We have all been there. You are in a comment section or a group chat. Someone says something that isn’t just wrong—it’s fundamentally confused. Maybe they think an AI chatbot is a conscious person because it said "I'm sad." Maybe they think they understand war because they play Call of Duty. Maybe they think running … Continue reading Why You Can’t Win That Internet Argument (And Shouldn’t Try)
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Wisdom vs. Intelligence & The Shaping of Values
Read Paul Graham's essay: Is It Worth Being Wise? this morning. It occurs to me that I value wisdom more than intelligence. I love living in a time where genius has more opportunities to express itself, but I also recognize that I'm not a genius. In the end, while we, as a community of beings, … Continue reading Wisdom vs. Intelligence & The Shaping of Values
What’s the Profit (কি লাভ)?
Why do it? I keep thinking about the differences in how people account for value. One dichotomy that comes up is people that want to talk and think about other people, and people that want to talk and think about ideas, without reference to people. I remember once, on a trip to Italy, I was … Continue reading What’s the Profit (কি লাভ)?
Optionality & Alpha
"When you hold an option and the world moves with you, you enjoy the benefits; when the world moves against you, you are shielded from the bad outcome since you are not obligated to do anything. Optionality is the state of enjoying possibilities without being on the hook to do anything......In contrast, the closing of … Continue reading Optionality & Alpha
Military Mind & What Matters
Weird episode of the day. I walk most places. I walk to the grocery store. It's just over 2 miles from where I live. Because it is a ways, I bring my military sea bag, so I can carry all the groceries back home. I'm walking away from the grocery store, and someone behind me … Continue reading Military Mind & What Matters
Identity: Obscurity, Anonymity & Fuckwadary
The history of The Residents is shrouded in obscurity and aptly covered elsewhere (we recommend Ian Shirley’s definitive text and Don Hardy’s Theory of Obscurity as starting points). We should also point out that there will be no discussion here speculating on the band’s identities. Who they may be is irrelevant to the sweeping vision … Continue reading Identity: Obscurity, Anonymity & Fuckwadary
cafebedouin.org: 2019 Year in Review and Looking Ahead to 2020
In 2019, I posted 931 entries, all post views were up to +14,000 views by +9,000 visitors to cafebedouin.org, roughly three times the level of last year. Most of the views are concentrated either on the main page or the most popular posts: Don’t Shoot the Dog by Karen Pryor: SummaryMutt on OpenBSD & Linux: … Continue reading cafebedouin.org: 2019 Year in Review and Looking Ahead to 2020
The 5:1 Relationship Ratio
The post today on The Attachment Theory of Relationships reminded me of a good piece of advice I'd read in John Gottman's The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work, described in short in this article on The Gottman Institute website: "The difference between happy and unhappy couples is the balance between positive and negative interactions … Continue reading The 5:1 Relationship Ratio
Biohacking Bullshit
I'm seeing more articles about "biohacking" by rich dudes. One subset seems to be looking for immortality, or at the very least to extend their lives or mitigate the effects of ageing. It strikes me as the archetypical problem of a beautiful woman trying to keep their looks as they get older. All of us … Continue reading Biohacking Bullshit
cafebedouin.org: 2018 Year in Review and Looking Ahead to 2019
"In 2018, I would also like to get back to more original content. I'm thinking it would be good to post something original once a week, but spread it across different forms: poetry, essays, drawing, photography and so forth. Maybe also do more brief commentary of 250 words or less, sketches of story ideas or … Continue reading cafebedouin.org: 2018 Year in Review and Looking Ahead to 2019
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