Things I’m thinking about.

On interconnectedness

I was standing in the shower today feeling the hot water on my skin and realizing what a deep appreciation we should have for interconnectedness. Normally the people that talk about this are hippies talking about being one with the earth but I haven’t been hiking in a hot minute and I’m talking about the depths of interconnectedness that all of us experience in our day to day lives. Simple things from hot water to electricity are functionally available to us not because of the greatness of the individual but because of the value of providing to others. It’s extremely ironic that the United States is so individualistic when our entire society functions because of the invisible laborer. No one (or maybe just me) give thanks to the sanitation worker or the engineer maintaining the California aqueduct but those people amongst others are truly the people who enable us to live. There’s something deeply American (pejorative) about assuming that you are doing things on your own when you are in fact reliant on so many people you will never meet. I think this end up leading to so many of the issues in our politics that we see. The underfunding of the public sector and the disgust to the lower economic classes who do the jobs. We all owe the unseen laborer much more than we can articulate but asking for change might be too much to ask for too quickly. Maybe we should start with a simpler ask - be grateful for simple things in life and be humble about the depth of systems we do not know.

Why this site exists

I wanted a place to express myself and collect what matters to me. This website is one of the things I could imagine but didn't have the capability to build on my own. Being able to speak to technology helped me build it.

That possibility gives me hope: making worlds that belong in your head outside of your head.

We deserve to be happy about the future

We deserve to be happy about the future. We deserve a future that brings us relief and joy, rather than being used to enslave us and bog us down. The future should enable connection, not isolation.

The Bonaventure has this techno-future optimism to it. That is part of why I love being there.

Making imagined worlds real

The democratization of technology gives me hope. You can think of a beautiful future and have a tool that enables you to drive toward it. More people can make worlds that belong in their heads outside of their heads.

That doesn't mean the tools are without bounds, control, or surveillance. Their visibility into our lives can feel like a panopticon. We have to be steadfast in guarding against the erosion of privacy as we use them.

Grace

I believe all people are capable of changing, but changing is very hard. Being willing to undergo that journey is a lot to ask of someone. I've become more accepting of people as they are, including their flaws.

Always on

I want to do everything optimized, including relaxing and having fun. Even when I'm sick, I set goals and expectations for recovery. Sometimes that makes relaxing feel like another thing to get right.

What quiets that instinct is an experience that overwhelms me: visuals, taste, smell, sound. Overwhelm the optimization engine. BLACKPINK at Coachella 2023 was one of those moments. Perfect synchronicity. Looked angelic.