I see more people in my neighborhood, especially my neighborhood park—Washington Square Park—addicted to I don’t know what. My whole life, I’ve never been far from seeing addiction. I don’t think I’ve known anyone uncontrollably addicted. Lately, in my daily picking up litter from the northwest corner of Washington Square Park, regulars there have started conversations with me. Our longest conversation lasted about thirty to forty-five minutes. One guy made[…] Keep reading →

People ask “How bad does it have to get for people to act?”, “How many once-every-five-hundred year storms must we face in back-to-back years before we do something?”, and similar questions. These questions arise from the belief that we only act to allay our own suffering, as best I can tell. I used to ask them too. They, and the model prompting, them aren’t the only places we can start[…] Keep reading →

When the pandemic began, New York City began a program of giving free meals to anyone—no one turned away. The meals usually consist of a sandwich, a piece of fruit, a bag of chips, some cookies, some baby carrots, a tub of hummus, and about eight ounces of milk. In other words a mix of food and doof. Partly the program feeds hungry people, partly I suspect it funds doof[…] Keep reading →

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 →