Thoughts
Knowledge might turn out to be false. That's why I question my knowledge. In the spirit of Karl Popper and the philosophy of fallibilism, I continuously develop, clarify, or delete my writings as new insights emerge or previous assumptions are challenged.
Ecology
Compensatory measures don't work. 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.
Investments and Risk
Easy money leads to stupid investments.
If you're worried about someone damaging it, don't buy it.
Take on entrepreneurial risks that will help you develop in-demand skills. If you succeed, you will achieve financial independence. If you fail, you will have value on the job market.
Humility without lucidity is submission.
If you can lose all you bet without it affecting your mood, then you haven't bet too much.
When you are not interesting to yourself, you become a slave to entertainment.
Technology and Innovation
Smartphone notifications aren't a help; they're a tool for control.
Whether it's humans or artificial intelligences, don't take their word for it.
Free markets, like science, originate from human nature, refined by invention into systems that drive efficiency and discovery.
"What did you ship this week?" is acceptable for a team. But individuals move faster and can ask themselves, "What did I ship today?"
Unless content requires it, complicated visual effects and editing signal shallowness.
Health and Longevity
You won't get back the health you sacrificed for wealth in retirement.
Surfing
Copying someone's style makes you look like a dork. (A conclusion inspired by a quote from the late Andy Irons).
Your progress will come to a complete halt if you try to ride waves at the lineup without first mastering all the maneuvers on a longboard in the white water. Switching from a longboard to a shortboard only makes matters worse. It's like trying to ski a black run when you haven't even mastered the blue run. Everything's going too fast. You're not making any progress. At the lineup, you'll catch ten waves and fall off most of them. In the white water, though, you can catch a hundred in a single session. This is where you analyze your mistakes, start again, and progress faster.
Humor, I guess.
On ne s'improvise pas écrivain. Montaigne a essayé.
Society, Politics, Philosophy, Culture
Two ways to feed pigeons: birdseed and the news.
Drug-war is politician-electing theater; it ignores psychiatric drivers.
You don’t truly know someone by clocking hours with them . You know them by situational stress. Share an office for a decade and learn nothing; take a trip or start a venture together and you'll uncover their real character. It's not time that reveals people. It's variance.
When we accumulate, we bury what’s important; when we reduce, we find it.
Worried about your home on vacation? Your belongings own you.
People who want children don't wait for the perfect moment to have them.
Forcing unwanted things leads to low use and waste of public funds. E.g: cycling path in a hilly city, cultural events contrary to locals' taste.
Level 0: I want to change A. Level 1: I realize that I can't change A, but I don't accept it. Level 2: I accept that I can't change A. Level 3: What can I enjoy about A? How can I get the most out of it?
To protect farm animals, don't protest at a fast-food, share photogenic vegan recipes.
Restricting kids’ roaming creates a negative feedback loop: fewer kids outside means they're more at risk.
Aphorisms aren't very helpful for solving domain dependence.
The Reputation Fallacy: taking your years in a field and your peers’ approval as evidence that you’re right.
Education
Diplomas give you social status but not necessarily knowledge. Good ideas can come from anyone.
Don’t just daydream during mandatory classes. Extract what’s useful, spot the nonsense, then think for yourself. That’s real resistance to brainwashing.
You can't force children into education and then complain that they lack initiative, creativity, agency, critical thinking and autonomy.
If you're being bullied at the park, you don't have to go there every day and suffer again. But at school, you do.
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).
Art schools clone people. Clean, conceptual, sterile work to please institutions.
Feu mon arrière-grand-mère, Marie-Thérèse Weidig, disait qu'il y a les bêtes intelligents et les intelligents bêtes.
Reading more doesn’t make you smarter. It just inflates your confidence. Epistemic rigor is subtractive: less noise, more clarity. Cut the crap. Ignore the crowd. Find where you're wrong. Again and again.
Curiosity skilled the cat.
Faith
Faith is thanking God when good things happen to me, even though He is never responsible for them. Faith is not blaming God when bad things happen to me, because He is never responsible for them.