Check Yourself

We are responsible for however we allow ourselves to be manipulated.

For a internet example, see my response to fears concerning internet "filtering."

First, Do No Harm...

Working on a quick-response software support team, I posted "First, do no harm..." on my activity board.

I am responsible for every move I make. I must act or die — breathing is an act. I consider consequences, even if it's after the fact. Some consequences remain unforeseen. Some I'll never know.

In the Mind of the Beholder

A picture may be worth a thousand words, but captions help.
And we see what we think we see.

Questions are Answers

Most good books, rather than provide answers, clarify questions.

Second Thoughts

I’ve written many letters (and emails) the sentiments of which I reconsidered and disavowed. Fortunately, I had already sent very few of these.

Soul Exercise

I like the odd self-improvement books that feature games, and games that feature self-improvement card decks, insight exercises. One of the oddest of all was recently returned to me by a friend who’d borrowed it too long. The book is Kokology, “The Game of Self-Discovery.”

I think we must sometimes trick ourselves into understanding ourselves. Surely the meta of self-understanding is of necessity a magical state. As Arthur C. Clarke put it, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” Insight into one’s own insight—meta insight—is certainly a matter by definition beyond our understanding. (Though we try.)

Success

“Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.”
—Winston Churchill