Freedom exists in structure. It’s not chaos, randomness, or luck. When I find something works in my life, I make it automatic. For many people, diet and exercise seem horror shows, or mysteries, wondering what they should do, how often, how much, and so on. When the most important bases of my life are automatic, I don’t have to think about them. I can focus on everything else. People might[…] Keep reading →

I belong to Flight Free USA, which helps motivate people to avoid the wretched addiction of flying. I recommend joining and taking their pledge to avoid flying. You’ll be glad you did. I recommend reading the profiles of people who have pledged and found the joy, fun, and freedom of not flying. Their last newsletter inspired me to think of other initiatives to start that could improve people’s lives similarly[…] Keep reading →

I was talking to an Army Ranger. He said one thing he and his peers said to each other during the most grueling parts of training, when they wanted to give up was: The only thing worse than being a Ranger is not being a Ranger. He said it motivated them to keep going and love the experience, the challenge, the self-awareness of reaching your potential, acting in service of[…] Keep reading →

My story I disconnected from the electric grid for 8 months—in Manhattan became Ars Technica‘s top story the day it posted and the next. It also generated many questions and comments. I can’t answer them all, but I wanted to address the big ones, such as I’ll do my best to answer these questions, then return to the big picture of my goals in the experiment and reporting on it.[…] Keep reading →

Podcast guest James Oakes’s book The Ruling Race describes the demographics, beliefs, and views of slaveholders in the U.S. south. They are no more or less human than you. The book reveals how being on the dominant side of a dominance hierarchy corrupts one’s values. Following the What is Politics? podcast by podcast guest Daniel, I’ve learned that dominance hierarchies emerge when two conditions apply: one person or group can[…] Keep reading →

160 years ago today, Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. The Union army had been freeing slaves in seceding slave states for over a year and the proclamation didn’t free all slaves, nor did it end slavery, so to say, as I’ve heard, that one stroke of the pen freed all the slaves overstates the case. Still, it was a major step forward. Beside freeing many slaves, it pressured slave[…] Keep reading →

Regular readers know I’m learning about slavery and abolition as models for changing global culture. I’m reading a wonderful book Freedom National, by James Oakes, who gave me a copy after we recorded a podcast episode in person at his office. It’s being edited and will go live in January. The book describes an argument against abolition before the Civil War: after blacks were freed they would be able to[…] Keep reading →

Meditation instructors often talk about thoughts arising and passing away in consciousness, as if they just come out of nowhere and go to nowhere. I’ve found otherwise. No part of your mind is superfluous. The human brain uses up too much energy for evolution to allow unnecessary parts to persist. Each part does something that helped your ancestors survive and pass their genes on to you. For example, some part[…] Keep reading →

You can imagine all sorts of reasons that made it more possible for me to live with my apartment disconnected from the electric grid than you, but admit it: if you didn’t know I did it, you’d believe it was impossible. Yet today began my seventh month. I’m not saying because I could do it, you can. I learned that because all human beings did it for 300,000 years, I[…] Keep reading →