Quarks and electrons are the smallest particles we know.
After that?
Well, the amount of energy it would take to observe at those depths would start a black hole.
So, for now, we have to be content that we don’t know what the next level is. The question I wonder is:
Does it have structure?
What has structure and what doesn’t is something worth examining in our own lives.
If we are interested in a phenomena that can only be detected experimentally, how do we come to have knowledge about unobservable entities?
In the case of black holes, by turning the whole Earth into what is essentially one large satellite dish, scientists from around the world have captured the first image of a black hole.
Sometimes we need to be shown what we can’t see. Afterwards, we are changed forever.
Indeed, seeing is believing. It is also the first step in understanding.
I do a large amount of backcountry skiing. And for many, that is way out of the comfort zone of what is an acceptable risk.
For me, watching someone free solo or free base, that just seems crazy.
It turns out, risk tolerance is different for each of us. There is a clear difference between comfort zones and growing zones and how willing each of us are willing to dance with the fear that is associated with taking risks.
We can’t eliminate all the risk. Sometimes we can manage it. But life is hazardous. It’s a dangerous world. So much is trying to kill us. At the same time, no one wants to live in a bubble.
When is the last time you tried taking a chance?
We often associate courage with capes, badges or guns. But there is courage in standing up for what is right or speaking for those without a voice. Or perhaps, sharing your best work to the world. Maybe that is what we are missing. Emotional courage.
…
2020 has made us very cautious. We have forgotten what it is like to take a risk. How are we to start living again? Especially since the pandemic is still happening.
We call this smelling the flowers. Yet, we often forget to enjoy the process.
Life isn’t a journey unless there is a destination. But we don’t stop long enough to ask, Where am I actually heading?
Courses change. The wind blows in all sorts of directions. Perhaps, slowing down and just simply taking it all in will help us not to forget to take in this moment before we turn to the next.
There is a lot of intensive debate about defining what free will is.
When asked, many will explain that free will has an important distinction–whether or not participants can resist outside influences.
If you believe in free action, you also tend to believe that you can resist the pressure of outside forces.
If you don’t, then you tend to believe that you didn’t (can’t?) act against outside forces.
But these are incredibly narrow views of free will.
We don’t know the internal motivation of people. And following the pressure of a crowd may well be a good thing. (I’m grateful it is common practice to wash your hands before prepping food.)
External pressures are not the root of free will. Free will is about autonomy regardless of outside forces.
The environment dictates so many of our choices, who knows how much free will each of us have? I do know that life is better when we choose to exercise our influence. No matter how small.
Common sense is rarely common practice.
For the world seeks more than anything is clarity.
Perhaps, what we are missing, is your voice of reason.
Use it.
More importantly, always remind yourself who it is you want to become.
For success and happiness doesn’t come out of pursuit but when one fully dedicates oneself to a cause greater than themselves.
People are plastic. Flexible and malleable. Not iron.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show has played at Portland’s Clinton Theater every Saturday night for 43 years.
And during the pandemic they kept it playing, even when no one came.
That’s commitment. That’s a streak that someone has found that wasn’t worth breaking.
How does one keep a streak alive during the trying times?
Most importantly, find a new way to measure. Clearly, keeping Rocky Horror playing wasn’t for the money. It was for the story that people told themselves. That story matters.
When you study the works of economic thinkers like Ricardo and Smith, you will find rents to be a powerful economic incentive.
Own something that is scarce and turn up the ratchet.
Someone with a million dollars doesn’t have enough money to compete in the type of machines that farmers or automobile titans have. It is requires too much capital.
So, what do you do?
Invest in real estate or perhaps crypto or a VC.
You make small, safe economic moves to go from 1 million to 2. 2 to 5.
When this goes at scale, however, you have a few people that own a lot of real estate. Wealth continues to flow to the top.
The ones on the bottom have no way to break the cycle and despite best efforts have no economic mobility once wealth transfers from one generation to the next.
This is how aristocracies were built. And they continue to this day.
Sure, with real estate you can point to low interest rates, low inventory and high demand for houses. This is true. There are other things behind the curtain that continue to make it hard for those to get what their parents had.
If you’re unemployed long enough, you will take the first offer you are given.
That is what makes desperate moves so desperate: You are willing to take anything that comes in your path.
If you invest time building a resilient system, the frequency of emergencies tends to go down.
The longer you are out of debt, the more you invest in a nest egg. If you have an emergency fund, having your car go out won’t disrupt the flow. The less artifacts you collect, the less credit card debt you will accumulate. And on and on and on.
Let’s be clear, the system that is set is rigged. Money flows to the top. And the rich do get richer. Social mobility continues to dwindle no matter how hard people work. What was true then isn’t true anymore.
Until we get the system right, the choice then is to figure out how to build a resilient system for ourselves. Personal choices are still a powerful tool despite the landscape:
Despite making all the correct choices, it still may not be enough. That is the world of inequality that we continue to build. We must keep demanding change.
