"You know how I tend to go around giving the impression of being pretty much okay most of the time?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, most of the time I'm actually really really okay or really really not."

"Are you not okay now?"

"[shrug] Just found it odd that I've built a persona around equilibrating."

* * * * *

The shrug was genuine: when you combine ( Read more... )

Pushing some prior epiphanies a little further:

* Akrasia is something of a cognitive illusion in the same way that all negative concepts are: it's not a lack of will to power but rather being overpowered by something that's introspectively opaque to us. The upshot is that you overcome it by focusing on something else in the short term -- or in ( Read more... )

"You see, you must become a student again -- an animal whom all ridicule -- if you really intend to subject your opinions to honest examination; and you know yourself that this is not the work of one hour or day."
-- Epictetus, Discourses ("Concerning family affection")

Requesting a couple of minutes of your time. It might not be quite what you ( Read more... )

( a severe case of spiritual hiccups )

"Art is the solution of a problem which cannot be expressed explicitly until it is solved."
-- Piet Hein

Henceforth, all epic science-y posts will appear on ratiocinator.org, starting with the long-awaited part IV of my ongoing jihad against plant-eating exposition of the origins of diseases in modern diets. I opened this journal as a scratchpad initially, and it's best kept that way. Here will continue to be poetry, personal ramblings, half-formed ( Read more... )

If ye lay bound upon the wheel of change ( Read more... )

Yes, I am making an exception and no, I won't justify it. I need this right now, sue me.

Click to view

My earbud headphones broke yesterday. More precisely, only one earbud is functional. I've gone through so many pairs that it was just instinctual to go pick up another on my way to get groceries, but this time I paused and decided not to. The superficial reason why is that one earbud is enough to listen to speech if I want to (e.g. podcasts or ( Read more... )

People who live in their heads as much as I do are apt to forget this, but if there's one thing I've learned of late it's that what's good for the body is good for the mind, and vice-versa. There is a great deal one could say on this matter in the way of specifics, but right now I just need to remind myself of the principle.