This week I came across a popular Reddit thread exploring how Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin created his fictional land of Westeros. It looks remarkably like England. Landmass shape isn’t the only thing Martin borrowed from the British Isles. The…
Which philosophical questions really matter? If you’re like me, you’ve spent hours, days, and weeks pondering a thorny philosophical problem or two at some point in your life. But with a field as vast as philosophy, how can you ever…
When is the last time you knowingly did something wrong? If you’re being honest, it was probably in the last 24 hours. But there were probably some other things going on at the same time. You were probably tired. You…
Tonight was a rare social outing for my very busy startup company’s team. We all climbed into a bus and drove to the nearby Braves stadium for a baseball game on this late summer night. We’re a hardworking, serious bunch. When…
We often think that our experience of reality shape and determine the words we use. It’s intuitive to see experience, concept formation, and speech as a strict one-directional flow. But what if we’re wrong about where language comes in? What if language actually…
Last night I wrote about how being a maker can improve your experience as a consumer. I want to take the same idea into how we talk about new skills. I think there are three fundamental mindsets or stages of relating…
I’ve gotten a fair number of questions from friends and strangers like you about how to explore, understand, and use bitcoin properly. Rather than send you the same email and retread old ground, I’ve decided to make my recommendations available…
This Friday I took some of my friends to my favorite entertainment in Atlanta – the Shakespeare Tavern – for a performance of William Shakespeare’s comedy The Taming of the Shrew. The Atlanta Shakespeare company made me cackle intensely enough to probably…
*SPOILER ALERT FOR GAME OF THRONES, OBVIOUSLY. Don’t listen to this if you haven’t watched the show!* Is it all really about sex in the end? Is it naive to tell the truth to your enemies? Is it ever too…
*SPOILER ALERT FOR GAME OF THRONES, OBVIOUSLY. Don’t listen to this if you haven’t watched the show!* Is death really the enemy? What can the mind control of the White Walkers teach us about free will and evil? Is it ever…
*SPOILER ALERT FOR GAME OF THRONES, OBVIOUSLY. Don’t listen to this if you haven’t watched the show!* Is forcing people to serve a good cause ever OK? When do you become responsible for the evil that’s happening around you? And what’s up…
*SPOILER ALERT FOR GAME OF THRONES, OBVIOUSLY. Don’t listen to this if you haven’t watched the show!* Should Jon Snow bend the knee to Daenarys Targaryen? Is it moral to use weapons of mass destruction – like dragons – in warfare? And…
*SPOILER ALERT FOR GAME OF THRONES, OBVIOUSLY. Don’t listen to this if you haven’t watched the show!* I feel like the only real way to honor this episode is to keep the introductions short. This is Game of Thrones Philosophy Breakdown. It’s…
*SPOILER ALERT FOR GAME OF THRONES, OBVIOUSLY. Don’t listen to this if you haven’t watched the show!* When should you betray someone? Should you keep ALL your oaths? And is cowardice really unvirtuous if it saves your life and the…
*SPOILER ALERT FOR GAME OF THRONES, OBVIOUSLY. Don’t listen to this if you haven’t watched the show!* Is it ever OK to slaughter your family’s enemies in pursuit of revenge? Should you kick your enemies’ children out of their ancestral…
A lot of us wonder what we are here to do. People spend so much time agonizing over this question – and producing such dubious answers – that I wonder if maybe this is the wrong question. Dispute me if you’d…
The friendly light of tired streets Guides late-night worker home Past laughing couples walking through The end of week’s festival hum No drinks raised, no smiling friends Greeted him this night Insisting, purpose kept him on To spend Promethean light…
HAMLET: “What a piece of work is man, How noble in reason, how infinite in faculty, In form and moving how express and admirable, In action how like an Angel, In apprehension how like a god, The beauty of the world, The…
If you’re involved in any long-haul effort to build a company, you’re inevitably going to have days that feel futile. If your work needs all of your effort and that effort is still not enough, some days will feel like tail-chasers.…
Earlier this year I set a goal to read 100 books by the end of 2017. Now you can track my progress and see an abbreviated selection of what I’ve been digging into this year so far. For a very good…
Praxis Weekend brought together some of the brightest young people I know in one city for a few glorious days. This talk was one of the highlights of the weekend for me. Praxis alumnus and GrowthLion Media CEO Evan Le gave his…
Early last month I joined about 80 other participants, alumni, and staff from the Praxis startup apprenticeship program for an intense weekend of skill sharing, collaboration, and fun. Breakout sessions at conferences are usually pretty “meh,” but these were the…
Building a small company is hard. You don’t have the money. You don’t have the people. You don’t have the experience. You don’t have the reputation. You don’t have the customers. And you certainly don’t have the business thing worked out.…
When I was young, I would spend hours upon hours fighting battles. Granted, they were imaginary battles. But to me and my friends, these were life and death affairs. We would perform feats of courage battling orcs and Sith lords…
There are very few good things about having the weakness of procrastination. OK, there are basically like two good things. First, I suppose some of your ideas come out better-formed in the end if you’re willing to sit on them.…
From the time we start interacting with other human beings, we all have the drive to be kings or queens. We all want to be top of whatever pyramid we’re climbing. This drive starts to play out intensely in school.…
If you’ve spent any large amount of time around me, you probably know I’m a huge fan of startup apprenticeship program Praxis. If I’m not wearing a Praxis t-shirt at least once a week, I’m probably wearing my Praxis hoodie…
*SPOILER ALERT FOR GAME OF THRONES, OBVIOUSLY. Don’t listen to this if you haven’t watched the show!* Season 7 of Game of Thrones may have ended last night, but that doesn’t mean you have to leave the world of Westeros…
“Don’t judge a book by it’s cover.” That’s what *they* all say. And usually *their* advice is aimed at people who choose books with engaging titles or cover art. I think you should judge a book by its cover, but…
What do you think of when you hear the word “libertarian”? Do you think of selfish big business apologists? Reactionary constitutionalists? Naive utopians? Pot-smoking hippies? Rational economic thinkers? Political labels are confusing, which is why it’s so necessary to define…