Phil Nguyen
@philintheblank
Phil Nguyen
. . . the match [is] not always or primarily instrumental to getting a date but rather as producing a form of satisfaction in its own right. [. . .] A match feels like a confidence-boost; it is a sign that the Other sees you and likes you [. . . ]. Admittedly, it is ephemeral, but it is also replicable, so the sense of void that follows the fleetin... See more
Shreeda Segan • Dangerous Dating Protocols Web
What Agnes Callard argues—and what writers’ diaries show us—is that we have to keep trying. Write regularly! Don’t give up! Don’t let the doubts stall you, the doubts that say: Who do you think you are? What makes you think you can write? Aren’t you fundamentally unqualified and incapable, in this moment, of writing well? Why are you trying so hard... See more
how to change your life, part 2: agnes callard's aspiration
Living organisms are truly complex and antifragile (3) in a way our technological systems are not.
Understanding Living Systems
This is Darwinian evolution in a nutshell: adaptation through natural selection in populations of individuals across many generations.
But this is not the only way organisms can improve through challenges: they can also adapt their physiology, growth, or behavior to their arena (environment) as individuals within a single life span because they are autonomous agents. As the famous evolutionary biologist Richard Lewontin put it: “the organism is both the subject and the object of evolution.”
“Attitude” is an interesting word. Attitudes cross the internal/external, subjective/objective boundary. An “attitude” may include an emotional or mental state; but it can also refer to a bodily posture. It may be defined as a tendency toward a particular action or response.
The power of an attitude | Vividness
Instead of using therapy to untangle our desires and fears so that we may effectively act on them, therapy becomes the goal in itself—to create mental stimulation through constant rumination.
P.E. Moskowitz • A Culture of Introspective Captivity
What a line “to create mental stimulation through constant rumination.”
A useful model for thinking about how to support others.
The problem today’s daters face is that the mass adoption of online dating apps has not only eroded incentives to switch from explore to exploit mode, it has made exploration itself boring and dysfunctional.
Shreeda Segan • Dangerous Dating Protocols Web
Philosophy is bad because you think thoughts that you think are your own thoughts, and you think you’re in charge of those thoughts, and you’re figuring things out.
But the reality is, our thoughts are almost entirely drawn from the soup in our culture of thoughts that people have had before. And all we’re doing is repeating them. We think we’re thi... See more
But the reality is, our thoughts are almost entirely drawn from the soup in our culture of thoughts that people have had before. And all we’re doing is repeating them. We think we’re thi... See more
David Chapman • Myth, adult developmental stages, and entrepreneurship
I’ve said this many times before. Most people don’t actually know what thinking is. Instead they have thoughts. Thoughts occur to them. What David adds here is the perspective of where thoughts come from, which is basically our environment, our culture, all of our conditioning. Everything is a remix, as Visa likes to say. What does recognizing this do for us?
Stephen Zerfas, cofounder of Jhourney, a company that aims to help more people experience jhanas, describes them as “the opposite of a panic attack.” Instead of an escalating anxiety loop, jhanas are an escalating pleasure loop, the intensity of which is comparable — depending on whom you ask — to an orgasm, an MDMA-induced cuddle puddle, or the th... See more
Manufacturing Bliss
Curious how eG thinks about jhanas, since they seem to involve focus-based methods.