On the boundaries of humanity

For most of humankind, and for tens of thousands of years, the idea that humanity includes every individual on the face of the earth has not existed. This designation stops at the border of a tribe or linguistic group, sometimes even at the edge of a village. — Paraphrased from Claude Lévi-Strauss, Race and History, 1952 (full quote and context) I guess my beloved Star Trek future—post-scarcity, post-conflict, beyond divisions—is still far away. ...

December 6, 2025

To hide in the woods

The woods, the jungle, the forest are the boundary between the wild and the civilized, a place of shelter and legendary fears, of hiding and losing oneself. A place of wonder and unease. [..] But what a mythical power lies in this tangle of nature, shadows, and roots, where the unconscious of the world can be found. – Vinicio Capossela

December 4, 2025

On the usefulness of writing

I think of it [the usefulness of writing] like breathing but for ideas. We do so much reading all day—there should be a natural balance with producing words too. Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale… Joe Boudreau in On 10 Years of Writing a Blog Nobody Reads, an article I agree 100% with.

December 2, 2025

Time

If you want to understand time — which is how you come to befriend life — turn to stone. Climb a mountain and listen to the conversation between eons encoded in each stripe of rock. Walk a beach and comb your fingers through the golden dust that was once a mountain. Pick up a perfect oval pebble and feel its mute assurance that time can grind down even the heaviest boulder, and smooth even the sharpest edge. ...

November 26, 2025

People who no longer read as much as they used to

The theory that people no longer read as much as they used to is put forward by people who no longer read as much as they used to. – Francesco Farabegoli

November 22, 2025

Old timers who built the early web are coding with AI like it's 1995

The old timers who built the early web are coding with AI like it’s 1995. Think about it: They gave blockchain the sniff test and walked away. Ignored crypto (and yeah, we’re not rich now). NFTs got a collective eye roll. But AI? Different story. The same folks who hand-coded HTML while listening to dial-up modems sing are now vibe-coding with the kids. Building things. Breaking things. Giddy about it. ...

August 1, 2025

The lies we tell ourselves

The lies we tell others are for survival. But the lies we tell ourselves… those can kill us! A quote from Ragazzo by Zuzu, which I read recently.

July 28, 2025

Just one good thing

In the last year, a mindset shift and approach appeared as a very simple idea: just do one thing, that I want to do today. The one thing can be small or big, easy or labored, fleeting or long. I carve out time to go play drums for two hours, go for a bouldering session, do a shorter 20 minute run, read a page of a book, eat something I’m really excited about, and more. Even on the most difficult day, I can adjust and find the smallest thing that I am excited about and do it. ...

July 22, 2025

Maintaining curiosity

I believe what’s important isn’t the specific technology itself, but rather maintaining curiosity that always looks toward new alternatives and making technical decisions based on your own judgment rather than simply delegating your choices to popular opinion. In Praise of the Contrarian Stack

July 8, 2025

Quoting Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

The best moments in our lives are not the passive, receptive, relaxing times… The best moments usually occur if a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile. – Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (via)

June 19, 2025