Everything follows the path of least resistance
Everything follows the path of least resistance. And when I say “everything” I don’t mean “most things”, I mean everything.
People who are lazy are sometimes described as taking the path of least resistance. Of course, I agree (because I believe that everything takes the path of least resistance). However, this implies that hard-working, conscientious people are taking a more difficult path. They’re eschewing the path of least resistance. That’s wrong. Hard-working people …
Ethics does more than reduce your options
Many people value freedom, and rightly so. However, I think this has the negative consequence in how people view morality. It seems to mainly constrain one’s options: it is forbidden to do this, it is forbidden to do that. A moral life seems a boring and constrained life. Supposedly, a moral saint doesn’t have children, never takes an airplane, donates everything they don’t need to survive to charity, never lies, is a vegan, and never makes a mocking joke. Not an attractive life, is it? There are multiple issues …
Ambition is empty without direction
I used to find ambition a dirty word. It’s something for Slytherins: calculating, egoistic people who want to be successful and want high status and who want to be powerful. My opinion has changed gradually over time, and I have now arrived at an almost opposite position; I believe ambition is enormously important for the good of the world, and I want to understand it better. Here is …
A schematic display of conversation
This is my first attempt of externalising the ideas I have built I through having many conversations, primarily by those with my best friend, Justin. Regularly, when we talk, we take a sort of meta perspective: we look at or discuss the conversation from a distance. We’ll say things such as: “how did we get to this topic?” or “let’s go back a bit”. This is not at all unique to us, but …