Open-Note 3. June 22, 2024.
Recent thoughts
Saturday, June 22. 5:22 PM. Speck Hostel, Bangkok.
Free Speech
Once hurt becomes your barometer for whether something should be allowed by “freedom of speech.” Free speech is not just about who has power and can amplify it — it’s about who doesn’t have power and that it’s their right. Because words do hurt. Whether you intend them to or not. When you start to restrict it, with good or bad intentions, it’s ultimately people without power who will suffer. (Ideas from Mary Beth Tinker, podcast between Jonathon Zimmerman and Joey Rogan)
Resistance
The philosopher Žižek's ideas on resistance align closely with the advice Jennifer Egan provided. Both highlight the unseen exclusions within ideological structures that make our way of living seem clear and obvious. Without teaching ideological awareness or media literacy in public schools, society tends to produce individuals with a static, oversimplified view of themselves and the world. True subjectivity emerges when we question or undermine these rigid self-perceptions. Superficial choices, like selecting between brands (Lululemon vs Nike or Loro Piana vs GAP) or products (one type of coffee beans vs another), do not equate to a meaningful restructuring of how we perceive reality. True freedom involves being able to change incentive structures and the symbols in our lives, not just the superficial options available to us. Genuine freedom entails more responsibility, greater variance, and increased anxiety to remain competitive.
Freedom, according to Žižek, involves finding something you deeply value and continually striving towards it, even if it means failing repeatedly. This process of pushing beyond your abilities reveals your true self and resists static-ness. Engage deeply with what you’re passionate about and strive to excel in it. He suggests something along the lines of: “What I can be, I must be.” True freedom lies in this continuous pursuit and engagement with your deepest values.
Žižek's philosophy advocates for engaging deeply with your passions and continuously striving to improve, rather than merely consuming. This approach, akin to "travel without traveling" (see below), contrasts with platforms like TikTok, which offer instant gratification and no constructive challenges. Consumer society thrives on keeping people at a superficial level to sell more products, but true improvement, like playing better golf, comes from practice, not expensive clubs. By deeply engaging with your pursuits and embracing challenges, you can become an "authentic master" and inspire others. Žižek's "Enjoy Your Symptom" encapsulates these ideas, urging a deeper, more meaningful engagement with life.
Travel Without Travel - https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-weekend-essay/the-case-against-travel
“The single most important fact about tourism is this: we already know what we will be like when we return. A vacation is not like immigrating to a foreign country, or matriculating at a university, or starting a new job, or falling in love. We embark on those pursuits with the trepidation of one who enters a tunnel not knowing who she will be when she walks out. The traveller departs confident that she will come back with the same basic interests, political beliefs, and living arrangements. Travel is a boomerang. It drops you right where you started.”
I’ve become more convinced that we should only be moving around the world to spend time with specific people, go for ceremonies, or try and learn a skill deeply. That entails community and love, ritual, or depth.
Thanks Ritz for this piece. It’s made me dissatisfied and probably a richer human being. I’ll be sure to read A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid soon.
On breathing/meditation:
Most of my thoughts are what I would classify as wandering thoughts. They are unnecessary because they are only loosely connected to my present moment. Often reactive and triggered by external stimuli, they usually have little to do with the things around me themselves.
I find this frustrating as it indicates a lack of control over my mind. To test if I can choose my thoughts, I use the following steps (from most to least difficult):
(1) Can I concentrate on just my breath without words?
(2) Can I focus solely on my bodily sensations, like the pressure on my legs under the table, the subtle moistness of my palm on the Mac keyboard, or the curl of my spine? Or can I ignore bodily sensations, like a fly on my knee while meditating or pain in my quads while running.
(3) Can I choose to think about nothing and empty my mind?
If I can't do these well, even for a few minutes, it means I have a lot of work to do on my own mind. Consistent effort over weeks and months will be necessary. I suppose this is my commitment to start now.
The judge of my character will be how dedicated I am to following through.
Precise definitions
They’re really helpful. With precision, it’s easier to clear misunderstandings, become more teachable, revisit assumptions, and be more scientific method-minded. Sounds obvious, I know.
On the flip side is ambiguity. It obfuscates responsibility and can drive actors within systems to make sacrifices which go above and beyond, but it can also cause scandals like what happened with Wells Fargo or the burnout every junior person feels when managers don’t bother saying what they want.
Lindy Library:
The Lindy effect - The longer a period something has survived to exist or be used in the present, the longer its remaining life expectancy.
Thus, read books and concepts that are timeless. If it doesn’t answer a specific question you’re currently asking, cover philosophical knowledge, or entertain you, then don’t read it. Essentially, Why am I reading this? I’m going to start asking this and answering it as one of the three before every book I read from here on out.
Booklist:
Private Equity: A Memoir by Carrie Sun
Why: As someone in the crossover-fund industry, the book is deeply entertaining. Some points are relatable; others are not. Overall, it gives me more perspective on an industry where personal perspective lacks narrative form.
Design Principles of Biological Circuits by Uri Alon
Why: I’d like to understand the structures that comprise real biological systems. After being utterly impressed by Alon’s other textbook, Systems Medicine, I’m confident that this other book will be approachable enough for me to dive right in.
Hypoventilation training, push your limits! By Xavier Woorons
Why: I’m curious how to train for optimal performance in endurance sports and different methods of breathing to build mental clarity
Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat by Samin Nosfrat
Why: I’d like to improve my relationship to food by broadening my vocabulary around cooking and by being aware of the principles that enable cooking to happen. It’s a part of my life that I outsource and which I’d like to have more control at some point in my life
Two wishes for what I could have done in university:
Be involved in more communities by giving my time. The practice of giving, rather than taking to build camaraderie. No doubt they would have been useful leadership lessons.
I would have loved to do 4 years instead of 3.5. I deeply crave to revisit and strengthen my science and math foundation. Chemistry, biology, calculus, multivariable calculus, linear algebra. 3 semesters taking 3 courses per semester would have been ideal.
enjoy mate♥️