10:37 inbox 0

finally cleaning out the rest of the inbox so i can move on with better work and focus a bit more.

twitter bluesky

joined the discord server and felt very passionate about it for a second, but

to purchase

• bidet!! https://hellotushy.com/products/classic-affordable-bidet. this seems to be the recommended one, though there is a slightly more expensive model that includes heating - is it worth considering? i am unsure! might just be worth trying out as a lifestyle change.
• sunglasses. visit soma optical and pick up a recommended pair, or check out brain dead. maybe i'll find them in portland if i look hard enough as well!

processed world

https://web.archive.org/web/20160304025935/http://www.caruso.com/work/index-sf-examiner/sf-examiner-1991/10-years-of-a-wonderfully-bad-attitude/ 'the magazine with a bad attitude' - criticizing work culture of the 1990s! 'are you being processed?' has writen about moral issues with security and technology. most of the work we do - tech or otherwise - is a complete waste of time! and nobody is the better for it!

mimetic traps

https://www.briantimar.com/notes/mimetic/mimetic/

Excellent, excellent reflection. Starts pointing out that we should pry into every gap in conversation, anything and everything we are afraid of, then open up so that those things no longer become fearful and we can find some greater peace; opening up is so vitally important!

story of brian timar (author), who stumbled into physics grad school almost by coincidence - was not 'naturally' interested so much as found a particular discipline to be a competitive challenge, and in so doing was driven by mirroring others ' hence 'mimetic' - and competition, propelling himself to grad school independent of any sort of great enthusiasm for the work because the conviction was mirrored without any other factors or inputs. mimetic trap, sunk costs! - it hurts to leave and there is nowhere else to go. activation energy required for quitting is incredibly high because grad programs select for skills without university market value - academia or bust!

better to be in an expanding world and not exactly the right field, than to be in a contracting world that [encourages worst behavior] and this is typically what academic subjects trend towards - unless they are flourishing. pursuing academia can very well be sucn a 'mimetic trap' - hard to get in, high investment, strong ingroup with strong values, hard to transfer knowledge elsewhere by any means.

fast success feedback loops (broad definition) are incredibly important for this reason. peer group can be 'engineered' to improve decision making and skew away from these investment traps!