Doing What We've Always Done
Current location:
Milwaukee, WI, USA
Reading:
When Women Invented Television
by Jennifer Keishin Armstrong
Listening:
The KPM 1000 Series Vol. 1
by various artists
(if you have a moment, reply with your own 3-item status)
Doing What We've Always Done
These past few weeks I've been shoveling money into my third-hand, 2007 Prius to replace the hybrid battery and the ABS system—both of which have recently stopped working—and to replace the catalytic converter after it was carved out by thieves.
I like my little car: bringing renewed life to old things is satisfying to me, but it's also been a reliable (and fuel-efficient) companion as I've driven it around North America these past few years.
This hasn't been a pleasant round of investments, though, in part because it's felt like maintenance rather than an upgrade; a feeling I've had about other, bigger-picture things lately, as well.
We're at a stage, civilizationally, where we generally know what we need to do, but a lot of the big, systemic moves required to get us to that next stage haven't been completed (or in some cases even started) yet.
Which means that just to be able to keep doing what we've always done—just to remain at our status quo—we're being forced to rethink, reinvest, recalibrate, and make uncomfortable decisions that don't seem to move the needle at all.
While these are often necessary expenditures, they don't feel good in the same way an investment in something that represents a clear improvement over the existing baseline would feel.
For me, that means throwing money I would prefer to spend on other things at an older hybrid vehicle I'd like to keep running until electric vehicle infrastructure is built-out enough that I can justify investing in one of those (a purchase that will likely feel a lot more viscerally satisfying).
For society, that means investing torrents of time, energy, and resources in deteriorating infrastructure, flimsy systems, and outdated organizational methodologies—all of which need to be bolstered, buttressed, and in some cases reworked or rebuilt just to provide a sufficiently stable foundation for all the things we need to build atop them in the coming years (the shiny, new, whiz-bang stuff we'll eventually get to enjoy).
It does not feel good to spend a bunch of money and other resources just to maintain the baseline.
But not all necessary and prudent investments are satisfying, and sometimes productive, forward movement will feel like holding still; at least for a while.
If you found some value in this essay, consider supporting my work by buying me a coffee.
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Projects
Brain Lenses: Life Course Theory & Caffeine Withdrawal
Let’s Know Things: Joint Military Exercises
Curiosity Weekly: August 17, 2021
One Sentence News: Info / Subscribe
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Interesting & Useful
Some things to click:
Authors including Nnedi Okorafor, Kim Stanley Robinson and Alastair Reynolds reveal what does, and doesn’t, go into creating their worlds.
Vivid Botanicals Bloom from the Coats of Charismatic Cats in Watercolor Works by Hiroki Takeda
Japan-based artist Hiroki Takeda adds a dose of whimsy to his otherwise faithful portrayals of friendly felines.
Blood, Sweat, and Tears: The Astonishing Labor of Tree Planters in Canada Rita Leistner tells the story of a tight-knit group tree of planters in Canada and the backbreaking work they do every day.
The Big Bang: What We Know and How We Know It
When most people think of the Big Bang, they imagine a single moment: a whole universe emerging from nothing. That's not really how it worked, though.
PS: subscribe to Curiosity Weekly (link in the previous section) to receive an email containing just curated links every Tuesday
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Outro
I am sincerely looking forward to a future in which fewer car repairs (and the accompanying expenses) will be necessary, because electric vehicles have orders of magnitude fewer moving parts (especially in the drivetrain) than internal combustion engine-based vehicles (including hybrids, which are more efficient because of the battery but which still have small ICEs, and thus, a lot of moving parts).
I had a lot of folks share their 3-item status (at the top of the newsletter) last week, which was a lot of fun. It also gave me some new book and music/podcast inspiration, so thanks for that!
I'm thinking it might be interesting to periodically switch up those status-items for the sake of variety, but also to share some of what folks are reading, listening to, learning about, etc. Would that be interesting/valuable to you, as well?
Also: as always, please feel free to reach out and say hello, tell me something about yourself, and/or share something about what life is like in your neck of the woods at the moment.
I'd love to hear from you: it's a bit like travel for me, to hear from folks living very different lives in very different places around the world.
Drop me a message by replying to this newsletter or by emailing me at colin@exilelifestyle.com—I respond to every message I receive :)
You can also communicate via the typical methods: Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or smartphone photograph.
If you’re finding some value in what I’m doing here, consider supporting my work via one of these methods: Become a patron / Buy a book / Buy me a coffee