paradox-contradiction

the saturday that wasn’t

I forgot to publish last Saturday. Not forgot and felt guilty—forgot entirely. On failing better, resisting the urge to be productive, and other paradoxes.

the enthusiasm of uncertainty

The Portuguese word 'ansiedade' carries within it 'ânsia'—yearning, eagerness. There's positive yearning and negative yearning. Our attempts to eliminate uncertainty are tragic because uncertainty is the source of enthusiasm that makes life worth living.

self-help and aerobics: a pseudo-scientific method for detecting snake oil

Next time someone tries to sell you wisdom, ask: Would this make sense if shouted while doing burpees? If yes, run. I call it the aerobics test: an infallible method for detecting intellectual charlatanism. Because philosophy that works at 160bpm probably isn't philosophy at all.

The Certainty Syndrome: A Pathology of Our Time

From wellness gurus certain about ancient wisdom to CEOs certain about the future—everyone's performing certainty while drowning in doubt. On the pathology of fake knowing and why admitting ignorance might save us all.

Interlude: on boredom (or what goes through your head on a 10-hour flight, without sleeping)

What are questions for, beyond making us search for answers?

Post-Depth: The Plasticization of Profundity

We’ve moved beyond post-truth into something more insidious: post-depth. In this new landscape, wisdom becomes a product, complexity gets packaged into consumable portions, and profundity itself transforms into a surface performance.