Michael Dean

Can’t quite know where you’re headed, but conform your unique self to the patterns of reality around you. In this sense, the destination/destiny is singular, but unknown.

Look into the automatic scoring systems they use for English classes. Why do they suck? What are their limitations?

What can I learn from journalism? What if half of my process became structured and deadline focused? I very much appreciated the “work like an artist” workflow I have, and will fight to keep it, but maybe that’s one of two streams.

I can write short relatively fast. I can write a solid 500-word one-take essay in an hour. In 2 hours I can edit,

WOW! Just found out that even though McKenna was the first person to publish a hypothesis on The Stoned Ape theory, someone else was casually excited about in the 1970s … FRANCIS CRICK, the guy who discovered the DNA double helix (he’s like the polar opposite of McKenna, honored for his contribution on making sense of human genomics).

Crick never

A thesaurus is a word treasury.

• exaptation : when a trait arises through evolution, but then is later co-opted for a different use. For example, the tongue evolved for eating, but later become fundamental for speech. The word is about surveying what exists and questions what new combinations are possible.

• nickelodeon : the name of a theatre in 1888, and by 1909 it meant “motion

Quote from The State of Culture (by Ted Gioia), resurfaced to me by Salman:

"The tech platforms aren't like the Medici in Florence, or those other rich patrons of the arts. They don't want to find the next Michelangelo or Mozart. They want to create a world of junkies—because they will be the dealers. Addiction is the goal."

If you look at depictions of the Putto in Renaissance art, you’ll find a mosaic of babies doing unreasonable things.