Posts

• Power Over Us

  

  Power is a theme that occurs often in legend, folklore, and fantasy. The worst fate that can befall a hero is for someone or something to gain power over them. This can happen in many ways: for example, through a curse, a talisman, or revealing their true name (the name...

• Times Are Changing

  

  When I want to get a quick sense of how the world visualizes a thing, I try an image search. When I type the word “startup” into a search engine such as Unsplash, I see something like this: Try the same and you’ll find images of mostly twentysomething, mostly white...

• Productive Monkeys

  

  What does it mean to be more productive? Over the last few years, as I’ve thought more about productivity and worked to become more productive, this is a question I keep coming back to. I can’t help but fall back on a running metaphor. Assuming that the “product” of running...

• Run the Other Way

  

  I run the same route nearly every morning. The route is a loop, which means that I don’t have to double back and run the same path twice. I’ve been running this route for years. I know it like I know a lover’s body: the location of every curve and...

• The Secret of Happiness

  

  “Of course I don’t have to do this,” one middle aged man said, carefully cleaning the table with a damp cloth. He put the cloth in a little pouch, sat down beside him. “But look, this table’s clean.” He agreed that the table was clean. “Usually,” the man said, “I...

• Institutional Hypocrisy

  

  We live in a world where we are constantly lied to. Our leaders and our politicians lie to us (but at least we expect this). The companies we rely on, including our financial institutions, lie to us. Companies lie to their own employees (recent examples include Amazon, Facebook, Google, and...

• Ideas, and Their Opposites

  

  “What do you stand for?” This is one of the most important questions we can ask ourselves and those around us. It’s highly relevant to topics that are near and dear to me including business, blockchain, and governance. If a project or organization doesn’t clearly articulate its values and purpose,...

• Cityside and Countryside

  

  Over the past few decades, major cities have been engines of enormous growth and prosperity. Cities have brought together diverse groups of people from different places and different walks of life, forcing them to live side by side more or less peaceably and allowing them to learn from one another....

• Why I Meditate

  

  I was challenged a couple of months ago to write about meditation, and about why I meditate. I happily accepted the challenge, but I didn’t realize at the time what a difficult topic it would be to write about. For one thing, it’s more deeply personal than anything else I’ve...

• Something to Believe In

  

  I’m feeling pretty fed up with the state of the world, and the feeling has definitely become more intense recently. There are a number of reasons, but the most obvious one is politics. Politics feels totally broken in the United States and in disarray at the international level too. I’m...

• A Few Things I've Learned About Racism

  

  I’ve been almost totally ignorant about racism until very recently. Like so many White Americans of my generation, I grew up under the false pretense that, since my family and I were not ourselves racist—in the sense that we didn’t think less of people of color, nor did we engage...

• A Positive Duty

  

  I’ve recently been fascinated by two social, political topics that are highly relevant and controversial in America today. At first blush these topics don’t appear to have anything in common, but as I’ve thought more about society and about the connection between rights and duties, I’ve realized that in fact...

• Infinite Jest

  

  While I take notes on most of the books I read, I’ve never publicly written a book review before. But I was so moved by Infinite Jest that I feel compelled to try. For those who haven’t yet read the book, please note that this review doesn’t contain any spoilers—not...

• What Can I Do?

  

  One of the questions that keeps coming up in conversations with friends lately is, “What can I do?” When I’ve tried to answer that question, for myself and for others, I’ve felt stuck. I’m certain that I can and should do something, but it’s not obvious what or where to...

• We Live in Interesting Times

  

  A few mornings ago, I had to call 911. I had just finished a run, and happened to witness a minor accident where a woman had fallen from a scooter (fortunately, she wasn’t badly injured). Everything happened more or less as it should: a small crowd of people gathered to...

• There Is No They

  

  While talking to my father recently, I noticed something interesting about the way he speaks. He tends to use the word “they” a lot, in ways that sound strange and unnatural to me. He uses “they” in ways I never would. It’s such a common, unremarkable word, I had never...

• My Father's People

  A few years ago I audited one of my father’s undergraduate psychology courses. He taught for many years at Hunter College, the flagship campus of the City University of New York, and just one or two years prior had finally, reluctantly, decided to retire, but continued to teach one course...

• Declaring Digital Independence

  

  One day, about 15 years ago, I got off a flight in a city I don’t know well. I was going to visit a friend, and I was supposed to pick up a rental car, call my friend, and let them know that I was on my way. Something strange...

• Scalpels and Sledgehammers

  

  I opened my first bank account when I was ten years old. My dad told me, “Son, you’re almost all grown up, it’s about time you learn how to manage money,” took me to the local branch, and before I knew it I had a new toy: a passbook. I...

• Modular writing and shaving yaks

  

  By training, I’m a computer scientist and a software developer. I tend to look at the world through the lens of software, systems, and processes. I look for structure and patterns, and for ways to optimize those processes. As one example, waiting in line to check out at a grocery...

• Look on the bright side

  

  In many parts of the world, including where I live, Covid19 has turned things upside-down. Thousands of people—soon to be tens of thousands—are dying every day from a disease that’s novel and still not very well understood. Families everywhere are losing loved ones. Healthcare workers, first responders, and also those...

• Hello, world

  

  I’ve tried starting a personal blog a number of times over the past few years. Each time, I was stymied by one of two thoughts. The first thought was, Why would anyone want to read what I have to write, anyway? Do I really have things worth writing and sharing...