Newsletter
I. What does meaning mean? When we say something “has meaning,” what are we talking about? Investigating that brings up two main findings: a word or symbol can mean something definition-wise, or a physical entity — a person, a movie, a family heirloom — can have meaning to someone. In both cases,
Newsletter
If you’ve ever seen a therapist for a disorder involving self-directed negativity (depression and anxiety especially) then you’ve probably been asked to “put your thoughts on trial.” The idea is that by conditioning yourself to serve as your own defense attorney and not just your own prosecutor you
Newsletter
Prologue: Utopia Denied In college, I took a class on crowds. We learned about British football hooligans and Woodstock. I wrote my final essay on Iran’s Green Movement, a wave of protests in the summer of 2009 spurred by credible allegations of election fraud committed by the incumbent, Mahmoud
Newsletter
At its core, burnout is rising costs and sinking rewards. That’s the essence. Burnout has a lot of neuroscience research behind it, but that’s what it comes down to. When life and the world get stressful, your brain notices, and starts to get into “fight or flight” mode
Newsletter
Look at this picture. Look at how many more dots are on the right than on the left. Then look at how many more lines are on the right than on the left. As you add pieces to an interconnected system, it gets more complex, and fast. Conventional wisdom in