Reality Laughs

The country’s going to hell, etc.

The future is more likely to be like the past than it is like a linear extension of the present. That’s from Joe Norman. I think it’s right.

Imagine extrapolating from a single point. (Present conditions). Now imagine extrapolating from a series of points. (Observed past conditions). Which line is likelier to be predictive?

This may be why RETVRN and trad culture is seductive: because it has an element of truth. It has an element of larping, too. But after you boil away the “larp” sneer remember that the old stuff worked and has a good track record. Exhibit A: Meditations. Exhibit B: Christianity.

You are a real person, good things are better than bad things, existence exists.

On my way to 1,000 blogposts I have found myself stalled in the 700s.

So let’s write something up from seat 5D, AMS to LAX. It won’t post until I’m on the ground at home, because why spend money on wifi in the sky unless it’s mandatory for work?

I am unenthused by Twitter, or at least the part of Twitter I see. I see performative intellectualism and earnest hustle. I found myself saving threads and individual tweets to Instapaper. “Oh, that’s good. I must remember it.” No, not really.

In reviewing the Instapaper backlog I discovered that 90% is shallow. There should be an internet law about that. Maybe it should be a shallow and snarky reworking of a better-known 19th century observation.

And that kinda proves the point. The internet distills, and retains the ephemeral.

Nuke the Instapaper backlog.

Cut Twitter back to maybe two or three follows. Log on intermittently.

Go to paper and pen. There are two nice indie coffee places close and equidistant from my office. I found joy sitting at a sidewalk table in Milan, Madrid, and Palma. Me, an espresso, and a bottle of water.

More of that. You already know the answer. The Kingdom of Heaven is within.

Go to human interaction. Face to face. Phone if distance demands it.

Slow.

On my way to 1,000 blogposts I have found myself stalled in the 700s.

So let’s write something up from seat 5D, AMS to LAX. It won’t post until I’m on the ground at home, because why spend money on wifi in the sky unless it’s mandatory for work?

I am unenthused by Twitter, or at least the part of Twitter I see. I see performative intellectualism and earnest hustle. I found myself saving threads and individual tweets to Instapaper. “Oh, that’s good. I must remember it.” No, not really.

In reviewing the Instapaper backlog I discovered that 90% is shallow. There should be an internet law about that. Maybe it should be a shallow and snarky reworking of a better-known 19th century observation.

And that kinda proves the point. The internet distills, and retains the ephemeral.

Nuke the Instapaper backlog.

Cut Twitter back to maybe two or three follows. Log on intermittently.

Go to paper and pen. There are two nice indie coffee places close and equidistant from my office. I found joy sitting at a sidewalk table in Milan, Madrid, and Palma. Me, an espresso, and a bottle of water.

More of that. You already know the answer. The Kingdom of Heaven is within.

Go to human interaction. Face to face. Phone if distance demands it.

Slow.

1. Play games with positive expected value.
2. Play a massive volume of iterations to offset variance.
3. Make sure this is a game where variance isn’t fatal.
4. Bonus points: it’s a positive sum game for all players.

The laws of probability, so true in general, so fallacious in particular.

Edward Gibbon, 1774

Playing w one recipe for the Good Life, which is “find the end in every instant” until effortless

“Live in the moment”
Too unspecific 👎

I’m talking abt noticing the
specific thing
supplied by the moment that I
already appreciate.

A currently available
end-in-itself

https://twitter.com/tyleralterman/status/1564964037091368966?s=46&t=6O8PrFfML1qf6wie6T-AxA

A moment ago, the end-in-itself was just enjoying the clack of my boots as I walked. These things can be…pedestrian (hehe)

Tho if I want to b fancy, I could consider these ends as portals to the divine, tailored to my particular mind

This recipe for the good life doesn’t rule out preparing for the future. That’s classic hippie error

You just notice the ends in the process of preparation

A process which contains ends can also be a means

I confessed that I had a burning desire to be excellent, but no faith that I could be.

Martha said to me, very quietly: “There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep yourself open and aware to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open. As for you, Agnes, you have so far used about one-third of your talent.”

“But,” I said, “when I see my work I take for granted what other people value in it. I see only its ineptitude, inorganic flaws, and crudities. I am not pleased or satisfied.”

“No artist is pleased.”

“But then there is no satisfaction?”

“No satisfaction whatever at any time,” she cried out passionately. “There is only a queer divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others.

Agnes De Mille, Martha: The Life and Work of Martha Graham

My hypothesis: read five authoritative books about a particular subject and you will have top decile familiarity with the topic.

A possible Pareto modification for the time-constrained: read one authoritative book, sufficient to identify, hire, and work with a competent, experienced practitioner in the field.

In other words, optimize for learning enough to be a good shopper and good manager of talent in the field. Sink time into doing rather than learning incrementally more.

For some endeavors, it’s important to internalize the knowledge. For most, though, it’s sufficient to develop adequate intellectual filters and then get to work and do the actual thing, preferably with input from others.

The A student in me wants to Learn All the Things. the rugged individualist in me says I should do it all by myself.

The lesson of my recent life is, if you just go around talking about your incredibly specific dream project like it’s a real thing, loudly, enough times, you might run into someone else who has the exact same dream project, and then it might not be a dream for much longer

https://twitter.com/sashachapin/status/1565567924173213697?s=21&t=1SVGBkbhZhoMQnjkBRSXHQ

A pithier version of “Keep doing what you’re doing and you’ll keep getting what you’re getting.”