What’s good, excellent, fine, noble, desirable, and worth wanting in a human life?
If I choose to collect bowls of mud, and declare that mud-collecting is my one true and authentic purpose in life, most everyone would think something is wrong with me. Unless I cough up a special explanation for why this is so important (maybe there’s a religious context we’re … Keep reading
The other day on LinkedIn’s cringe-feed came a post from an entrepreneurship influencer. The man’s young son, who would be no more than 4 or 5, dropped his ice cream cone on the ground. To “teach him a lesson”, the man refused to buy him a new one. … Keep reading
When you’re stuck, the go-to solution is “more information”. Read more books, consume more podcasts, more online courses, find more data, crunch more numbers. The more informed, the better the position to do something about it. In theory. What really happens is you become an information … Keep reading
Awhile back I wrote a short article about a silent war waged between schizos and psychos. It wasn’t an entirely serious article, what with the rough concept borrowed from a 4chan post. The idea was solid enough to get me thinking, though, and it clicked with an essay … Keep reading
Awhile back, on LinkedIn, a post came across my feed from one of these “creator economy” people. You know the ones — they’re on LinkedIn after a “7-figure exit”, selling courses on how to be come a creator on LinkedIn. That’s one too many LinkedIns for my liking. The gall, … Keep reading
“Don’t judge me. You can’t judge me.” That’s going to be scribbled on the epitaph of our civilization. An ex from many many years ago used to repeat those lines like a skipping CD whenever one of her many many bad decisions came back to bite her. The greatest sin … Keep reading
Once upon a time I was in the audience for a talk about the value of forgiving those that wronged you. When the speaker opened the floor for Q&A, it was like letting off fireworks. Academics may have a reputation for being soft and liberal, but I tell you that … Keep reading
When you talk the way I talk, you can’t help but attract a certain kind of banter. A Southern accent comes with a freight train of cultural baggage, no way around it. I’ve had Kiwis and Ozzies ask me if I’m Irish, which isn’t far from the mark if you … Keep reading
I saw on LinkedIn the other day a guy going on about how the masses won’t invest in small local businesses. The reason? They can get a greater ROI by throwing their money into Globo Mega Capital LLC. If Globo Mega Capital buys up everything and then decides to asset-strip … Keep reading
“Society is an anonymous enterprise for living a life of secondhand emotions,” wrote the magician and occultist Joséphin Péladan back in the 19th century. I know little about this obscure man besides the two descriptions of him as a mage and occultist, the fact that he lived in Paris, and … Keep reading