Milton Friedman — Human wants and needs are infinite, which means there is always more to do.” ― Calum Chace, The Economic Singularity: Artificial intelligence and the death of capitalism
Some people ask for lots of things. They want this, and that, and then put some conditions, oh, and don’t forget about this, how about that, and so on.
I’ve found that if I ask for something simple in return, suddenly the criteria change. Why do I ask for this? Why do I need this? OK, but it will be done very late. I don’t have time.
I once organized a series of meetings in Bucharest. At the second meeting, we were supposed to have both a meeting at a coffee shop and some PowerPoint slides, but there was a logistical misunderstanding, and I couldn’t use a digital projector to show the PowerPoint. One person was very upset. I told her I would hold the presentation just for her, and do a one-to-one meeting on the spot, just for her, basically having all the advantages of a previous meeting, not to mention having the presentation just for her. She was upset and didn’t take my suggestion well. She left the meeting, although we could have stayed around the coffee table.
I then changed the format of the meeting just for that person and switched to a PowerPoint-only series of meetings.
We held the events for years, but the person never came.
Years later, the person came back. During that day, she saw a PowerPoint presentation, and then some more.
At the end of the meeting, she came to me, and said – “Look, all these PowerPoint meetings are fine, but could you organize some meetings around a coffee table?”.
There’s a saying in economics:
Milton Friedman — Human wants and needs are infinite, which means there is always more to do.” ― Calum Chace, The Economic Singularity: Artificial intelligence and the death of capitalism
Când mă gândesc la Delia, îmi vin în minte două cuvinte – grație și firesc.
Chiar și când râdea, Delia râdea cu aceste două atribute.
Monahul Nicolae Steinhardt vedea raiul în mai multe trepte, din ce în ce mai înalte. Treapta cea mai înaltă:
“Pe măsură ce urcăm scara cerurilor, priveliștile sunt mai neașteptate. Printre constelații și roiuri de galaxii, stele novae, pitice și albe, uitând de predici mânioase, volume de teologie și argumente apologetice, depășind izvoare veșnice de hidrogen — reglate de spiritul profesorului Hoyle -, lăsând în urmă judecători, constructori, socotitori, profeți, gravi filozofi și geometri neeuclidieni. Sufletul urcă mereu mai sus, curățându-se, până la stația terminus: locul de lumină și verdeață, pajiștea înflorată, mișunând de căței mici și dolofani și de pisicuțe albe cu fundă, acolo unde răsună acordurile divertismentelor lui Mozart și se ostenesc îngerii cu aripi ai lui Liliom să ofere necontenit dulcețuri și șerbet, acolo unde se află Dumnezeul cel adevărat, al pruncilor lăsați — în sfârșit — să vină, oricât de bătrâni de ani sau de împovărați de grele amintiri, să vadă pe Tatăl cu barba albă, la mijloc, pe Hristos purtător de stigmate și cruce în dreapta, pe Duhul curățitor și alinător în stânga.”
Mi-o imaginez pe Delia cu pisicuțe albe cu fundă, așa cum se cade unei persoane cu grație și firesc.
Dumnezeu să te odihnească și să te ierte!
I like to read low-quality health news websites.
I won’t mention which they are.
The reason? They tend to obsessively repeat the basic stuff.
“Drink water. Eat vegetables and fruits. Avoid ultra-processed food. Create a ritual in eating with others.”
Lots of very fancy websites focus so much on the new that they forget that the novelty in health is rare.
Sure, I do read health websites focused on new occurrences in the health market, there are studies and research.
But the basics tend to matter more than the new stuff.
For this, reading a low-quality health news website might be a better solution than reading the latest research.
You (or at least, I) need repetition of the old principles.
Some of the healthiest beverages include water and tea.
While for tea the solution to make it better is – never use sugar, add some lemon (for better Green Tea absorption), and perhaps add ginger/milk, for water, there is another solution: drink some carbonated water (preferably, mineral).
Voilà!
I once witnessed this scene: “I told you a few years ago that you should speak academically. Why don’t you speak academically?”.
The thing is, it’s not difficult to tell someone: “Use complicated, fancy, academic words. Avoid jargon.”.
It’s quite simple to say so.
But to implement something that requires live practice is not that easy.
If you tell a student “Speak academically”, it would take years, and not a few, for this to happen, in the end.
You can’t just tell one “Change all of your habits.”.
There are things that can be fixed easily. It’s not complicated to make a small change.
But some changes take years, and the advice, while necessary, might take many years to be fulfilled.
Coming back to the original piece of advice – “How to speak academically? Read. A lot of years, read. And communicate in official settings. For lots of years.”
There is a podcast called #IGDLCC – Informații Gratis despre Lucruri care Costă (free information about things that cost money/are worth something).
I had this thought for a while, and kept wanting to write about it, but Madam Historian Georgeta Filitti made me finally write about it: it doesn’t matter if you have a form of power (money, fame, professional success) if you aren’t able to make the right decisions.
In the podcast with Mr. George Buhnici, above, she gives a few examples, like (approximate affirmation) – it matters more how you decorate your mind with knowledge and beauty, rather than how you look outside (1), an old piece of furniture or an old plate, with nice decorations can bring joy, even if you can buy a standard modern piece of furniture or a white plate – they can bring you joy (2), even at an older age you should keep learning and be curious (3).
I look around me and see people with power. I think some of their decisions are not according to my values. Enormous power, little care about how you spend that power.
In the podcast, they discussed a word I like a lot: MEDIOCRE! (Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) https://youtu.be/4Fbry0X7OmM)
How to avoid mediocrity, succeed in life? Not an easy solution, but you should keep aiming to get it.
In the end, it matters more, in my opinion, to be rich in the things in which you need to be rich.
What’s the solution? Should you ban very expensive cars? Should you forbid luxury and unhealthy things, and things that seem like a waste of time?
The fact that you can choose, and the ability to choose wisely, gives it importance. If you know the right things (at least according to your values), it’s more important than owning a fancy car.
There’s an old saying that you should build a house, plant a tree, and make a child. But knowing what is right for you, according to your values, might be even more important.
“Președintele Nicușor Dan a fost întrebat într-un interviu pentru Observator cum au fost primele 100 de zile de mandat și a răspuns, printre altele, că au fost “intense”.
[…]
Întrebat ce notă și-ar da, Nicușor Dan: a răspuns: «7-8 așa, sunt o persoană exigentă».”
Pentru primele 100 de zile de mandat, Nicușor Dan își dă nota 7-8 | EurActiv.
I think there are some specific things to note about this:
In conclusion, if you grade yourself, give it a 10, as long as you had a good intention.
If others grade you, it’s complicated, yes, it can be an average, but generally it’s a rough estimate, and individual persons’ grades can vary a lot.
In a study, commuters in Chicago were asked to either talk with a stranger on a train, or sit quietly alone, or just do whatever they’d normally do on their commute. Then, they responded to a survey about how they felt.
Turns out those who engaged with strangers had the most pleasurable experience and those who remained solitary had the least enjoyable experience. These answers were compared with another group that did not participate but instead had to predict how they might feel in each situation. This group thought talking with strangers would be the least enjoyable, by far. The study is the journal of Experimental Psychology. [Nicholas Epley & Juliana Schroeder: Mistakenly Seeking Solitude]
Talking to Strangers Makes You Happy | Scientific American
via Andreea Roșca
HRP: – După aceea am fost fellow la nou-înființat-ul New Europe College al lui Andrei Pleșu, după o polemică pe care am avut-o cu el. El a avut enorma eleganță …
EV: – Ce temă?
HRP: – O temă de Istoria Științei.
… enorma eleganță de a mi oferi această bursă.
EV: – Păi dumneavoastră n-ați fi avut eleganța asta la o polemică științifică?
HRP: – Nicio polemică nu e doar științifică.