Is a “status update” made for the benefit of the sender or the receiver? For whom is a tweet intended? The question calls to mind Jacques Lucan’s interpretation of The Purloined Letter: …the sender, we tell you, receives from the receiver his own message in reverse form. Thus it is that what the “purloined letter,” […]

Tranquility itself cannot be scheduled, but empty, quiet spaces can be reserved in ink. Such spaces ought to be defended, prioritized and guarded as vehemently as any commitment and obligation. Lest they be guarded, they will be lost; swallowed by the tyrannical magic of urgency. For the sum of the matter is this: there is […]

A growing mind is a changing mind. Perhaps an effective way to measure how much you have learned in the past year is to count the number of times you have changed your mind. People who never change their mind worry me. Chronically confident people terrify me. Today: Count the times you change your mind as […]

What is the difference between a writer and a poet? Foolish am I to suggest to have an answer. But I do have a thought: Writers seem concerned with language, grammar, and typography. Poets seem concerned with ideas. I reckon a so-called “line” between writers and poets is arbitrary, subjective and fluid. Even if such a line […]

Every act of learning is either an acknowledgement of one’s ignorance or a confession of being wrong. Truly the meek will inherit knowledge, for they alone did not blindly assume themselves to already be in possession of it.

Social media is digital equivalent of blowing your thoughts into the wind like dandelion seeds. In this sense, it is the opposite of strategic. If there is something that you would like me to know, tell me — don’t wire it into a global network expecting that I am going to monitor every feed and […]

Utopia is terrifying for the very same reason that it is impossible: it requires that everyone wants exactly the same thing. Utopia, therefore, represents either the end of free-will or the elimination of diversity. Take your pick. Instead of dreaming of a utopian world (or dreading a dystopian one), Why not acknowledge that omnitopia is always both […]

Two paragraphs. Two authors. 1982 and 2010. Two perspectives. First, John Naisbitt: When we fall into the trap of believing or, more accurately, hoping that technology will solve all our problems, we are actual abdicating the high touch of personal responsibility. Our technological fantasies illustrate the point. We are always awaiting the new magical pill […]

A few years ago I was innocently reading a book at Chapters when I found myself distracted by the front cover of Life & Style Weekly. This magazine evidently does, um, rigorous investigative journalism in order to inform its readers about the private lives of famous people. The cover story: Jennifer Aniston and Courtney Cox […]

The degree to which you feel that you understand, is often the degree to which you cannot listen anymore. When you deeply think you comprehend something, you are running the risk of negating your ability to hear and receive further insight. Embracing, acknowledging and owning your ignorance is the beginning of learning, wisdom and knowledge. […]