marketing and ads came up.

We all use adblockers, right? If you don’t, go get uBlock Origin. Thank me later.

Anyhow, the first thing that came to my mind were two articles by Leo Babauta, namely the future of advertising and minimal web.

But then I remembered about a random ideas I had a few weeks ago. Here it is.

My random idea

There should be specific spaces only for advertisements and announcements.

Need anything? Go there and search.
Feel like shopping? Go there and get inspired.
Wanna hurt yourself? Go and look at shit you’ll never be able to afford.

The difference is that you are in charge. The issue with current advertising is that we are literally spoon-fed. Not to mention the ethics of manipulation.

In fact, the rules I would put in these places are essentially two:

Make clear that stuff is being promoted – to contain conflict of interest.
Stick to factual, verifiable information – to avoid psychological pitfalls.

Final ramblings

This is mostly what I came up with, just lightly edited.

I usually polish my posts a bit more, but this idea is pretty rough instead. It may deserve more thought, but today I don’t have time to think it through.

As I was writing an intro, though, ideas kept flowing. And since I didn’t want to write a long and boring introduction, I decided to move my ramblings here.

After a life spent hating ads, I came to realize that they too are neutral. The real problem lies not in what they are, but in how they are made.

From the top of my head, I identified two main issues with ads:

They’re unsolicited, interruping us and trying to monopolize out attention.
They’re often deceitful, overtly lying in our face so we buy useless shit.

But who says it has to be like that?

Yes, I do realize we live in a consumerist society, that companies are soulless, that people are greedy, blah blah blah.

But we are people too. We have a say in this, however little. I argue there’s a time and space for proper, ethical, respectful, factual, even useful ads.

And no, I’m not talking about Bullshit Attention Tokens. What I mean is unobtrusive, open, intentional ads that make our lives better instead of worse.

Could this be a new frontier of marketing, putting emphasis on people and quality products? I don’t know, but I’d very much like to see it.

Since ideas are up for grabs and just a multiplier of execution, feel free to go and make something out of this one. And let me know what you come up with!

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What makes you happy?

Sun, 27 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

I came across this question while aimlessly strolling through the internet.

Almost 4 years ago, Manu publicly asked: What makes you happy? Here’s the full post, for convenience (but Manu’s blog is interesting, go check it out):

Do more of what makes you happy they say. But what is that? What if you don’t know what makes you happy? How do you solve that? How can you even know what makes you happy? I found myself bouncing between different activities lately but the thought of what makes me happy never left my mind.

Do you know what makes you happy?

I thought I’d reply here. Isn’t it great to engage in a public conversation that spans four years? I’m starting to really love personal blogs. But I digress.

What prompted me to answer in the first place is: that’s a loaded question.

Why would we need anything external to make us happy? I know I don’t.

I could elaborate, but honestly I don’t feel like. The gist of it is:

Happiness is (mostly) a choice.
Wellness is our natural state of being.
People from the past have lots of wisdom to offer us.

I just want to share what Hesse’s Siddhartha helped me find out: most truths are not meant to be understood, but rather to be experienced and embodied.

And that’s enough wandering off for this article. Now let’s get back on topic.

The question and the first sentence of the quoted post strongly imply that your activities impact your mood, happiness, well-being – however we want to put it.

Well, that’s the very assumption I want to challenge. I feel it’s mostly the other way around. To me, the how matters more than the what here.

Sure, under normal circumstances (whatever that means) you might prefer X to Y. But what if both X and Y suddenly stopped bringing you any joy or pleasure?

In my experience, apathy is a big struggle when you’re depressed. You just can’t feel happiness, no matter what you do, and surely not for the lack of trying.

Luckily, though, the opposite may happen as well! Sometimes I’m just feeling blessed, and grateful, and joyful. And I’m happy, whatever I might be doing.

So, my main point is: take care of your mood, and it will take care of you.

Our internal swings (our baseline, how we feel) are orders of magnitude more important than the external swings (our activities, what we do).

Clearly, between apathy and bliss there’s a whole lot of “normal circumstances” where the assumption I challenged (not rejected) might still hold true.

In other words: doing what you love is great, loving what you do is even better.

Time to recap and drive a few points home:

Know thyself (i.e. knowing you usually enjoy hiking more than dancing).
Context is key (i.e. one day you may feel like dancing rather than hiking).
Take responsibility (i.e. own your thoughts, and they’ll shape your reality).

Finally, to answer Manu’s question: do I know what makes me happy?

Yes. I know I myself am the main maker (or breaker) of my happiness.

(And yes, sometimes I do forget it. I am such a forgetful creature…)

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For, not about

Fri, 25 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

It may seem counterintuitive, but your life is not about you. It is for you.

This is a thought I had just today, and it immediately started to make sense.

What I mean is: you are not the focus, you are the purpose.

A blatant example is a business website: it works so much better for you if you focus on your customers instead of making it all about yourself.

Moving the focus away from yourself can show you that what’s important to you may not matter at all to other people. And that’s liberating.

You don’t have to be trapped inside your mind, believing anything it tells you about yourself. It’s merely another opinion, just as arbitrary as the next one.

So, here’s the win-win: if no one gives a shit, you’re off the hook. And even if someone did (including yourself), why let anyone steal your joy?

After all, your life is not about you. Your life is for you.

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The problem is not X

Mon, 21 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The problem can be:

The excess (or lack) of X.
The desperate need for X.
The way of looking at X.

As excellently put by Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean:

The problem is not the problem. The problem is your attitude about the problem.

Also, X is not the solution. There’s no silver bullet. Or maybe there are many.

X can be (and often is) misconstrued, misunderstood, idealized, blamed.

But all in all, X is neither good nor bad in and of itself: it is neutral.

Think of X as a tool. Right for a job, wrong for another. And prone to misuse.

If your only tool is a hammer, then every problem looks like a nail.

Ultimately, X is just a model. But all models are wrong, as George Box had it.

X can be capitalism, communism, social media, technology, money, even love.

The next time you single out X, keep in mind that we’re wired to oversimplify.

And allow me to reiterate: the problem is not simplicity, but oversimplification.

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The issue with the need for reasons

Sun, 20 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve always been used to justifying, to myself before anyone else. Incidentally, this is something I see a lot of people doing, often unconsciously.

Then I found out there’s no need to have any reasons, let alone a good one.

In particular, doing what I love is more than enough reason in itself. And the reasons that lie behind anything at all aren’t necessarily relevant or helpful.

The main takeaway

At a deeper level, knowing why we do what we do is really powerful.

But sometimes we don’t know, or maybe we just can’t spell out our motives.

Fixating upon reasons can lead to self-denial, misalignment and inner conflict.

A quick parenthetical

Utilitarianism came to mind for some reason (pun intended).

When I first learned about that, it just made sense to me. Back then I was much younger and, the way I see it now, over-reliant on logic.

It took me some time to understand that there cannot be a single philosophy to live by, because what’s right on one occasion can be wrong on the next one.

(There would be a whole lot to elaborate, but that’s not what I meant to write about now, and I don’t feel like going off on a tangent. Maybe some other day.)

A recent event

I’ve been to a festival. Lots of people dancing, playing music, having fun. When I came back, a sudden realization hit me: anything we do is self-expression.

Our movements, looks, words, actions… they just are. They can only have the reasons we fabricate for ourselves, whether individually or collectively.

So, why not give priority to what we want, simply because we feel like it? Why place business before pleasure? Why never allow pleasure to be our business?

Self-denial might make you a better monk, but outside of the monastery it’s a pretty horrible way to live. Knowing what I know now, I couldn’t do it.

—Leon Feingold, Poliamory (TEDx Bushwick)

An older note

While wondering about this, I remembered I’d already written something alike.

I went through my notes, and I found one I saved last year, on 18 September 2022 (trivia: that’s the same exact date of the one about Softness).

I’ll paste it below. After all, the reason why I have this blog is to share ideas! 😜️

Having a problem is the second-best reason to act. The best one is having none.

When you have no problems, you don’t need to do anything. Therefore, you can do something just because you want it – with full intensity and presence.

If you think about it, that’s also what lies behind the urge to solve a problem: you feel the need to act because you want it gone.

The only difference is: where does that urge comes from?

When you have a problem, it comes from the outside. When you don’t, it comes from the inside.

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Vivian Maier and a fire hydrant

Thu, 11 May 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Here’s a largely unedited transcription of a piece I blurted out last Saturday (6 May 2023), inspired by Vivian Maier’s life and photography. And below, some context.

Ravings of an introverted fire hydrant

I don’t think I can hold on much longer. I’m weary. I want… release. But I need to hold on. Do I, though? Yes. Yes yes yes yes. Don’t give in. You’re not supposed to tear down. Don’t crack. Keep it. Keep. It. All. Inside.

They’re torturing me. Why? Why would they do this to me? I’m not bothering anyone. Never have. Never meant to. Why can’t you just leave me alone? Forget about me. I feel like that thing laid down in a corner and forgotten. Can’t I just be like that? Please?

Oh, one more… and another one, now.

I surrender. I can’t hold on anymore. I don’t want to cling to anything any longer. I’m bursting! I can’t control any of this… but it’s so… liberating. I feel… peaceful. I am the eye of the tornado, the void between electrons, the nothingness whence I came. Take my water, take all of it. I need nothing for myself, for I do not exist – if not within this dream we’re sharing.

In this immortal moment,
In this eternal now,
All the gifts I’ve been given
I happily give back.

—Photograph taken by Vivian Maier in New York, June 1954.

What’s this post about? (Part 2)

Much like the translation of Eugenio Montale’s poem in my previous post, the piece above should really be in that very same website I haven’t created yet.

I’d wanna say I’ll start building it at the third call, except I won’t really plan to live up to that promise. Maybe I will by the 42nd call. Hopefully. But I digress.

Anyhow, I decided to put the thing here and now because:

It’s been well-received by some people, maybe you’ll enjoy it too?
I honestly like that it has many layers and it’s open to interpretation.
I need to keep reminding myself that self-expression is not a deadly sin.

Speaking of, this piece itself is the direct result of a creative writing exercise.

Inspiration and Vivian Maier

Vivian Dorothy Maier was “a street photographer whose work was discovered and recognized after her death.”

Her story hit me like a train and made me reflect deeply on the dual nature of art as both intimate self-expression and authentic communication with others.

The exercise consisted in choosing a photography (out of six shown) and writing something from the point of view of a non-human element of the picture.

Most outcomes were delightful, amusing, and/or profound. Witnessing once again the miracle of human creativity was nothing short of mind-blowing.

Some more context

Last week I took part in the training course Sharks in my bathtub – Art for building inner resilience (held in Carei, Romania).

I found the whole experience cathartic and enlightening. I had lots of emotions to process, and I feel I received important answers (but it’s too soon to tell).

For now, I just want to warmly thank:

Laris Guerri and Rui Guerreiro, for the great activities and their empathy.
Delia Cristina Rosca, for the logistics and her care way beyond duty.
All the participants, for their presence and contributions.

(And you, for the gift of your time and attention.)

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I climbed down, with you by my arm, at least a million stairs

Mon, 24 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Here’s a beautiful poem by Eugenio Montale:

I climbed down, with you by my arm, at least a million stairs
and now you’re not here, it’s emptiness at each step.
Even thus, our long journey has been short.
Mine still lasts, yet I no longer need
coincidences, reservations,
traps, the chagrin of those who believe
that reality is just what they see.

I climbed down million stairs with you by my arm
not quite because with four eyes perhaps we can see more.
With you I climbed down ‘cause I knew between us two
the only true pupils, albeit so much dimmed,
were yours.

I think this poem is all the more beautiful when you know he wrote it for his wife, whom he affectionately nicknamed “Fly” due to her near-sightedness.

What’s this post about?

I was asked about my favourite poem. But I don’t have one. I mean, only one.

I have troubles ranking what can’t be objectively ranked, and I don’t even like it because I feel there’s really no need to. I mean, it’s highly situational.

So I asked back what if I had more than one. I’ve been answered, and I quote: “Try to choose that one giving you more emotion😊️”.

Ok, some guidance, that’s great. For some reasons, this poem sprang to my mind (as apparently I can’t read it without crying). I decided to go with my gut.

When I searched for an English translation, to my surprise nothing remotely passable showed up. Not to say it’s not there, maybe I just wasn’t able find it.

I didn’t even look that hard, as I knew I would end up translating it myself. Partly ‘cause I’m picky, but mostly because I’m also a poet (surprise surprise).

Since poetry can’t be translated (I mean, nothing really can, but poetry even less so), I might as well make my own version and pour my soul into these words.

This post actually belongs to a website I haven’t created yet. But now that it’s done, I thought I’d share it here as a gift for the world.

I hope you don’t mind. Although it’s not quite simple. And it’s not your song. Or poem. Or post. Ok, since you’ve made it so far, this can be your post! ❤️

P.S. I’m still not a native. If you spot any mistakes, please let me know!

P.P.S. If you enjoyed this translation, if you found it useful, if you’d like to encourage me to create that other website – please also let me know.

Italian version

Before bringing the curtain down, here’s some more poetry for you:

Ho sceso, dandoti il braccio, almeno un milione di scale
e ora che non ci sei è il vuoto ad ogni gradino.
Anche così è stato breve il nostro lungo viaggio.
Il mio dura tuttora, né più mi occorrono
le coincidenze, le prenotazioni,
le trappole, gli scorni di chi crede
che la realtà sia quella che si vede.

Ho sceso milioni di scale dandoti il braccio
non già perché con quattr’occhi forse si vede di più.
Con te le ho scese perché sapevo che di noi due
le sole vere pupille, sebbene tanto offuscate,
erano le tue.

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I started a Joy Log

Sat, 15 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Fear got the best of me lately, and I worked way too much for my own good.

As I was feeling generally anxious and worried, my baseline was changing. I could no longer feel joyful for no reason – just because I am.

I want to appreciate every moment because I know what it feels like. But I also know I can’t force anything, and certainly not how and what I feel.

So I thought I could just notice what brings me joy when I happen to feel it.

How it works for me

I have a Markdown note (nerd, I know) on my smartphone.
Every day, I write a line with the date and make a list.
Whenever something makes me joyful, I jot it down.

The list could be empty, either because:

I didn’t feel particularly joyful.
I failed to notice how I felt.
I forgot to write it down.

I am only three days in, but so far none of the above happened (yet).

Benefits and ideas

Maybe the best thing is that now I am on the lookout for my joy.

I think that’s the main reason I have always found at least one item each day.

Speaking of which, I have never come to terms with having to write 3, 5, 10, N “things I’m grateful for”. What if I don’t have that many?

You find them, that’s the whole point – some would say, and I’m sure it can be a perfectly valid advice. I do see the potential gains, but also the risks.

You can’t find what’s not there, and you risk fabricating it – that’s what I’d say. I want to get real. I want to feel, not to fill (a list).

(This reminds me of vanity metrics: it’s all too easy to fixate on the numbers, losing sight of what matters most. See Leo Babauta’s post, minimal web.)

By the way, I want to clarify that I love lists, and they do bring me joy.

Also, my joy log brings me joy, and this alone makes it worth it.

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Opposite motives, same behaviour

Thu, 06 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Oftentimes, the same behaviour can stem from opposite motives.

Let’s say you ask someone for their opinion on a delicate, personal issue.

They may tell you a harsh truth because they care and want to be honest. Or they may be blunt just because they don’t care at all and have nothing to lose.

Let’s say someone makes a mistake, and you know how to correct it.

You can do nothing out of indifference (i.e. you can’t be bothered) or out of love (i.e. you need to step aside, so they can learn through experience).

Of course, even actions backed by good intentions can turn out to be harmful. A prime example is the overprotective parent who suffocates their child.

On the other hand, every cloud has a silver lining. Basically, things are not always what they seem to be.

But that’s a horse of a different colour, and Derek Sivers gave a few excellent examples about it on his blog article Meta-considerate.

Here I just wanted to make 3 points, really:

We shouldn’t be so quick to draw conclusions about people’s motives.
To do the right thing, first we should acknowledge which one it is.
If we really want to help, we should question our own assumptions.

Because, as Derek put it, the opposite may also be true.

Sometimes it’s easier to infer results from intentions than the other way round. Directionality matters.

Life is ever-evolving and calls for balance. What’s right at first can become wrong a bit later, and then right again. We need judgement and flexibility.

There are many ways to do good, and many more to do harm. We must be strong to choose wisely.

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On Softness

Sun, 26 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000

I jotted this thought down on 18 September 2022:

When we are soft and easy to break, we often think we should become tougher, like rock or metal, and hard to break.

But we might as well soften up even more, becoming flexible and fluid like water or air, and nearly impossible to break.

Now that I read it again, two quotes come to mind.

One is from Jon Krakauer’s book Into The Wild:

The fragility of crystal is not a weakness but a fineness.

And the other from a clip of a Bruce Lee’s interview:

Water can flow… or it can crash. Be water, my friend.

This post serves as a reminder that there are many ways to be strong.

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Directionality (and the usual mindfuckery)

Thu, 16 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000

You can’t unscramble scrambled eggs. And that’s why directionality matters.

It’s a simple property. Alas, we often neglect it and make blatant mistakes.

Three aspects and examples

Metaphors coming soon, but first the super-condensed notation for the nerds:

We can go from A to B or from B to A, but one takes more effort.
We can only go from A to B, but we can’t go from B to A.
We can do A to get B, or do B to get A – or both.

And now screw letters, let’s drown in words instead!

1. Bidirectionality

Swimming against the tide is harder than going with the flow.

This is perhaps the easiest manifestation of directionality.

Still, it makes for a beautiful concept on its own. There’s a whole lot to think about taking the Path of least resistance in one’s life.

Sometimes it makes sense to put up resistence. It can be the right thing to do. Quite paradoxically, it can even be the path of least resistance itself.

Other times, the tide would be too strong. We could only slow down the inevitable. It may be wiser to surrender, and let the flow carry us.

2. Unidirectionality

We can jump off a cliff into the sea, but not the other way round.

In the previous example, reversing course was mostly doable – it just required effort. In this case, no amount of effort will let us defy gravity.

Similarly, we experience the passage of time only in one direction. There is no undoing, no unseeing, no unscrambling. We should know this much intuitively.

And yet, many times we seem to forget that opportunity knocks but once.

3. Causality

Do we work to live, or do we live to work?

Ok, this is just a rethorical question (I hope).

But the line between cause and effect can be thin and blurry.

In Antifragile, Nassim Taleb uses the direction of the causal arrow to show how education is a byproduct (rather than a source) of wealth.

Sexy science

Speaking of arrows: do you remember vectors?

They can be useful to model the first example:

Tide    You
-->  +  --->  =  ----->  (smooth sailing)
-->  +  <---  =  <-      (swimming upstream)
-->  +  <-    =  ->      (carried by the tide)

In the second example, there is no you.

I mean, you can do nothing to oppose the direction of gravity or time.

(If I’m wrong here, please let me know how you do it. Sounds like fun!)

Lastly, let’s dive into the realm of logic (and philosophy, if you wish).

The causal arrow represents a logical implication.

Interestingly, this arrow can also go both ways at the same time.

Understanding implication is not sufficient, nor necessary – but it can be fun.

I am such a nerd, and I spend a lot of time thinking about this kind of stuff.

You do you. But misunderstanding the (practical) implications of the (logical) implication may turn out to be costly. Forewarned is forearmed.

Open questions?

Mind over matter or matter over mind?
Success in spite of failure or because of it?
I think, therefore I am… or I am, therefore I think?
Do we believe it because it’s true, or is it true because we believe it?
Are you awesome because you are here, or you’re here because you’re awesome?

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Only the strong can choose

Tue, 14 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Doing what one wants is the privilege of the strong.

This sentence made me think.

It comes from the last episode of the first season of the anime Tokyo Ghoul.

To give you some perspective: Jason, a sadic but extremely powerful guy, said this much to Kaneki, the good-hearted hero of the story.

(According to the fandom wiki, the quote should be: “Doing what one likes is the right of the strong.” – but the wording above hit me harder.)

A matter of choice

The privilege lies in being able to choose what you want.

There’s no merit in what you do when you have no choice. If you happen to like it, good for you. But that’s just a happy coincidence.

Choosing means discarding viable alternatives. Some examples:

Living frugally even if you can afford more.
Travelling by train even though you have a car.
Doing the right thing even when it takes sacrifice.

That’s why you need to be strong.

Kindness of the weak

There are different ways to be kind.

One can be meek by nature, because they want to avoid conflicts. This easily leads to explotation by others and, even worse, to self-neglect.

If you never fight, you put everything on an equal footing. By not choosing, you choose the status quo. By saying yes to all, you end up saying no to yourself.

Shallow peace

Say all you want is to be left alone. But someone wants to mess with you.

You didn’t want war, but war is now upon you.

Whatever you do (or don’t), your peace is lost. But that’s only shallow peace.

Deep peace

When you know you’re weak, your only choice is to run away.

But if you’re strong enough, you can choose to stay and claim your peace.

And this is deep peace, because you are able to defend it.

Kindness of the strong

It’s not enough being well-meaning and having good intentions.

Thoughts, actions, and consequences should be aligned.

We must be strong to carry it all out. As a friend once told me:

You need to toughen up, you have everything else.

Know thyself

We can’t ever be strong in an absolute sense. Even the most powerful person on earth is highly fragile, regardless of how they see themselves.

Listen to yourselves, and try not to fool yourselves. The weak think they’re stronger than they are. But the strong know their weak spots.

Fighting can be a sign of strength or weakness. Same goes for retreat.

Only you can tell which is which for yourself.

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Philocracy: Love & Power

Sun, 12 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Here’s a 2-minutes essay I wrote on 2nd December 2022. Enjoy!

On Power and Love (or: we can solve the world, but nobody cares)

There is a practical, actionable, and even simple solution to turn the world into a better place virtually overnight.

Paraphrasing Confucius: the most powerful people should be the most loving ones.

That’s it, really. But I’ll emphasize the concept just a bit more.

From Rectification of names - Wikipedia:

[…] righteous, considerate, kind, benevolent, and gentle treatment should be applied by the former [usually higher in the hierarchy] to the latter.

The idea is: we should regard the weakest as privileged and place most of the (metaphorical) burden on the shoulders of the strongest, as they can carry it.

Or, in other words, with great power comes great responsibility.

We have known this for at least 2.5k years (if not even more). Spider-Man showed up a bit late to the party – oh well, better late than never, I guess.

Even Jesus approves (Mark 10:43-44):

[…] whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all.

Words like servant and slave may come off a bit too harsh nowadays, but I hope it’s not too hard to put them into context.

It means that the strongest are not those who subjugates the weakest, but those who are willing to put themselves at everyone’s service.

Basically, an aristocracy where the criteria for the áristos (best) is love. Let’s call it philocracy – from philos (love) and kratos (strenght, power).

I want to close with a famous quote by Augustine of Hippo:

Love, and do what thou wilt.

What if we measured people accordingly? Based on their capacity for love rather than status, money, success, intellectual prowess – or anything else, really.

Wouldn’t it be great to live in a philocracy, under the government of love?

If neither Confucius, Jesus, Saint Augustine nor even Spider-Man was able to convince humanity, I’m not so sure I will. (Well, you never know…)

Truth is, I’ve said nothing new. We could have saved the world already.

And yet, here we are. Nobody cares, apparently.

But I do.

And you?

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Nicky Case & The Evolution of Trust

Sat, 11 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000

A few days ago, while aimless wandering the internet, I stumbled across an interactive guide on The Evolution of Trust.

Even though the topic wasn’t completely new to me, I couldn’t help but feel delighted: beautiful animations, great style, simulation with sliders & stuff.

Plus, I had the chance to think about a fascinating subject, and I ended up learning a few more things. But, above all, I felt like a kid in a playground.

And that’s how I find out about Nicky’s wobsite.

Again, I was delighted: simple and playful, full of personality and food for thought. And I was pleasantly surprised by the Public Domain dedication.

I’m going down the rabbit hole, and I’m loving it. I just thought I’d share it.

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Hello, World!

Fri, 03 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000

This is my first post. If the title puzzles you, let me explain.

Even better, let Wikipedia’s “Hello World (disambiguation)” page explain:

A “Hello, World!” program generally is a computer program that outputs or displays the message “Hello, World!”.

Ok, this is not a program – or is it?

Anyhow, I think it shows pretty neatly what you can expect from this blog:

Obscure references, quotes about quotes, and some nonsense.
The chance to witness my ravings and possibly learn new stuff.
That my idea of “pretty neatly” is not necessarily to be trusted.

Over and out!

Wanna tell me what you think? Contact me! 📨️

P.S. Hooray for RSS! You're awesome! 😎️