Power is a theme that occurs often in legend, folklore, and fantasy. The worst fate that can befall a hero is for someone or something to gain power over them. This can happen in many ways: for example, through a curse, a talisman, or revealing their true name (the name that “perfectly describes something’s essential nature”). While the idea sounds fanciful, as with most legends, it contains some truth and wisdom. And, as I’m beginning to understand, there are other ways in which we c...| Applescotch
When I want to get a quick sense of how the world visualizes a thing, I try an image search. When I type the word “startup” into a search engine such as Unsplash, I see something like this:| Applescotch
What does it mean to be more productive? Over the last few years, as I’ve thought more about productivity and worked to become more productive, this is a question I keep coming back to.| Applescotch
I run the same route nearly every morning. The route is a loop, which means that I don’t have to double back and run the same path twice. I’ve been running this route for years. I know it like I know a lover’s body: the location of every curve and hill. I know where to find every toilet and water fountain. I even know its smells, the various fragrances, pleasant and unpleasant, that waft up to me as I pass different areas in different seasons. I’ve run it many hundreds of times, maybe...| Applescotch
“Of course I don’t have to do this,” one middle aged man said, carefully cleaning the table with a damp cloth. He put the cloth in a little pouch, sat down beside him. “But look, this table’s clean.” He agreed that the table was clean.| Applescotch
Over the past few decades, major cities have been engines of enormous growth and prosperity. Cities have brought together diverse groups of people from different places and different walks of life, forcing them to live side by side more or less peaceably and allowing them to learn from one another. Cities are cauldrons of more than cultural mixing, however: they’re also where ideas, business, and innovation flourish. This concentration of different forms of capital—human, intellectual, an...| Applescotch
I was challenged a couple of months ago to write about meditation, and about why I meditate. I happily accepted the challenge, but I didn’t realize at the time what a difficult topic it would be to write about. For one thing, it’s more deeply personal than anything else I’ve written about publicly. For another, it’s the sort of thing that just feels self-evident (for lack of a better word). It’s a bit like asking, “Why do you sleep?” or “Why do you breathe?” After meditating...| Applescotch
I’m feeling pretty fed up with the state of the world, and the feeling has definitely become more intense recently. There are a number of reasons, but the most obvious one is politics. Politics feels totally broken in the United States and in disarray at the international level too. I’m sure I’m not alone in this feeling.| Applescotch
We live in a world where we are constantly lied to. Our leaders and our politicians lie to us (but at least we expect this). The companies we rely on, including our financial institutions, lie to us. Companies lie to their own employees (recent examples include Amazon, Facebook, Google, and Uber). Even our most trusted institutions such as universities and the medical system lie to us regularly. It’s no surprise that we’ve witnessed a breakdown of trust over the past few years, and it’s...| Applescotch
