Status:
Tired today, aggravated by feeling incredibly grumpy and annoyed after sleeping terribly. I have a new theory about recovering from a CFS crash. It’s like you’re emptying a tank of fatigue by slowly pumping it out and at the end is all the toxic shitty sediment. And once that’s out you’re OK again. This theory will be tested by my mood tomorrow morning but already this evening I’m feeling a bit better. Lance that boil.
Had an idea I want to note here, so I might revisit it another day and see if it’s bollocks or not. I was thinking about how uncertainty can be a good thing, as long as it’s not too paralysing. People (and I include myself in this) who a certain about a position or idea can get rigid in their definition and defence of it, to the point where what made the thing so powerful is slowly neutered. So I propose a radical uncertainty, constantly questioning and revising the foundations of your thing and ensuring it doesn’t succumb to your personal need to be sure. Or something like that. I think it’s connected to Bubba Wilson’s guerrilla ontology, in spirit anyway.
Reading:
- How to fight back against Gen-Z socialism 🪜 — You know you’re getting somewhere when the Economist leader writers are worried. But more seriously, I think they’re making a fundamental mistake here. Your moderate democratic socialists (which is what Mamdani et al are) aren’t against markets or competition when it’s fair. They’re against a system of free markets for the poor and state protection for the rich.
- ‘An equal and habitable world is possible’: academics set out sweeping vision for planetary survival — I’m not convinced this can come about with some kind of awful war first, but it’s nice to see fully automated luxury communism back on the agenda. Thomas Piketty et al are on a roll right now.
- I must attempt to explain the LEGO scandal rocking YouTube, entire state of Utah — The amplification machine is amplifying too much again. Jesus.
- The startup recycling urine to make natural fertiliser — “If we were to recycle all the urine of people in Europe, I think we could cover around 30% of the nitrogen need,"
- RIP Marjane Satrapi
Watching:
- 1950’s French lamp restoration (16:38)
Music:
- This Is Happening by LCD Soundsystem — “You wanted a hit but maybe we don’t do hits. I try and try, it ends up feeling kind of wrong."
Books on the go:
🎧 How to Do Nothing by Jenny Odell [#---------] 13% (Though I might switch to the ebook as the reader’s voice is a bit jarring for me. Wish Jenny was reading it herself…)