Software, Society, and Spirit
On a recent podcast, Ezra Klein was asked his opinion about how much of a difference individual decisions about consumption make. His response was for us to think less about our personal consumption, and more about how we’re a carrier for ideas that change the way society consumes. He gave the example of being vegan: …
As seen elsewhere on this blog, I’m very concerned with healthy living and longevity. As part of that, I tend towards a highly ketogenic diet. I used to love chocolate chip cookies, and chocolate chip cookie dough, but now I never eat wheat and very rarely eat sugar. This recipe is one I developed to …
The Road to Joy: Eight Pathways of Psychospiritual Transformation by Kevin P. McClone My rating: 3 of 5 stars Much of “The Road to Joy” is amazing. Many individual lines shine; I think I reached a new personal high in highlighting thoughts for later. The author draws upon a breadth of perspective, rooted in his …
I’ve decided to be less certain about things. I’ve been thinking a lot about how we determine what is true over the last few years. Naturally, most of this thinking has been directed toward people I disagree with. (How do they determine what is true?) There are all these competing narratives, and it’s possible for …
About 10 years ago, I was sick often; I had a cold about every other month, lasting 10 days. Since then, building up my immune system has been one of the many ways I’ve been biohacking for health & longevity, and it’s worked for me: I’ve had one illness in the last 18 months, and …
Shortest Way Home: One Mayor’s Challenge and a Model for America’s Future by Pete Buttigieg My rating: 5/5 Loved it. Tells a good & inspirational story. I was fascinated by his choices and growth through life, from being a superstar academic to his choice to switch from corporate work over to politics, to his commitment …
How long do you hope to live? What do you imagine your life will be like at 60, at 80, at 100? While the long-term trends in longevity have been great (up from about 47 in 1900 to the upper 70’s in 2000, in the United States [1]), there also seems to be a widespread …
In my recent post on patriotism, I spoke generally about the importance of American values. Certainly the most preeminent among these is Liberty. The most powerful issues and agendas of both the right and the left are based on freedom – with each side believing it’s standing for it, and the other side caricatured as …
I’ve been sitting with the idea of being “proud to be an American” recently. This is a notion that’s been largely ceded to the right in my lifetime. People on the progressive left have been far too aware of the many problems with our culture and government to fully embrace patriotism, or symbols of patriotism …
“The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction . . . and the distinction between true and false . . . no longer exist.” – Hannah Arendt, “The Origins of Totalitarianism”, 1951.