2023 Favorites & Updates :^)
February 2024's Ingest
Intro
“Attention alone, that attention which is so full that the ‘I’ disappears, is required of me. I have to deprive all that I call ‘I’ of the light of my attention and turn it onto that which cannot be conceived.” - Simone Weil
My top articles to start the year (a little late 😉)
Why The Age of American Progress Ended
I generally agree with much more than the misguided 'it's time to build' doctrine much of tech seems to align with. 'Great Man' theory is not real!
How Colleges Make More Money Than God By Giving It Away
Illuminating piece on the financial logic of college tuitions.
Lily and I have been picking up these themes repeatedly these last 6 weeks or so. How much of this do you see in yourself?
Have found myself thinking about relationships as I’ve spent time with some older ‘millennial’ people of late (at work, friends of friends, etc.) and think of this piece.
Why We Need New Words for Nature
I was on a linguistics-theory reading kick last winter, and this piece stood out. While this piece focuses on how we speak about nature (or don’t), I found it interesting to extrapolate this point to other dominant themes in American life, like finance, education, politics, etc.
and some books!
Three Body Problem Series, Cixin Liu
The Glass Bead Game (Magister Ludi), Herman Hesse
Finding the Mother Tree, Suzanne Simmard
21st Century Monetary Policy, Ben Bernanke
Coffee Shop Popup in my apartment!
I started a coffee popup brand, named Sfânt, and hosted an event in my apartment! Great turnout, lots of fun, will definitely pursue this more :). I’ve linked the Instagram above, here was the flyer I sent around, among some other photos,
Time, Innovation, Political Economy
Pace Layering - been thinking a lot about perceptions of time recently
How Social Engineering Drives Technology - Samo has been one of the more interesting thinkers who I follow
Misc. Personal
Tit for Tat Game Theory - I remember learning about this and running a little competition like this in high school CS. Nice summary video, did anyone else do this in class?
Richard Sapper - His Tizio light is so nice
emotion labor isn’t recognized all that much imo by people my age… at least sometimes
thought these stories were inspiring (from VC Hall of Fame member Bill Gurley)
Photo and Architecutre
It is interesting how Ed Templeton decides to stage his photos
B&W tones :O
Conclusion
Hope you are all finding the start of the year to be peaceful and positive :). I leave you today with this:
I met a traveller from an antique land,
Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal, these words appear:
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”
- Percy Bysshe Shelley