Brian Wiesner

“A Spaniard’s social agility is superior to their fierce feelings of personal independence.” Giles Tremlett, Ghosts of Spain.

Again, the hopes of our travels seem somewhat distinct from hopes of everyday life, mainly because we believe that by going elsewhere we can obtain something that we can’t obtain where we presently stand.

Thanks to the power of this myth, many of us take the safe route in life. We become lawyers instead of actresses, bankers instead of poets, and doctors instead of painters. We hedge our bets and hide from our true calling, choosing less risky careers, because it seems easier. Nobody wants to struggle, after all, so we keep our passion a hobby and... See more

There is a commonplace opinion that technology and the natural world, or that technological pursuits and natural pursuits, are at odds. An example:

“The longer you spend in tech, the stronger the urge to buy a farm and never touch a computer again in your life”

Everything around us is literally vibrating. As we’ve discussed before, that’s why you feel the difference when you sit in an IKEA chair versus something handcrafted. You may be saying, well, a chair is a chair—but even in the most strictly utilitarian worldview, the quality is different. And though you may justify this through modes of mass... See more

Doing work in a coffee shop, drinking coffee on a terrace and walking around—often to many of the tourist sites or local hot spots—for an extended period isn’t living in a place. It’s a working vacation, often part of a series of working vacations, typically for the relatively privileged among us.

It made me start to wonder just how much I’d been affected by the bubble of prosaic routine in the US, feeling the only path to success was rigidly linear. This was a gentle reminder that there were no straight lines on the path to success. Success became a universe of possibilities. Their energy imbued my world with new, limitless horizons.

Life... See more

The challenge, or opportunity, for companies like Substack is to figure out how to help creators reach new audiences and grow without having to compromise on ownership. The aggregators of the early internet unlocked great power for creators through building central gathering places. We are doing the same with the Substack app and features—like Reco... See more

In many ways, we are very similar to mycelium.

We need the right conditions to survive and a constant flow of oxygen. We need to communicate to grow.

We need to connect to live.

A good connection is how quickly your world can change when you meet the right person.