There is a quote I like that says something like “the butterfly only remembers its days as a butterfly, never as the caterpillar”. Point is, as we mature and inevitably change (with most becoming “normal” over time), we forget the people we once were and the beliefs we once had and view these as completely alien. So try to be forgiving or at least understanding of people who are or think differently from you. You can still think they’re nuts, and not want to have anything to do with them, but maybe they’re just still caterpillars like you once were. And remember, maybe it’s you who is still the caterpillar. #grownostr #thinkdangerously

I have a good friend who is extremely smart and talented. He also happens to be a devout Mormon. The natural inclination that we, as humans, have when we encounter such a paradox is to say “huh, he might not be as smart as I thought” (since I think Mormonism is mind-bogglingly ridiculous). The more interesting way to approach this though, since we all think we are so above such paradoxes in ourselves, is to consider what beliefs we ourselves hold that others might see as ridiculous. For instance, I personally think that every religion is absurd and that people who have kids are awful and selfish human beings (and possibly worse than murderers). Even though these are some of my most core beliefs, I maintain some measure of uncertainty and distance from these thoughts as a necessary exercise. That way, I can remain at least somewhat open to valid arguments against my beliefs. Beyond simply patting myself on the back for my “advanced thinking” though, I’m curious if anyone has any other helpful tricks for avoiding so called “siloed thinking”. It’s really hard to believe anything once you learn about all the ways in which we truly suck at reasoning. #thinkdangerously #grownostr

So I just got back home from a two week trip to one of the last truly wild places on earth. I have been to this place several times but every time I go, it leaves me with the same uneasy feeling: there are just too many damn humans on this planet. Wilderness is, by definition, a place where few (if any) people exist. So it stands to reason that not many will get to experience its power and singular majesty in their lifetime. Being one of the few who does get to experience it, I find this both immensely sad and something that I want to keep closely secret out of an intense fear that others will realize the value of the experience and ruin these places for me by extension. The modern world is such a terrible bastardization of the way we could (and likely should) be living. Not because of our inventions, but precisely and uniquely because of our categorically absurd numbers. What is it in us that drives this intense need to create ever more meaningless life? Every additional mouth literally dilutes the experience of living for the rest of us and yet fools continue to think to themselves “but my child will be different”. This blindness will never cease to puzzle me. As it stands, we are collectively nothing more than stupid, anxious animals outgrowing our environment. We fill our lives with garbage experiences, sell our bodies for a pittance, and happily swallow whatever lies some smooth talking salesman with a catchy jingle (or religion) has in store for us. The alternative is a life of fullness and plenty, free from the endless worry about offspring and their pathetic and trivial survival. Sadly, I just don’t see this kind of world ever happening for our species. Our flaws are just too great and our capacity for perspective too hopelessly narrow to accommodate any concept of reality beyond the ones we are sold and readily trade our lives for. We are so afraid and unprepared for the possibility that our lives are meaningless, that we essentially forgo the experience of living at all. What a shame. #thinkdangerously #grownostr #childfree

There are very few “right” answers to many of life’s toughest questions. Worry about finding the best answers for yourself and allow others the same courtesy/privilege of exploring the options and making mistakes along the way. Just because something works for you doesn’t mean it will work for everyone else. Free yourselves from the unnecessary burden of other people’s problems and poor judgement. #grownostr

A final thought for today. If you are a shift worker, ie: someone who works more than 3 night shifts per month, stop doing this as soon as possible. It’s not worth it. Full stop. Shift work is a carcinogen. While the World Health Organization has defined it only as a “likely carcinogen”, the data tells an otherwise very clear story. Working nights shortens your life (by approximately 7 years according to best available estimates) and can literally kill you in a myriad of ways ranging from accidents, domestic violence, suicide, and good old cancer. There is a hilarious shift that occurred in the published narrative on this topic when the first lawsuit was brought against an employer by a night shift nurse who developed breast cancer. All of a sudden, all the research into the negative health effects of shift work “shifted” (pun intended) to ways in which night shift personnel could make lifestyle modifications to lessen its impacts. Nowhere, for many years, has any published paper substantially addressed ways in which employers should improve or be held accountable for the damage they are causing by requiring workers to endure such physiologically unsound working conditions. So yes, if you work nights, STOP. Your pathetic shift differential is not worth it. Nothing is worth it. Put the onus back on the employers to come up with meaningful solutions and resist the temptation to sell yourselves so cheaply. #grownostr #thinkdangerously

Warning for anyone who is lucky enough to be in a position to retire or cut back to part time early. Do not wait. There is a vast world of experiences and opportunity beyond what your career can provide. And no, you will most likely never see age 95 or 100. Even if you did, the odds of you wanting to be alive at that age are even more slim. In the last few years, I have seen a disturbing number of mass media content (Ie propaganda) centered on “do you have enough money to retire if you live to be 95? 100?” etc. I’m combination with state level efforts to raise the retirement age, the goal appears to keep us generating yield for the masters until we die. Note, chronological life expectancy does not tell the whole story. What matters more is useful life expectancy. This is how long you can live independently and able to do the things you want to do. While chronological life expectancy has increased slightly over the last several decades (until Covid took a bite out of it), useful life expectancy has been much more difficult to assess and is pretty much not studied at all. Central to this is, is that it remains extremely challenging to perform academic research without financial support these days. This is entirely by design as sufficient funding can usually only come from industry now, which then sets the agenda and narrows the scope of any planned studies that could jeopardize the status quo. This is to say nothing about the fact that editorial narrow networks are always hard at work shaping whatever message is big brother approved. Academic institutions have been nearly fully captured by industry as have federal research funding sources like the NIH (to an even more striking degree). So please, do not fall for this trap. Do not sacrifice your functional years in your 40s or 50s for an employer when the promise is for shitty “trust me bro” years in your 80s or 90s. If you are in a position to get out or even just cut back to part time, do so. You will find an incredible world out there waiting for you. You may even find time to think for yourself which is the most dangerous and infectious thing a person can do these days. #grownostr #thinkdangerously