Keely Adler

As humans we’ve long been forged on the anvil of the mysteries: Why are we here? Why do we die? What is love? We are tuned like a cello to vibrate with such questions. What is entirely new is the amount of information we are receiving from all over the planet. So we don’t just receive stress on a localized, human level, we mainline it from a huge,... See more

a currency of generosity or something. It needs to be reciprocated in some way, in order for it to be sustainable.

I would argue that what you need is a mix of the public and the private. You need more digital public spheres—both local governments could create it; nonprofits could create it.

One of things that’s so exciting about ghost signs is that they recall a time of professional artisans deeply interwoven with everyday culture and society. Many values of the early years of the internet, including openness, creativity, and connection, are deeply appealing now.

We need bubbliness. We need excitement. We need new ideas. And it’s not that I have any idea what the outcome needs to be. I just know that we can’t keep on doing what we’ve been doing. That we need to shift. We need to adapt because our circumstances are adapting. This is another way in which the metaphor of fermentation really is powerful because... See more

Almost anything that we are able to direct sustained attention at will begin to loop on itself and bloom.

To take a dark example, if you focus on your anxiety, the anxiety can begin to loop until you hyperventilate and get tunnel vision and become filled with nightmarish thoughts and feelings—a panic attack.

And you do the same thing with joy. If you... See more

The rule about doing what you love assumes a certain length of time. It doesn't mean, do what will make you happiest this second, but what will make you happiest over some longer period, like a week or a month.