Thoughts
I'm a fallibilist, which means I seek to improve my knowledge. I update the writings on my website accordingly when I have the time.
Ecology
With every species that disappears, it's a library that burns and the biosphere becomes more unstable.
Compensatory measures are a great hypocrisy. There is bound to be a net loss of biodiversity. No one can recreate a forest of centuries-old trees, or a thousand-year-old peat bog.
The best insect hotel is nature.
By eating rodents that carry Lyme disease, mustelids (martens, weasels, badgers, ermines, opossums…) are our precious allies and are not "harmful" as some people believe.
Nature is both dangerous and indispensable.
Investments and Risk
The easier it is to earn money, the more risks we take with it.
Look for what is fun, not what requires motivation.
Qualitative decision-making is rooted in good physical and mental health.
Free markets, like science, originates from human nature, refined by invention into systems that drive efficiency and discovery.
To create something with skill, passion and love doesn't necessarily mean someone will buy it.
Most of the time you don't have to be rich to start or stop something.
Technology and Innovation
As we probe the universe for signs of life, we are growing new life forms in our laboratories. It's possible that we will merge with our new inventions before we discover alien life.
We are constantly expanding our influence over the universe, but our control will never be absolute. In mathematical terms, we are asymptotically gaining control of the universe. (See David Deutsch's books)
The next generations of drones (faster, stronger, cheaper, autonomous) will make smuggling easier.
To surpass face-to-face interaction, develop brain-to-brain connectivity.
Notifications are not designed to help you, but to make you spend more time in the app.
Don't ask yourself which app to install, ask yourself which app to remove.
The amazing thing about artificial intelligence is how much it can do without consciousness.
One day we will build rockets as fast as we build cars.
Don't take anyone's word for it. Even artificial intelligences.
Health and Longevity
Heal your trauma before you have children, or you'll transmit it to them.
Leonardo da Vinci died at the age of 67. By defeating aging, humanity could benefit from the brightest minds for the longest time ever.
Progress allows us to become like the Elves: immortals with pointy ears.
The rarer death becomes, the more headlines it makes.
Never make decisions when you're in a mental crisis.
You won't get back the health you sacrificed for wealth in retirement.
Drugs and alcohol are crutches that sink into the ground.
Let's say you spilled some water. Why get angry? You can fix the problem. Wipe up the water. There is no point in being in a bad mood. Let's say you applied for a job in a company, but were turned down. Why get angry? You can't fix the problem. There is no point in being in a bad mood.
If you're bipolar, like me, moving to another city won't solve your suffering, because your symptoms are caused by the illness, not by your job, not by your friends, not by the weather, not by the locals, or anything else outside your head. See your psychiatrist, take your medication, exercise regularly. Avoid stressful jobs and situations because they trigger episodes. In addition to this advice, Buddhism can help you accept your illness, manage your emotions, and become more resilient after episodes.
The most successful human of all time is probably a diplomatic cave woman who prevented a few murders and allowed millions of descendants to be born as a result.
Surfing
If you try to copy another surfer's style, you will look like a dork. (A conclusion inspired by a quote from the late Andy Irons).
Comparing yourself to other surfers takes all the fun out of surfing.
Humor, I guess.
I am still waiting for surfers to write songs about how an airline broke their surfboards.
When I see how some Americans dress to go to Walmart, I think more of us should go shopping in bathrobes or cosplay.
We should make engagement ring vending machines for people who get married and divorced a lot.
I'm going to grow a long neck and call myself Rodney Mullet.
Quand on joue à cache-cache, je me dissimule toujours au même endroit. C'est ma constante de Planck.
Comme on dit en Australie, il ne faut pas mettre la charrue avant l'émeu.
Un seul hêtre vous manque, et tout est peupliers. (Une allusion au vers : « Un seul être vous manque, et tout est dépeuplé ! » du poème L'Isolement, d'Alphonse de Lamartine)
Le sorcier ne met jamais trop de sel, car le magicien dose.
Let us think in eternities and remember that the bakery closes at noon.
I am impartial. Especially when my enemies are losing.
Lorsqu'un Italien tire, est-ce que sa mitraillette fait "buratatatata" ?
If I ever adopt a dog, I'm going to name him "Light weight baby!" or "Yeah buddy!"
Miscellaneous Insights
The world ocean is 655.6 times the size of mainland France (361,900,000 km²/552,000 km²). As Patrice de Mac Mahon said: "So much water, so much water!"
The concept of the habitable zone works for campfires. Too close and you burn. Too far and bears will attack you. Only in between can you survive.
Society, Politics, Philosophy, Culture
Productivism is so ingrained in our societies that if people see you doing nothing, they think you have a problem.
Alcohol abuse is everywhere. Scientists and doctors agree that it's a huge problem for society. We need to get rid of it culturally, just like we did with tobacco.
Waiting for vacation or retirement to read books is a tragedy.
IT knows things about employees that HR doesn't.
Innovators invent new rules. "Leurs règles ont toutes une tombe, c'est ça qu'ils n'comprennent pas." (Their rules all have a grave, that's what they don't understand.) - Booba
We remember those who went to the Platonic Academy, not those who went to the Games of Ancient Rome.
Focusing on spelling mistakes and missing the point is the hallmark of the pedantic conformist.
Nitpickers are either autistic or idiots, or both.
Two ways to feed pigeons: birdseed and the news.
L'abus d'école est dangereux pour la santé. A rule of thumb inspired by the french slogan: "L'abus d'alcool est dangereux pour la santé." (Alcohol abuse is unhealthy).
There are some books we can't really choose not to read: the ones children want us to read to them.
Sharing things without full context and making assumptions or lies about them is entrenching revenge. We all have to control our emotions. Denying facts, making things up is wrong. We all need to check sources thoroughly. We must get rid of bad faith.
Nazism traumatized people. To the point that they are now so focused on the far right that they forget to also destroy communism (postmodernism, woke, degrowth) and political Islam.
The fight against drug trafficking is not about eliminating it, but about getting politicians elected. It does not address the most common cause of drug use: psychiatric disorders. Since politicians refuse to help the sick, it's up to business to develop the solutions that will cure them.
It is easier to convince a nation than an individual.
Flaubert, Nietzsche and Montaigne claimed that walking helped them think better. Long walks solve many problems.
When I hear someone say they've visited a place, I add it to my list of places not to visit. Mass tourism is a scourge.
Having an audience is the easiest way to become a know-it-all.
Wealth does not extinguish the entrepreneurial spirit. Likewise, a professional surfer who has become financially independent doesn't stop surfing.
Compulsory education is at the root of bullying because it forces people together who don't want to be together. It's institutional violence. When parents complain that their child is being bullied, the school rejects their request because it refuses to let anyone challenge its authority. The only way I had left to live was to hit my bullies. But not every child can! This is one of the reasons why compulsory education must be abolished.
It is always those who have never been poor who say that money can't buy happiness.
Anyone who calls himself a scholar, an erudite, a savant, a polymath, is a pathological narcissist. Only centuries can tell.
Forcing children into education is counterproductive because it destroys children's freedom, critical thinking, creativity, autonomy, and risk-taking.
You learn more about people from the diversity of situations you experience with them than from the time you spend with them. For example, you might share an office with someone for 10 years and think you know each other well. But when you go on a trip or start a business together, you suddenly discover sides of each other you never knew existed.
Free trade and free markets are the most reliable peace treaties.