Tag: Observations

Tip:

Whenever you are talking about someone, assume they can hear every word. Hopefully this will remind you to be kinder.

My most effective thinking tool is sleep. I realise now the importance of the advice “sleep on it”.

Reading about Dostoevsky. There is certainly a trend in history that the most interesting thinkers and artists tended to be outsiders for defining periods; and sometimes the untamed spark that made them great was dampened when invited in from the wilderness. Dostoevsky’s spark seemed to ignite after the more eventful stages of his life – in particular after a death sentence for sedition was commuted at the last minute to hard labour in a Siberian gulag, writing four classic novels after this period.

Human

Opportunity: Compounded improvements in the quality of life.

Threat: A downward spiral into oblivion.

Practical solution: Adopting a framework of good habits.

Goal: Aliveness.

In good stories the brave hero courageously saves the lives of others; well these days it can just take a tap on a screen to save someone’s life. Anyone can be the hero.

One of the effects of the worldwide shut-down has been to hasten the widespread transition from offline real life to an online virtual life.

The analogue world often has more reverence, albeit less sheer efficiency than the online version; for instance finding a seminal work in the labyrinth of a dusty old library feels like discovering a bit of history, rather than scrolling past disposable data on a screen.