Thoughts

I am a fallibilist. I admit that there are errors in my opinions, judgments, ways of thinking and points of view. This page is therefore constantly a work in progress.

Ecology

• With every species that disappears, it's a library that burns and the biosphere becomes more unstable.

• Compensatory measures are a great hypocrisy. It's impossible to restore a destroyed ecosystem to its original state. There is bound to be a net loss of biodiversity. Who can claim to be able to recreate a forest of centuries-old trees? Or a thousand-year-old peat bog?

• There's no such thing as too much biodiversity.

• The best insect hotel is nature.

• The new generation cares more about nature than the previous one.

• 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.

• When humans work with nature, there is no conflict with other species.

Investments and Risk

• The easier it was for you to earn money, the more risk you take in investing it.

• The market is the best teacher, because its lessons are the most expensive.

• Trading is about making the unexpected inexpensive.

• Fun is stronger than motivation.

• If you need gurus, life coaches, motivational videos or self-help books, you're either chasing the wrong goal or engaging in the wrong activity to get there.

• It's easier to make better decisions when you're mentally and physically healthy.

• Information is mostly noise, and what is left is also mostly noise.

Technology and Innovation

• As we search the universe for signs of life, we are growing new life forms in laboratories. It's possible that we will merge with our new inventions before we discover alien life.

• The next generations of drones (faster, stronger, cheaper, autonomous) will make smuggling even more out of control.

• To surpass face-to-face interaction, develop brain-to-brain connectivity.

• Exoskeletons will allow us to stay mobile as we age. Unless, of course, we reverse the ageing process, which would be even better news.

• Notifications are not designed to help you, but to make you spend more time in the app.

• 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 believe artificial intelligence. Don't believe artificial general intelligence.

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 agism, 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 it becomes exclusive news.

• Never make important decisions when you're in a mental crisis.

• It is impossible to get out of depression by spending time listening to the dark thoughts it generates. You can spend years locked in your head, withdrawing into yourself, and it won't help. There is no "internal problem" to solve. It's only depression lying to you. You are not your thoughts. Every time depression causes you to spiral down into negative thoughts, question their rationality and remember that you, and only you, are in control. Medication, combined with the resumption of physical, social and cultural activities, makes this disease a little more tolerable, sometimes curable. Don't give up on yourself!

• You won't get back the health you sacrificed for wealth in retirement.

Surfing

• I am still waiting for surfers to release a song about how an airline broke their surfboard.

• If you try to copy another surfer's style, you'll end up surfing like an idiot. (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

• 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 hêtre vous manque et tout est des peupliers.

• Le sorcier ne met jamais trop de sel, car le magicien dose.

• Est-ce que les algériens jouent du rock Kabylie ?

Miscellaneous Insights

• The world ocean is 655.6 times the size of mainland France (361,900,000km²/552,000km²). As Patrice de Mac Mahon said: "So much water, so much water!"

• The concept of the circumstellar habitable zone works for campfires. Too close and you burn. Too far away and bears attack you. Only in between can you survive.

Society and 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 have to get rid of it culturally, just like we did with tobacco.

• The fact that people wait for their vacations 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.

• The idiots are not those who make spelling mistakes, but those who focus on them and miss the point.

• Nitpickers are either autistic or idiots.

• Two ways to feed pigeons: birdseed and the news.

• L'abus d'école est dangereux pour la santé. Translation: Too much school is unhealthy. There's a play on words in the French phrase, inspired by the French slogan: "L'abus d'alcool est dangereux pour la santé." (Alcohol abuse is unhealthy).

• Force someone to take a course in something and they'll never enjoy it again.

• How to create a society where it is less attractive to be a criminal than a do-gooder?

• When faced with a problem, do you join the defeatists or work on a solution?

• I make art in a childlike way, without rules, instinctively, to have fun. It's absurd not to have fun because it doesn't bring in money. Having fun makes you happy. It's also the only way to the most valuable creativity, the kind that could be useful to humanity. And if it leads nowhere, who cares? At least you will have had fun!

• Make decisions as if the people you most admire were watching.