As far as politics go, I would describe myself as economically conservative and socially moderate. But what about my meta-politics? See, here’s the thing: forming an opinion about specific leaders is trivially easy. You barely even have to think about it. But forming a coherent philosophy of the nature of power is hard. It takes […]
Category: Culture
Corporations Are Not Your Friends
Once every great now and then, I try to do a deep search for my name on Google to see what sort of personal information about me is available on the internet. I did this a month ago and was shocked to immediately see my LinkedIn profile in the top 3 results. This was especially […]
Follow Up to Why I Don’t Own Cryptocurrency
In a few short days after my last post on why I don’t own cryptocurrency, many cryptocurrencies took a nosedive. It would be tempting to flout this as proof of the validity of my opinion on the matter, but this isn’t actually fair – there could just as easily have been a surge in prices […]
Why I Don’t Own Cryptocurrency (and other thoughts on asset classes)
Okay, I’m trolling here a bit. At the same time that I don’t own any cryptocurrencies and I don’t plan to buy any, either, I’m also not a crypto-hater, I just think there is a broader understanding of asset classes that is useful to understand when looking at this. It’s also funny how predictably libertarian […]
The Polished Product
I believe our culture has a strong bias against improvisation, and I have mixed feelings about this. With a few carpentry skills, the majority of furnishings in our lives could be created instead of purchased, but it takes advanced skills to stain, polish, or upholster furniture, and the average person does not possess these skills. […]
Collections and Hoarding
Despite being fascinated by history, I don’t have a particularly strong desire to own it. I can appreciate the process of finding old things for a collection, and I can appreciate seeing the things themselves, but the acquisition always makes me a little uncomfortable. How badly do I want a basement full of old stuff? […]
Life Engineering: Stability and Fragility
We have an astronomical number of choices in life, but most of these choices are restricted by culture. Some of these restrictions are good, but many of them are bad. Culture gives us defaults for our expectations, hopes, dreams, and desires, but some of these can lead to great pain and suffering. I’m up for […]
Other People’s Problems
When I was younger, in my late teens and early 20s, it was popular to have passion for a cause, and one way to stand out from your peers was to latch onto one cause or another and really sink your teeth in. “Oh, I’m just SO passionate about [XYZ]!” I’ve probably been on different […]
Expensive Hobbies
When I was in middle school and high school, I was always confused by the things my wealthier friends did with their time. It seemed that many of these families had nothing better to do with their lives than constantly try new and expensive activities. We didn’t really have the money for those things, but […]
Life, Work, and YouTube
If I had to summarize what I’ve learned from YouTube over the past 3 or 4 years, I would say this: Life is short; the world is big. I still have a soft spot in my heart for those tall geography books, with pictures from across the world, maps galore, and interesting facts. But honestly, […]