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Living in a self-focused culture
Mainstream media would keep telling you about putting yourself first above all else which often leads to thinking only about immediate gratification within one’s lifetime without thinking about the next generation. This unsettling reality of short-termism got me thinking about how this generation has become lovers of self, which resonates with: For people will be Read more
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Milestones we now find difficult to achieve (unless you are the elite)
I find it hard to imagine how my parents, at 30, bought their land, built their house, and created a home with their children. This erosion of life’s fundamental milestones charts the same course as our broader societal fractures. While the elite class grows wealthier and more disconnected, entire generations find themselves unable to achieve Read more
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Quantity vs. Quality: The Publication Paradox
The nature of science is growing so complex that PhD founders now need large teams and administrative support to make progress, so they go to big firms instead. Thus, we have the paradox of our Golden Age of science. More research is being published by more scientists than ever, but the result is actually slowing Read more
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Late-night musings #25
When I was planting seeds, I never really considered how much time it would take for the seeds to grow. I was just hopeful that they will. While some promised immediate returns, others could lay silently under the earth for years and decades even when you keep watering them. I kept watering the ones that Read more
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The state of mental ease
Ease is defined as “freedom from worries or problems.” And doesn’t that sound good? Who always wants to worry and think about problems, right? But ease is also defined as “the absence of effort,” which doesn’t sound so good at all unless all you want is to just get by in life—here today and gone Read more
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A composition that plays without repetition until 2999
Did you know? A piece of music (a composition) has been playing continuously since midnight of 31 December 1999 and will continue without repetition until the end of 2999. It’s called Longplayer, and it has been playing for 25 years (as of this writing). You can listen to its live broadcast here or download the Longplayer Read more
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Self-centeredness and short-term thinking
Our confrontation with mortality—or more often, our avoidance of it—shapes our relationship with time itself. When we refuse to acknowledge our finite nature, we construct an artificially narrow temporal horizon that barely extends beyond our existence. This temporal myopia manifests first as self-centeredness, as I’ve observed in my perception of time. Who has the time Read more
