“What did the Buddhist say to the hot-dog vendor?” “Make me one with everything.” And then, somebody’s later addition… The hot-dog vendor makes him his hot-dog with all the trimmings, and says, “That’ll be $7.50.” The Buddhist reaches into his saffron robes, extracts a $20 note, hands it over, and starts eating. The vendor turns … Continue reading What Did the Buddhist Say to the Hot-Dog Vendor?
Tag: change
You Can’t Tell People Anything
Over the last few years, I've come to a fundamental belief: you cannot tell people anything. Coming to a new belief means you need all the infrastructure for that belief, and it generally means giving up other beliefs. It's rare for people to do that without a lot of preparation, and in most instances, the … Continue reading You Can’t Tell People Anything
Perfect Contentment
What would it take to be content in this moment, just as it is? Changing our minds; both the hardest and easiest thing we can do.
The Precautionary Principle and Innovation
"First, there are issues of scale: small-scale explorations by lead users are relatively harmless until they are scaled up to become the dependence of mass consumers. Innovations may grow so popular that their production and consumption affect the stability of ecosystems and democracies, such as plastic waste choking our oceans, or Facebook becoming an increasing … Continue reading The Precautionary Principle and Innovation
Why Does DARPA Work?
"DARPA PMs need to think for themselves, be curious, and have low ego. Why does this matter? When you are surrounded by smart, opinionated people the easy option is to either 100% accept what they’re saying because it’s eloquent and well-thought through or reject it outright because it sounds crazy or goes against your priors. Thinking … Continue reading Why Does DARPA Work?
The Fourth Option
We always have three options. You can change it.You can accept it.You can leave it. But, there's a fourth option. 4. You can experience it. Is experiencing something the same as accepting it? It isn't. The world is not static. Change is a constant. And, we are too busy reacting - choosing change, acceptance or … Continue reading The Fourth Option
There is No Preparation for the Present Moment
"Generally, we tend to prepare too much. We say, 'Once I make a lot of money, then I will go somewhere to study and meditate and become a priest," or whatever it is we would like to become. But we never do it on the spot. We always speak in terms of, 'Once I do … Continue reading There is No Preparation for the Present Moment
The One Year Rule
If you want your life to change, wait a year. It'll change. Of course, it may not be for the better. A study in 2008 found that happiness tends to follow a U-shaped curve, where the lowest level of happiness occurs somewhere around age 46. Yet, there are confounding factors. A death of a spouse, … Continue reading The One Year Rule
!(Usefulness > Happiness)
I keep seeing Darius Foroux's writing showing up as a Pocket recommendation through Firefox. Recently, "The Purpose Of Life Is Not Happiness: It’s Usefulness" was the top recommendation. It ends on this note: "Don’t take it too seriously. Don’t overthink it. Just DO something that’s useful. Anything." Being contrary, it reminded me of this famous … Continue reading !(Usefulness > Happiness)
Swallowing the Elephant (Part 1)
"Years ago while interning in the rendering group at Pixar, I learned an important lesson: “interesting” things almost always come to light when a software system is given input with significantly different characteristics than it’s seen before. Even for well-written and mature software systems, new types of input almost always expose heretofore unknown shortcomings in … Continue reading Swallowing the Elephant (Part 1)
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