As Rob Harper asked in the YouTube page: Can only white people be racist? Can black people be racist? What do you think when you see the police? What exactly is white privilege? Can blacks be privileged? Do all lives matter or just some and whose black lives? As Rob and I speak more (here is his appearance on my podcast and my appearance on his, among many other recordings[…] Keep reading →

People constantly suggest they have to balance different values as if I didn’t. It came up in a recent conversation so I shared about it today. An element I factor in is how my pollution affects others—not just what I know about or wish I contributed, but what I actually contribute. Yet people think I factor in nothing else. It’s weird to learn people see you as one-dimensional. If they[…] Keep reading →

I posted the next part of one of my favorite posts, following yesterday’s, Introversion is not the opposite of extroversion. I call it part 3 there because I had to break part 1 into two parts to meet length requirements. Enjoy! If you believe you have to be either introverted or extroverted—as I did—this series of posts may revolutionize your life.

To clarify, I’m not serious about the following, as implementing it except by a democratic process people considered fair, but I consider it worth talking about. Sometimes crazy, impractical ideas spark useful, practical ones. Should we make stupid shit illegal? We make drunk driving and selling cigarettes to children illegal and no one complains they’re evidence of a nanny state. How about doof? People can’t stop buying and gorging on[…] Keep reading →

A friend recommended to me an exercise I hadn’t heard of. It sounds like the Three Raisins exercise I learned from Jon Kabat-Zinn, included in my leadership book, and assign in my leadership class. She didn’t explain much about it, but my experience with experiential exercises told me that doing it would reveal more than any explanation. The exercise The instructions: Drink a hot beverage and when I think judgmental[…] Keep reading →

Americans mistake entitlement for luxury comfort and convenience for happiness effort for misery flying for adventure pleasure for emotional reward upvotes for friendship social media for community video games for fun takeout for culture cheap for value volume for quality test scores for knowledge etc and wonder why so many end up addicted to opiates, sugar, etc. The observation probably applies to many modern cultures, but I’m here in the[…] Keep reading →

I can’t describe the unexpected fun and growth coming from my conversations with Rob. When I learned of Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s friendship with Antonin Scalia, I couldn’t get it. How could one tolerate someone who worked to make the world the opposite of what they wanted, especially with the stakes so high? Reading John Stuart Mill’s On Liberty, I intellectually understood his point that you have to share your ideas[…] Keep reading →