Current location: Milwaukee, WI, USA
Reading: The Little Book of Valuation by Aswath Damodaran
Listening: save me by Kimbra(if you have a moment, reply with your own 3-item status—via email or in the comments)
Optimism Scaffolding
I'm generally skeptical about claims of silver bullet solutions to complex problems.
Biological matters—our bodies aging, our brains not always functioning as optimally as we'd prefer—are foggy, multifaceted issues.
Social matters, likewise, are muddled at best, and anyone who claims to have a simple solution to poverty, to pollution, to powering the world is probably either not taking all the relevant variables and research and concerns into consideration, and/or is trying to sell us something.
I do think there are opportunities to make various sorts of progress by making use of available and impending tools and techniques, provided they're applied thoughtfully, properly, and consistently.
The trouble is that most such opportunities (and the approaches/technologies upon which they’re predicated) are fundamentally flawed, despite being genuinely interesting and packed with possibility.
For instance: there are chemicals that can demonstrably boost performance, and the most widely used of these chemicals—caffeine—is cheap and easy to integrate into one's life.
Unfortunately, many people don't use caffeine responsibly or healthily: its half-life can be something like 11 hours, so it's ideally consumed only in the morning, in moderation, and without all the extras (additional sugars and fats and other decorations can cancel out its beneficial properties).
When used appropriately, caffeine has been shown to be generally safe, to boost mental and physical performance, and to help us stay awake and alert longer. When used inappropriately it can contribute to cardiovascular issues, mess with our sleep, and serve as a vehicle for unhealthful consumption.
Coffee and other caffeine-carrying substances, then, are far from silver bullets, despite offering many benefits.
Due to this dichotomous nature, I try to think about such tools in the context of negatives-neutralizing failsafes and stabilizing scaffoldings.
I wouldn't want to use a table saw without the appropriate level of knowledge and safety measures in place, for instance.
Likewise, I'm not just going to swallow handfuls of random pills, even though a tiny dose of levothyroxine (taken first thing every morning) keeps an immune disorder I was born with at bay. Pills can be useful, but it’s prudent to have a sense of which ones to take, for how long, when to take them, and so on.
Accompanying tools, safety measures, relevant knowledge, thoughtful habits, and other enacted technologies can neutralize the negatives while amplifying the positives associated with all sorts of tools we might (properly bulwarked) safely and productively wield.
I'm generally skeptical about these sorts of solutions in part because I'm also generally optimistic about the possibilities and opportunities associated with them.
I want things to get better, and I believe (with reason, I think) that we have the capacity to make things better.
Lacking sufficient guardrails, though, our potentially potent upgrades could be used unethically, could be deployed unevenly, and could cause greater damage than they ameliorate.
There are many pitfalls along the way, but we have reason to think we are capable of learning, doing better next time, and developing heuristics and macro-scale frameworks that can help the next generation (and our future selves) avoid making the same errors again and again (though of course they'll almost certainly discover plenty of new and exciting issues on their own).
One of the better ways I've found to maintain that sense of optimism while also avoiding repeat stumbles into gullibility and unnecessary risk is to always question, ask who benefits from what, look for concerns that are being ignored or insufficiently addressed, and to be open to experimentation and enthusiasm.
Also worth remembering is that critical feedback and thread-picking can be some of the most direct and impactful ways to iterate useful tools, while at the same time helping to weed out hucksters, victimizers, and well-meaning but misinformed (or deluded) salespeople.
If you found value in this essay, consider buying me a coffee :)
My Work, Elsewhere
Aspiring Generalist / Brain Lenses (podcast) / Climate Happenings / Let’s Know Things (podcast) / Never Not Curious / Notes On the News / One Sentence News (podcast) / You Probably Don’t Need
Might I suggest reading:
Interesting & Useful
“‘Permacrisis’, a term that describes ‘an extended period of instability and insecurity’, has been named Collins Word of the Year 2022. It is one of several words Collins highlights that relate to ongoing crises the UK and the world have faced and continue to face, including political instability, the war in Ukraine, climate change, and the cost-of-living crisis.”
A Look Back at Wild Retro-Futuristic Cars
“We love the blue-sky, open-minded thinking that accompanies futuristic designing. When artists and designers take their blinders off, it’s fascinating to see what ideas can be revealed. That’s certainly the case with this collection of retro-futuristic art, which showcases all manner of wild transportation and car design. From flying cars to strange hovering Cadillacs to monorail trains, this collection comprises designs from the US, Europe and Japan.”
Diverse Ecosystems Merge in Hyperrealistic Paintings of Flora and Fauna by Lisa Ericson
“…Ericson’s compositions appear as if a spotlight has been directed on the scene to highlight unusual interactions, such as a fox ferrying bluebirds across a waterway or a mountain goat stranded on a submerged rocky peak. Furthering the notion that environmental change cannot be ignored, the titles speak to witnessing immense change, experiencing a sense of foreboding, and heeding warnings.”
Outro
Do you have any little “boosts” or tools in your life that you’d recommend, and for which you’ve put in the work to figure out the proper scaffolding/balance to counteract its potential negatives?
One ultra-specific one (which won’t be relevant to most people, but maybe some of you) I’ve stumbled across recently is taking 105 mg of high absorption magnesium (lysinate glycinate, 100% chelated) about an hour before going to sleep to reduce the intensity of my bruxism (clenched jaw while sleeping—which among other things has hurt my teeth and worsened my long-time TMJ issues).
I tried magnesium about a year ago, but gave it another try when I discovered I could get this specific type (most magnesium isn’t great for this use-case) relatively cheap and in capsule form (I couldn’t easily swallow the horse-pill tablets, and the powder version tasted awful).
This second try has worked noticeable and almost immediate wonders for my bruxism (and has been working said wonders for weeks, at this point). If this is relevant to you and you’re curious, drop me a line and I’ll tell you which one I’m using (I’m not affiliated with this product in any way, it’s just made such a positive difference for me that I wanted to mention it here in case you’re suffering the same problem and haven’t tried this approach yet).
The images above are snippets from some of the postcards/cards I’ve received from folks over the past few weeks. Thanks very much to everyone who sent something! Your letters are lovely and made my day.
If you’re keen to send something physical my way, here’s my address:
Colin Wright
PO Box 11442
Milwaukee, WI 53211
You can also send me an email—I reply to every message I receive, and you can drop me a line by replying to this newsletter or by writing to colin@exilelifestyle.com (you can also leave a comment if you’d like to share something publicly).
You can also communicate via the usual methods: Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, or threadful of interesting science facts.
Library of Congress’s gallery of weird US roadside attractions.