1. Inspiration does not appear whenever you'd like. You need to pay the price for creativity: the pain of staring at a blank page.

2. The best inspiration comes from things that bring you joy, excitement, and fascination.

Routine

1. Having a set time every day to sit down and write is the only way for the habit to stick.

2. Break down goals into smaller milestones. Instead of viewing my goal as "writing for 31 days", I saw it as "writing for 3/5/7 days". Instead of telling myself I need to write a whole page, I said "just one paragraph."

3. You will count down to the days when you don't have to write again, to go back to the familiar environment that you enjoyed. Every cell in your body will hate writing and tell you to give up.

4. The fact that you want to say "fuck it, I give up" is a good thing. It's just a test. Get back on the train, and keep going. Being derailed one day doesn't discount your previous efforts.

Negative Voices

1. Some days you feel like all you've produced is straight trash. Don't try to fight that feeling. Acknowledge the inner critic, but see it for what it is.

2. The inner critic's words are not based on facts. They are here to create fear and destroy your work.

3. It wouldn't have been a failure to produce trash or to be ridiculed. It was a failure not to write anything

Lastly, I want to share a hopeful quote for those of us who struggle with self-doubt.

In the depths of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.

Albert Camus

Despair and doubts freeze our minds and cast upon us boney chills. Let them take their course. Within you is a fertile ground for unconditional love and acceptance.

Thompson had an unorthodox daily routine of waking at 3pm and filling his hours with whiskey, coffee, cigarettes, and cocaine.

I acknowledge the irony here, for presenting someone whose life was sustained by stimulants and depressants. Yet I do find his advice on finding life's purpose quite illuminary. Here are my favorite quotes:

A man must choose a path which will let his ABILITIES function at maximum efficiency toward the gratification of his DESIRES.

In doing this, he is fulfilling a need (giving himself identity by functioning in a set pattern toward a set goal), he avoids frustrating his potential (choosing a path which puts no limit on his self-development), and he avoids the terror of seeing his goal wilt or lose its charm as he draws closer to it (rather than bending himself to meet the demands of that which he seeks, he has bent his goal to conform to his own abilities and desires).

Decide how you want to live and then see what you can do to make a living WITHIN that way of life.

You're anxious and unhappy at work because you are not living according to your ABILITIES and DESIRES.

Do you remember what fascinated you as a child?

Around the age of five, I developed a love for the bookstores and geography encyclopedia. It thrilled me to flip through the books, inhale the smell of new prints, and glide my fingers across the pictures.

In school, I enrolled in English camps, French, Japanese, and Korean classes. (Though I was never the best students in my foreign language classes, often falling asleep during lectures and messing up conjugations.)

Then, my priority shifted during college. It's all about what could help me land a good job. I devoted myself instead to earnings forecast, market matrix, agile strategy.

Last year, feeling burned out from work and cryptocurrency, I picked up French again. I was reminded of what brought me joy in the past. So in 2023, I'm going to spend more time on languages.

Broad goals

Chinese

Although this is my mother tongue, I often failed to find the right words to express myself in speaking and writing. I want to learn more words so I can be more precise.

English

I'd like to improve my comprehension skills in structurally complex texts, especially in scientific journals & philosophy texts.

Cantonese

I want to get back to speaking Cantonese. I haven’t used it in a while and probably have forgotten a lot of words. Aim is to be able to give clear, detailed opinions. (If you're curious whether Cantonese is a language or a dialect, click here)

French

Studied in high school but never used it since. This year my focus is on vocabulary and reading comprehension. My goal is to be able to read novels in French.

Korean

Studied for two years in college and rarely use it. Aim is to get back to TOPIK level 2, with a focus on listening & shadowing.

Japanese

I used to know how to read hiragana and katagana but forgotten a lot of it...This year I want to understand basic Japanese conversations since I'm travelling to Japan.

Spanish

Just want to get started and see where it goes.

How I split my time

Jan~Apr: focus on french & japanese

May~Aug: focus on french & spanish

Sept~Dec: focus on french & korean

Mindset

Language learning depends on 1. Your attitude 2. The time you spent with the language.

Stephen Krashen, one of the most reknown scholar on language acquisition:

“We do not acquire language by study, or by speaking or writing. We acquire in only one way: by understanding what we hear or read. What we call ‘comprehensible input.’ The ability to produce language is the result of getting the right kind of input.”

Watch this video for his thoughts on optimal input. In summary, it is a focus on storytelling + reading for pleasure. Anyone can learn a new language.

i met a really remarkable old man yesterday

he teaches Qi Gong at the park everyday

always smiling and greeting you with the warmth of the winter sun

his body is strong but flexible, back bending just for fun

he dwells in the quiet countryside, a simple house maintained spotlessly

next to it is his garden where pine trees and mangos grow in harmony

he pulls out a top-of-the-shelf tea set, eyes excited with twinkles: "come try, this is the sweetest Pu'er"

truly, the tea is sweetened with his demeanor

First of all, I'd like to apologize for my terrible poem. My 11th-grade English teacher Mr. Small would be embarrassed.

I'm sharing it regardless because 1) someone may realize, "hey I could do better than this" and start writing sonnets. Another poet is born, a positive addition to the world. So, we should write more bad poems.

2) I am inspired by the old man's way of living.

It takes an insane amount of discipline and selflessness to show up at the park 6am every day for 30+ years. He teaches Qi Gong for free to anyone who would stop by.

"If fate allows, I'd teach it for 30 more years", says the man.

This guy is not a guru or saint. He's just a normal human like you and me. He has a family of 4 and prior to retirement, a full-time job as well.

That kind of consistency and dedication is beautiful. And it's reflected in his physical and mental health, both are probably in better shape than mine.

Meeting him makes me wonder what my sunset life would look like. Would I have a hobby I love so much I don't mind doing it for 60 years? Would I be moving like him, or sitting in a wheelchair?

Of course, it's entirely possible that I don't get to live until retirement. Maybe I can try out a "mini retirement" life. Where can I rent a grandchild, a plot of fruit and vegetable garden, and arthritis for a few days?

"I suggest you sell all of your investment holdings, don't go out, and pray to Jade Emperor (a Daoist deity) for forgiveness. Your 2022 was bad, but 2023 is gonna be WORSE," the silver-haired fortune teller stated to me plainly.

Ah, yes! Exactly what I wanted to hear at the start of the year!

Look, I imagined myself to be a reasonably educated person. I have resisted tarot cards, astrology, feng shui, Bloomberg economy forecasts, etc. So why am I sitting in front of a psychic now?

My decision sprang from anxiety about the future + a need for control.

At the start of January, I've taken on a challenge to write every day for 31 days. I've been excited about it. But by Jan 15th, my failure to fully adhere to my plan sent me into spiraling anxiety.

Fuck it. Fortune telling is cheaper than therapy. In a moment of weakness, I made an appointment.

The air in this big empty meeting room felt cooler than outside.

"...How bad is 2023?" I asked.

He closed his eyes, furrowed his brows, and began counting his fingers. "I see bankruptcy, ill health, possessed by evil spirits, possibly schizophrenia. Can't do much about it. Tis your fate."

Come on, at least sell me a solution. Aren't you supposed to make listeners feel better?

I don't know if this story is funny or sad. But here's a thought experiment:

Let's say the predictions are true. If you know you will suffer and fail miserably in the future, what would you do?

My first reaction was anger. WHY ME? The past has been difficult enough. Surprisingly, after a few minutes, I felt like a weight has been lifted off my shoulder. I could do anything and it wouldn't matter!

Study accounting and become an accountant? I'm gonna fail.

Learn painting and become a painter? I'm gonna fail.

If I'm going to fail regardless, I might as well choose the thing that excites me.

What would you do?

Would you try to change the outcome?

Would you rest in idleness?

Would you smile while rolling the stone uphill?

O solitude! My home, solitude! How blessedly and tenderly speaks your voice to me!

<Thus Spoke Zarathustra>

Sigmund Freud commented that Nietzsche "had a more penetrating knowledge of himself than any other man who ever lived or was ever likely to live." Perhaps this has a lot to do with Nietzsche's intense solitude, willingly and unwillingly.

He never married, was forced to retire from his teaching at the university, was deserted by friends, and lived as a hermit in the mountains of Switzerland.

Stefan Zweig wrote a beautiful essay on "Nietzsche's Seventh Solitude" that almost brought me to tears as I imagined myself in Nietzsche's shoes (as ridiculous as that sounds). Anyone who had experienced a high degree of loneliness could probably relate.

Here's one particularly striking paragraph:

Any kind of response would have been welcome, were it icy or heated or lukewarm, but at least a sign that he was alive and had a spiritual existence. His handful of friends behaved as badly as the critics and other strangers, vouchsafing no comment either in their letters or elsewhere, avoiding outspoken opinions as something. This gnawed at his vitals, undermining his own pride, inflaming his self-assertive impulse, consuming his soul.

Thankfully, with the advent of the internet and social networks, modern humans are more connected than in the 1800s. You can find a small circle of kindred spirits for whatever ideas you believe to be true.

Yet the more time spent on smartphones, the more surreal the world seems. You lived in many towns, traveled across the metaverse, acquired knowledge you'd never known, all without ever leaving the house.

In where does your soul dwell? Where is a safe place? Where can you find childlike innocence and joy?

Nietzsche's prescription is in solitude. In Thus Spoke Zarathustra, he writes:

My home, solitude! Too long have I lived wildly in wild remoteness, to return to you without tears.

To one person, solitude is the flight of the sick one; to another, it is the flight from the sick ones.

Flee, my friend, into your solitude! I see you dazed by the noise of the great men and stung by the stings of the little. Forest and rock know well how to be silent with you.

Nowadays, not many people want to return to their true homes. Many, including myself, are enslaved to their smartphones, entrenched in unlimited entertainment, and are scared to be ostracized. Bearing the solitude required in homecoming is ever more pressing.

Of course, it's not just "I want to spend less time scrolling social media." It's also "what do I want to spend more time on?"

For me, this is the harder question that requires some quiet time to figure out.

How can anyone become a thinker if he does not spend at least a third of the day without passions, people, and books? — Nietzsche

I spent one month in Las Vegas in 2018 and six months in Nassau between 2021-22. During both times, the desire to run away frequently popped into my head. One would be surrounded by obnoxiously loud music, drunk tourists, slot machines, and Colombian escorts at restaurants and hotels. The cities don't have much to offer outside of pool parties and tax benefits.

City I think is overrated: LA, Miami

Visited LA and Miami multiple times. LA has good Chinese and Korean food, but traffic was bad in off hours and horrendous in peak. Miami's Asian food scene is non-existent, but luckily they have decent Mexican cuisine. Both cities reminded me I'm on a safari, spotting wild influencers in their natural habitat.

City I like: Vienna, Porto

Things they have in common: Plenty of good restaurants, beautiful landscapes, a mix of contemporary and traditional charm, easily walkable streets, friendly local shops, lively social scenes for people in their 20-30s, and not overly expensive to live in

City I love: Hong Kong

Okay, I know what you'd expect me to say. The city brought me new friends, money, entertainment, laughter, joy. But I'm gonna be real here and tell you what Hong Kong really brought me: healing. When I was deeply sick and depressed, the therapies there saved me.

City I feel most myself in: San Diego Here & Now

In the past, I would undoubtedly answer San Diego, where I spent four formative years of life. When I think of the city I think of my youthful self, her aspirations, and the feeling of being unconditionally accepted for the first time in life.

As I've aged, I am beginning to embody the saying "Your body is your home". Breathing in, I arrive in my body. Breathing out, I feel myself, I am home.

City I still need to visit: Bombay

Been fascinated by Indian culture, food, and society for a while. Partly influenced by my affinity for Ram Dass and yoga, and partly influenced by the kind people I've met. I'm determined to visit Bombay one day.

City I dream of living in: Amsterdam, London

No matter how many times I've visited Amsterdam and London, they seem to delight and surprise me in new ways. The trips never felt long enough. I'd love to experience living there as a local rather than a tourist.

Tom Warner

@Web3_T

Juul & Ledger missed a collab opp. Same target market, similar hardware size. Call it multi-cig

170

03:51 • 13 Jan 2023

I’m excited to see all the ways that companies use consumer goods to promote blockchain technologies. For example:

• Starbucks Odyssey rewards program — a new platform where customers can engage in interactive activities and earn NFT stamps

• Nike .Swoosh platform — a place where customers can create and trade digital wearables and virtual sneakers

• Apple AR headset — a soon-to-be-released device that will show its wearer a mixed reality world

In times when the public is hostile to crypto, consumer-facing companies must be able to articulate their relevance through clever product marketing, brand experience, and education.

I want to spotlight a brand that I particularly am a fan of: Ledger, a hardware wallet company.

They don't just see themselves as a security instrument, a device you use to keep your coins. They branded themselves more closely to a fashion company, sporting collaboration with Fendi, Hublot, and top musicians.

These collaborations bridge the gap between technology and culture, connecting consumers with artists and allowing for customized designs. This different strategy and positioning made Ledger stand out from other hardware brands.

Prediction

Brands will venture beyond NFT PFP hype for marketing partnerships. I expect less collabs such as Crypto Punks x Tiffany in 2023. Because partnerships based on hype don't have meaningful impacts beyond short-term pump and dump.

Although both Crypto Punks and Tiffany have a big following and a strong fan base, this partnership did not create any long-term benefits, such as increased brand loyalty, while the risk is tarnishing a brand's reputation among the traditionally-minded crowds.

What I expect to see more are fundamental offers that build market influence and customer loyalty. For example, a cross-industry membership program that rewards both online & offline engagements.

Incentive-based collaborations are what I think will be the main trend going forward. Companies will look to maximize their customer engagement and loyalty with special digital rewards.

I opened my eyes, mind still foggy from a rare 12-hour sleep, and began checking my email out of habit. That's when I saw Paragraph announcing an integration with highligh.xyz, a no-code NFT creation tool. I jumped out of bed to test this function right away.

Here's what I did

I navigated to the token page as per the instruction.

A bit of confusion here: Why do they call it "Create a token" not "Create an NFT"? How would a user know if the token here is referring to ERC-721, not ERC-20?

Click on the "Create a token" button anyway.

Then you will see this page:

I hesitated for a while on which blockchain to choose. Mainnet? Polygon? Goerli? Mumbai? How would a user know which one to choose?

I suppose I'll choose a testnet. Goerli it is. I filled in the rest of the page without much hesitation since this was a test run.

Click "Deploy on Goerli" and wait for the transaction to go through.

After 1-2 minutes, the token was successfully deployed. The speed was fairly fast and successful on the first try. Hooray! In the past, I've had to wait longer times or ask for debugging using other sites.

Click on "View mint page" and check out your beautiful creation.

Then, I copied the URL and pasted it on the top of this post. Everything's working perfectly on the first try and I'm beginning to believe in cryptocurrency again.

What I'm still unsure about is how I will use this function in my newsletter. For me, this isn't about making money from every single post I produce. I don't want to make an NFT just to sell it. I want to use it meaningfully, in a way that respects my readers and their time and money.

What does this mean for writers?

Non-fungible tokens offer writers a whole new way to monetize their writings.

Essentially, their work is now a digitally collectible asset. Writers can set the price they deem appropriate for their content while fostering a sense of scarcity and exclusivity around it.

Each post is unique, has an inherent value, and can be gifted, traded, or used as a "prerequisite" to view future content.

A lot of times when I read something I really enjoyed on Substack, I did want to reward the writers for producing great work. But subscribing to a blog is quite a monetary commitment. People would be inclined to just pay one time and forget about it.

Perhaps there will be fewer starving artists in the not-so-distant future. In addition to that, writers will be empowered to create work that is meaningful to them and their readers.

I noticed ChatGPT was down today because it is at maximum capacity. A moment of silence for the students who can't use AI to write essays anymore.

While we wait for ChatGPT to come back, here are 3 of my favorite AI tools you can use to increase your productivity.

Disclaimer: This is an unpaid post and I am unaffiliated with any of the following companies. I do not receive any commission even if you sign up.

1. Use Elicit to find answers from research papers

I like to use Elicit when I'm doing research. It's an incredible website that tells you which papers to read and summarizes them for you.

For example, a few days ago I wanted to know "What is the relationship between alpha brain waves and anxiety?"

Elicit would list out related papers and related answers to my question. This is way better than any Google search.

2. Use Copy.ai to brainstorm marketing texts

I find Copy.ai helpful when I specifically wanted marketing-related answers. You write a short prompt, select a tone, and then the website will generate 15+ ideas in a few seconds.

3. Use Descript to edit podcasts

I love Descript for editing podcasts. They also have video editing features but I've never tried those. This tool makes editing podcasts as easy as editing blog posts. You edit audio by selecting texts.

A few days ago I talked about Lex's ambitious goal of reading one book a week. How would I approach it if I were in his position?

Well, I'm a slow reader. I mostly read for pleasure and like to chew on each sentence to make sure I understand the main point.

I don't do very well with 2.5x speed audiobooks either as my attention easily drifts away. I'd need to restart a whole section again.

So I can't do speed reading or fast audiobooks, but what I can do is use this method called "surgical reading".

Developed by Brian Tobal, "surgical reading" is a process to quickly extract valuable information from non-fiction books.

Tobal is able to read multiple books simultaneously by focusing on finding and extracting the most valuable information.

The original article is long but worth a read. This is a summary of his method:

Step-by-Step Guide to Surgical Reading

1. (5-10 mins) Flip through the book or read the reviews

2. What is the author trying to convey about the book?

3. (5-15 mins) Go straight to the back of the book, take notes of topics with large page ranges, or lots of subtopics. take notes of unfamiliar words. everytime you find a topic that interests you, write it down with its page numbers.

4. Inspect the table of contents, explore chapter titles and structures, compare it to the page ranges from your index notes

5. Skim the preface to preview the argument in the author's words

6. Ask yourself: Do I care? Would I benefit from reading more?

   1. If no, drop the book and move on to the next one.

   2. If yes, start to extract the knowledge nuggets. Start reading the specific page ranges you noted from the index. If a section seems interesting, keep reading the chapter. If you've already gotten what you need, go on to next topic.

   3. Write in the book, highlight things, take notes as you read

   4. If you are reading a book cover to cover, good to write down & review key points in each chapter

Link to Part 1 of this discussion

In everyday life, people are constantly making a judgment: This is beautiful. That is ugly. This is fashionable, that is outdated.

The judgment comes from differences in taste and lifestyle, which really comes from differences in social positions.

Good taste signifies social prestige. It is a performance, something one "does", how one presents oneself for high social status.

Status-insecure people (many Twitter folks) are among the harshest judges. Personal lifestyle choices are on the scorecard. Intellectual choices, fashion, art, and entertainment are all categories in the mental gymnastic of social status.

What signals high social status?

I read an interesting paper studying trends and authenticity in cultural fields. The researcher suggests two traits often signal social status:

1. Omnivorousness: mixing highbrow and popular cultural items, because it signals openness and cosmopolitanism

2. Voraciousness: being up-to-date and well-informed about the latest cultural developments, because it signals deep involvement

It's "low status" to follow trends.

Following trends is undesired, criticized, and mocked because it is seen as shallow, fake, or inauthentic.

Twitter mob getting angry at Lex is not just because they are status insecure, but also because this group of people despises inauthenticity. Lex's list of most popular literature failed to convey realness.

So in some way, part of the meaning of Twitter lies in claiming/displaying for oneself the well-sought-after authenticity that other media lacks.

Today's topic is inspired by the discussion around Lex Friedman's to-read list for 2023.

Lex Fridman

@lexfridman

I'm reading a book a week in 2023. Classics, sci-fi, nonfiction, or anything people highly recommend. I'll keep adjusting the list. Start on Monday, done by Sunday. Might make lowkey videos of takeaways. If you want to read along, the current list is here: http://lexfridman.com/reading-list

103K

05:30 • 1 Jan 2023

If you had read some of the titles here and enjoyed them, you'd probably think it's a pretty decent list. From an egoic perspective, I have good taste, if he likes the stuff I like, that means he has good taste too. Cue Elon Musk:

Elon Musk

@elonmusk

Good list

22.5K

03:37 • 2 Jan 2023

From a psychological standpoint, humans want to fit in and be perceived as part of a larger community or social group. So people are drawn to popular things.

From a public discourse standpoint, Lex probably felt a sense of safety in choosing 52 popular classics across political philosophy.

He didn't want to take risks in choosing edgy or obscure titles. It's likely that many people have enjoyed reading them and would like/engage with this Twitter post.

As of 1/7/2023, this tweet is getting 38M impressions, 100k+ likes, and almost 9k retweets. It went viral because he was getting "canceled" left and right for this "controversial" list.

The obvious ones are calling him out for choosing mostly white male authors:

Ralien Bekkers

@RalienBekkers

Why are these lists always so heavily dominated by male authors? Diversify your reading! Margaret Atwood, Maya Angelou, bell hooks, Rebecca Solnit, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie are just some… the list goes on.

2,093

23:33 • 1 Jan 2023

Nathan J Robinson

@NathanJRobinson

Lex I would strongly recommend reading some books by Black writers. You're seriously considering reading "12 Rules for Life" before Baldwin, Du Bois, Douglass, Angelou, Ellison, Lorde, Morrison, Wright, Delany, Larsen, Butler, Hurston, or Davis? Come on. Broaden your perspective.

484

02:52 • 2 Jan 2023

I cannot fully agree with their condemnation. While reading from a diverse range of topics is generally a good habit, what another person reads shouldn't be something you police on other people.

Some folks are calling the list "basic, generic":

Mar A Lago Free Press

@OfOversight

You were called out for bragging that you’d be reading a book a week, then listed the most basic, boring list of books possible.

It’s a list without any personality or innovation, a list copied from a highschool syllabus.

It may hurt your feelings, but it’s valid criticism.

3

05:02 • 2 Jan 2023

Deedy

@debarghya_das

When you ask people to recommend a book on a podcast, hobbyist readers will cite classics to avoid judgement and avid readers, out of choice paralysis, will cite childhood favorites.

You end up with a piecemeal list of generics which reads like a Forbes listicle.

204

01:33 • 2 Jan 2023

Let's say the books are indeed basic. What's wrong with liking basic books?

In tech discourse, social status conditions on intellectual superiority. Hence, within the tech bubble, the most enlightened ones garner the most attention.

To this tiny group of people, Lex Fridman is supposed to be morally enlightened relative to the average human, but his reading choices signal otherwise. So we see a public outcry against him and his status.

The attention Lex has gotten from his reading list, although negative, is a sign that he has risen from an MIT researcher to a respected tech elite.

This brings me to another question, what would the most high-status library consist of?

An edgy mix of philosophy, mathematics, computer science, race & gender theory?

I spent a good amount of time in late 2021 & 2022 homeless. Well, not technically— 99% of the time I did have a place to stay and a bed to sleep in. But I have fully embodied the live-out-of-a-suitcase, go-anywhere lifestyle. Here's something I've learned.

Comfort is overrated. Coping with challenges increased my confidence level.

The promise of smooth linen, effortless Uber rides, and familiar places to go to erase the sort of struggles that give meaning to life. I don’t mean that these are evil.

Making life more comfortable for oneself and one’s family is generally worth aspiring to; the world is full of unavoidable misfortune, and sometimes all you want is some comfort to cope with the misery of life. Nevertheless, I tend to be in favor of effort over comfort.

Plants grown in a greenhouse are, in most cases, more fragile than plants grown in the wild. The greenhouse shields them from the stressors of headwinds, rainstorms, fluctuating temperatures, animals, and insects.

Wild plants, being exposed to all these adversarial conditions, are strong enough to even grow on cliffs of rocks.

I’ve gone through plenty of stressful experiences during my nomad life. I was locked out of my Airbnb (twice). Neither of times the host responded to my messages, so I had to find locksmiths/another place to stay. There were times when I got scammed at night, had no cash left to take any transportation, and Uber wasn't available. There were times when I fainted while trying to buy painkillers at a grocery store…

Don’t shy away from hardships and difficulties. They made me more compassionate about the suffering of others and taught me to be grateful for whatever I have.

Real toughness is navigating discomfort to make the best decision you can.

―Steve Magness

Hideo Kojima is currently the Guinness World Record holder for the most followed video game director on Twitter and Instagram (yes, there's a category for that).

Best known for his Metal Gear series and 2019's Death Stranding, Kojima has received Lifetime Achievement Awards from The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences, one of the highest honors for game designers and developers.

What makes him so unique?

He is a creative genius.

Initially, hardware limitations stalled the development of Metal Gear. Making combats on the video screen was, quite literally, out of the picture. He turned this disadvantage around and altered the gameplay to focus on a prisoner escaping instead of fighting, essentially pioneering the stealth game genre.

His games are cinematographically stunning. The way the camera moved and how the shots were framed add richness to the game's storytelling. Overall, his talent for creating a visual and narrative experience that was both beautiful and captivating won him the hearts of millions.

Kojima Productions Studio

I recently watched a video tour of his new production studio in Tokyo. The entire office is designed like a spaceship. I'm OBSESSED with how cool it looked. Visitors are greeted in an entirely white meeting room.

The past three years of the Covid-19 pandemic have permanently changed the office. There's a rising need for autonomy, wellness, and job satisfaction. Quartz reported,

Adecco Group, a Fortune Global 500 human resources company, released research at the end of June 2022 showing that three quarters of workers globally wanted a mix of office and remote work to become the new norm. Its poll of 1,000 office workers in each of eight countries covering Australia, Europe, and the US, found that the work pattern most people wanted was to spend 51% of their time in the office, and 49% remote.

My takeaway is 2023 should be the year we reimagine the workplace:

Convert the abandoned office spaces into living spaces. Or we can take cues from Kojima. Design the office to be modern, playful, and innovative, fitted with all the latest audio-visual recording equipment.

When OpenAI first released ChatGPT to the public back in November, I was very excited to try it and incorporate it into my work. At the time I was writing business proposals, blog posts, sales pitches etc., so I used ChatGPT as a research tool, and I often asked it to rewrite sentences.

Don't get me wrong, I love ChatGPT and its huge commercial potential (imagine if each website has its own GPT-based search engine!). However, I don't think you should ask ChatGPT to write for you, especially if it's an opinionated essay. Here's why:

Writing is a way to discover your identity

Maybe you don't write at all. Maybe you write occasionally, but you think you're a terrible writer; only AI can help cover up your flaws. Maybe you think you are not creative enough, so you outsource finding inspiration to an algorithm.

But I believe writing is for YOU to uncover your real identity, your raison d'être in the universe. Through writing, you connect with your inner voices. And it's through this connection with the self, we discover who we really are.

Writing is a cartograph of the heart. A map that connects your mind to the outer world. You gain clarity on what actions you should take, what you actually believe in, what matters to you.

Opinions and the act of coming up with one take lots of practice. Using ChatGPT to write deprives you of this precious activity. This is not limited to writing but also applies to painting, coding, and composing. When you deliberately practice the power of creation, of creating something from nothing, you feel alive as the creator of the universe.

You observe every day, just like how ChatGPT observes everything on the internet. When you write, you turn those observations into insights that are uniquely, unambiguously products of human consciousness.

ChatGPT only reveals what real consciousness is not.

“If you can't write clearly, you probably don't think nearly as well as you think you do.”

―Kurt Vonnegut

I still remember the first time I went to a concert alone, about 5 years ago. I was slightly shaking the whole time. As I walked towards the temporary stage by the harbor, I held up my phone pretending to be FaceTimeing someone. On my other hand was a beer I'd just bought (I don't drink beer), hoping it would magically dissolve away my nervousness.

Standing far away in a corner, I talked to the screen for a while, even called some friends, before finally accepting that I came alone for a reason: I wanted to get out of my comfort zone. I kept doing it again and again.

Fast forward to today, I could go to another continent alone just to participate in my favorite activity.

At this point I’m so comfortable with enjoying concerts by myself, I don’t even bother trying to appear the opposite.

What I've learned is that it's really easy to make small talk and new friends. You don't need to be an extrovert to do that.

If you find yourself in a similar situation, here are some things I find useful to have:

• Japanese folding fan, like this one. It gets really hot in the crowd sometimes, especially if you're in the middle of the dance floor. When you fan yourself and others, people may shoot you with teary eyes as if you've just resuscitated them. Some might start chatting too.

• Gum. Very popular in demand, people need it for various reasons and if you have one (or two), it's greatly appreciated.

• Glitters/Stickers. Sometimes when I feel particularly social that day, I'd hand out glitters or stickers just for fun. Concertgoers are basically XL-size kids.

• Chapstick. A clear lip balm. Probably not the most hygienic thing to share, but chapped lips can become very dry and even painful. I remember going around and asking people for one.

• Hair ties. If you have long hair it gets quite annoying to constantly hold your hair up. Doesn't hurt to have an extra one for sharing.

• Wear a unique item. When I wear funky graphic shirts, or hats with specific references, some people would comment on these. You naturally open a conversation on where you get them or why they're special to you.

• Sunglasses. For when you can't be bothered to make small talk and just want to be left alone:)

There's no way to summarize this other than to say: if you enjoy doing something, just do it, even if it might look scary or silly, even if you can't find people to do it together.

Onto the best performances I've seen in 2022:

First Place: Camelphat

I listened to Camelphat's music a lot back when I was a college student. Now that I'm older, I've grown out of that phase. While in Ibiza, I almost skipped out on their show because I wanted to see another artist, and I was exhausted. Thankfully, I soldiered on anyway.

What an amazing production and impeccable mixing. Ethereal visual projections are surrounded by circles of red lighting rigs, paired with bursts of pyrotechnics against the backdrop of a dark Baleric sky. Crowds lose themselves to the euphoric journey Camelphat confidently brings everyone along. Bravo. This is a performance not to be missed.

Second Place: Stephan Bodzin

I have to admit that I'd never heard of Stephan Bodzin before finding myself in his all-night-long set. A friend suggested the iconic De Marktkantine while I was in Amsterdam, so I thought I'd check it out. I'm glad I witnessed a class act at a superb venue prior to its closing in June 2022.

No fancy visual effects, no luxurious setting, just a master at his craft, whose passion for music shone brightly and infected everyone at the club. The experience felt intimate and personal. His music is mesmerizing and compelling even after hours have passed, I did not feel a moment of dullness.

Third Place: Boris Brejcha

I've been intrigued by Boris Brejcha's "high-tech minimal" style, which I don't know much about. The anticipation for this show was very high. Not only did I buy the ticket as soon as it went on sale, but I went all the way to Nîmes, France just to be there. Lucky for me, Boris Brejcha absolutely delivered.

The ancient Roman amphitheater turned into a hypnotic, oscillating wave of notes. The layers of sounds he used are novel to the ear and rare to find anywhere else. At times I gasped, wait you can add that to a song and it still sounds so good, so groovy?

If you know any good artists, please kindly shill them to me. I'm always excited about new acts I've never heard of.

Art by Gemma Correll

Happy New Year

Greetings from a small island on the Pacific Ocean:)

I've been battling with insomnia lately. Even when I'm not traveling, I'm pretty terrible at maintaining a good sleep routine — going to bed at different hours every day, staying awake for too long, hitting the snooze button. Under the sheets, I'm always reminded of unfinished tasks, and I end up feeling like I'm not doing enough.

Thoughts that go through my head: should I cancel my Napkin subscription, since I'm not really using it enough? Should I pay more attention to new NFT minting? I heard people made 10x from the Trump collection. My lower back hurts, is it because of posture or a potential spinal disorder?

But it's also times like this when good ideas would pop into my head. I know I'm not alone in this. Dr. Karen Shue, a neuropsychologist that works with people with brain injuries, explained stream of thoughts could be a driver for our creativity.

The brain is a collection of connections, a network of networks — that it is always in motion, always creating, re-creating, and adjusting itself.

Contentment and resolution are pleasant, but not a driver for creative stretches.

How do you go from being stuck in a thought loop to creative ideas? Here are some suggestions I've found.

1. Introduce something new

Exit the thought loop by disrupting the network activity: new information, someone else's perspectives, etc.

In Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi recommends

Try to be surprised by something every day. It could be something you see, hear, or read about. Stop to look at the unusual car parked at the curb, taste the new item on the cafeteria menu, actually listen to your colleague at the office.

As a writer/artist/creator, you are always looking for inspiration.

Remain curious about the world, actively notice, and pay attention to what's going on.

Committing to having a point of view and noticing something interesting every day is certainly going to make you more creative.

2. Take on multiple hobbies

Legendary innovators like Leonardo Davinci, Charles Darwin, and Steve Jobs all possessed intellectual rigor and unbounded curiosities—but they also share another defining characteristic: They have a lot of hobbies.

Why is this helpful for creativity? In Where Good Ideas Come from: The Natural History of Innovation, the trick to having good ideas is to create a lot of cognitive overlap.

That cognitive overlap is what makes this mode so innovative. The current project can exapt ideas from the projects at the margins, make new connections.

The only way to remain creative over time is to experiment with ignorance, to stare at things we don't fully understand.

In 2023, I am going to continuously practice piano, study French & Korean, and explore more physical activities. Right now I enjoy going to the gym, but I'd like to introduce more variety and go outdoors a bit more. (Sometimes I'm guilty of taking on too much at the same time, but hey, it's good for creativity right?)

3. Relax more often

Why do so many insights happen during warm showers?

Researchers found lower levels of cortisol are helpful to creative problem-solving [study].

An increase in creative thinking when they enhance subjects' brain alpha power using current stimulation [study].

You may not have current stimulation devices at home, but you can practice meditation or watch a humorous video. These brief moments of relaxation and delight may lead you to more epiphanies.

When we’re struggling with seemingly impossible problems, it’s important to find time to unwind, to eavesdrop on all those remote associations coming from the right hemisphere. Instead of drinking another cup of coffee, indulge in a little daydreaming. Rather than relentlessly focusing, take a warm shower, or play some Ping-Pong, or walk on the beach.

—Jonah Lehrer, Imagine: How Creativity Works

Thank you for reading this post! I hope 2023 is the year you become your most creative, authentic self. Don't settle for less than what you're capable of.

Much love,

Babble

Li Jin

@ljin18

6 ideas for a web3 dating app 💕👇

1 - Call the app Unhinged and vampire attack Hinge users

339

05:47 • 24 Oct 2022

Tokenomic designers are not experts at love but they are experts at market. And dating is a market.

In this essay I will go through 1) Problems with dating apps, 2) Current landscape, and 3) What the future of dating might look like with tokenomics.

Problems with dating apps

I've been on a few dating apps, and I was never really satisfied. The main reason I like them is that you can meet people outside of your social circle, and you can do that in the comfort of your own bed, whenever you have time.

But dating apps have a lot of downsides:

• low conversion rate: incentives to meet in person is to hookup. For people that don't want it, getting a date off the app is difficult.

• geographical limits: not enough users you can match with if you live outside of extremely large cities. The reality is online dating is a numbers game, and you need volume to get to the 1 or 2 people who are actually good matches.

• skewed ratio: way more men than women on the app, which aggravates the market inefficiency- the most attractive ones are flooded with requests while the rest sits at the bottom pile. To be fair, it's not that society doesn't have single women. It's just a) they aren't using these apps, b) we need better matching algorithms.

• the botcalypse: dating pool diluted with fake profiles & people who are there to promote businesses. Creating a negative user experience, many users simply give up.

• other human factors: it's boring. Profiles are all the same and it feels like browsing a catalog; Managing all the conversations you started is akin to a full-time job; flaky matches, etc.

Current Landscape

During my research, I found out that in the last two or three years, new dating apps catering toward Gen Zs have emerged, many of which target growing behaviors around

• Gaming (Kippo)

  

• Short-form videos (Snack, Filter Off, Feels)

  

• Drawing (Monet) (my favorite out of the bunch)

• memes (Schmooze)

• astrology (Struck)

• preferred date destination (Desti)

  

And some new product features that seem counterproductive to dating:

• Hiding profile pictures, such as blurred pictures (S’More, Jigsaw) and voice-first dating (SwoonMe). Tinder and Bumble also experimented with weekly "blind matches". In my opinion, physical attraction is a big component in matchmaking. Hiding profile pictures won't reduce market inefficiency as it's against dating psychology.

• Orienting the product around live video. Meta tested this briefly with Sparked. This help reduces fake profiles, but video call is high effort. Most people probably use dating apps in bed, disheveled, wearing an old t-shirt. This feature is fighting against human laziness.

• Adding countdown timers (Match). This is supposed to help keep conversations going and prevents ghosting behavior. But dating app is an asynchronous network— you initiate and respond to interactions when you are available. Adding an expiry time decreases the benefits of an asynchronous network.

Features that are actually helpful:

• Sort by dating preference (Fruitz). Users will only match with people that shared the same intention

  

  • As an interesting side note, the Stable Marriage Problem asserts that lying creates inefficiency in the matchmaking process. The best strategy is for everyone to tell the truth, to be as honest as possible.

• Segregate scammers into their own pool with bots that talk like real people (Filter Off)

  

• Focus on IRL dates and specific local events (Inner Circle). It's obvious dating apps should be about maximizing fun dates.

• Letting your friends be the matchmaker. Ship have tried this, but the app is in graveyard now. Your friends are probably not altruistic enough to keep doing the matching for you.

  • Someone should build a Pallet but for dating. A "singles collective" that lets community leaders introduce you to a curated group of singles from their network.

  

What the future might look like

Pessimistic

1. People simply opt out of dating. Interestingly 40% of Japanese men in their 20s reported having never gone on a date.

2. Sexbots become widely accepted. If you don't want kids and don't want the troubles that comes with human interactions, why not just have robots as partners?

3. Achieve 100% compatibility with algorithm matching. The most efficient way of finding love might be training AI algorithms to matchmake people. I imagine a GPT-214 like the one in Black Mirror.

Pessimistic but with tokenomics

Since dating app requires network effect, tokens create a financial incentive for people to be early participants.

Where does the money come from? Partnerships with governments, hotels, restaurants, bars, amusement parks, etc.

• During bootstrapping phase you give out rewards $DATE (utility token) for joining, interacting with other members, meeting IRL, posting about the app on social media

• Since liquidity depends on the number of connections available for a user, liquidity provider (ie. introducing a friend to sign up) gets rewarded with extra $DATE

• After a match happened, users need to stake $DATE to start a conversation

• Conditional Burn: Both parties should have the right to force another one to burn $DATE (or donate it to charity) for ghosting or fake accounts. But if the parties decide to split amicably both gets their portion back

• Users can use the $DATE token to upgrade membership (tradeable NFT passes) or redeem experiences

Limits of token incentives

• Dating app requires high engagement and new sign ups. When the financial upside is gone, so will new signups and engagement

• Tokens might attract the wrong type of users— those driven by financial incentives instead of those looking to find love. So a web3 dating app might attract people who actually are in a relationship, or just there to earn and speculate on the tokens, instead of engaging with the network.

• At a high level, tokenomics designers need to ensure only users that add value to the network can receive token incentives

On the topic of love, a study on ten thousand couples suggests that the person we choose is not nearly as important as the relationship we build.

Relationship-related characteristics are likely to account for about 45 percent of the differences in relationship satisfaction. By contrast, a partner's personality may only account for about 5 percent of that relationship satisfaction.

So, we should probably spend less time worrying about finding the perfect partner and more about building that relationship. Okay, how do we add a token to solve that?

The prize was announced at an apt time: We've seen central banks print trillions of dollars during the pandemic, rising worldwide inflation, ensuing tighten monetary policy, and a spectacular crash of UST, Celcius & co. And in the past few days, we also observed a huge bank run on FTX's liquidity.

Why banks exist

Banks solve a key problem in modern society: the need for a large liquid market between depositors and borrowers. Households want a place to park their money, in which they can withdraw their money whenever at a short notice. Meanwhile, investment projects have financing needs to become profitable in the long term.

However, there is a fundamental conflict between the interests of the depositors and borrowers. Depositors want to have their savings instantly available at any unexpected time, but the borrowers who take out a loan to finance an investment do not want to be forced to repay their loans at unexpected times, as this drastically reduces the profit they could make in the long term.

So banks arose as the intermediaries. It offers depositors instant access to their money when they want and lends out money to long-term projects. This process is called maturity transformation: Banks transform loans with long maturity into liabilities (bank deposits) with short maturity.

What is a bank run?

Bank run is depositors rushing to withdraw their deposits because they expect the bank to fail. Essentially, there are five stages to a run.

1. Rumors about a bank's survival began circulating

2. Depositors rush to withdraw their savings

3. If enough people do this simultaneously, the bank's short-term reserves cannot cover all the withdrawals

4. The bank conducts a fire sale of its assets at a potentially huge loss

5. The bank runs out of assets, it declares bankruptcy

It need not be anything fundamental about the bank's condition. The problem is that once they have deposited, anything that causes thern to anticipate a run will lead to a run (Diamond and Dybvig, 1983).

Bank runs could happen to healthy banks as well. It could be a rumor about insufficient funds, a bad earnings report, a run at another bank, or even negative macro forecasts. Once depositors become concerned they may not get their money back, they will rush to withdraw their deposits.

When there are more withdrawals than the bank can cope with, the bank is forced to perform another "maturity transformation"– by terminating its illiquid loans early and conducting fire sales of its assets to generate liquidity.

The system that is designed to help banks generate money (the yields from the future expected cash flow of loans given out) is also what makes it vulnerable.

The catastrophic consequences of a bank run

Prior to Bernanke's research, the conventional view was that depression was caused by a shortage of money, and could be solved by printing more of it.

Through analysis of The Great Depression (1929-1941), the deepest and longest downturn in the history of the modern industrial economy, Bernanke showed that depression is mainly caused by bank collapses and the reduced supply of credit.

Because banks are crucial for connecting savers to borrowers, when banks are gone, so did their nontrivial relationships with borrowers. It takes time to rebuild screening, monitoring, and accounting knowledge of good & bad borrowers. Consequently, borrowers found credit to be expensive or unavailable, which depressed economic activity and contributed to a longer downturn.

Fear of runs led to large withdrawals of deposits, precautionary increases in reserve—deposit ratios, and an increased desire by banks for very liquid or re-discountable assets. These factors, plus the actual failures, forced a contraction of the banking system's role in the intermediation of credit (Bernanke 1983).

Risk management for crypto

Diamond and Dybvig propose one solution to bank runs: having government-guaranteed deposit insurance. In theory, this stops a run before it starts as depositors no longer need to rush to withdraw funds. In practice, once people anticipate a bank run, a run will happen. Hence, we need an insurance/backstop functionality.

Protocols must set aside a pool of money in the form of bank-run insurance, where vaults could be insured against a loss, and can be used to repay users in catastrophic events.

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In traditional finance, banks take on the role of monitoring borrowers. Individual depositors aren't expected to check if their money has been well managed because it would be too difficult to do so. But who monitors the bank?

The invention of blockchain challenges this opacity. We need proof of reserves/solvency.

Publicize proof of solvency in regards to the multi-sig or treasury every quarter, showing assets > liabilities, as audited by certified accountants.

To prevent bribery, the process of monitoring borrowers should be publicly viewable, transparent, and linked to on-chain data. This is to verify that the protocols are honestly representing their liabilities.

Long-Term Capital Management, ran by the brightest minds in finance, didn't have long-term capital. They had overnight capital. When the market went against their quant models, they suffered a big loss. They had to then liquidate their assets. Market knew this and went against them, so they completely blew up.

Hypothetically, Martin Green commented, "if they had matched their liability with their assets in terms of liquidity so they have some time to liquidate their assets, they probably could have survived and made the money they thought they could've made."

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The Nobel winners added not putting all your eggs in one basket should be strictly adhered:

• Grant loans to a large number of small borrowers. Even if a few defaults on their loans, the losses will be small and manageable

• LP responsibly across various farms

• Limit the amount of borrowing in the protocol. Reduce overleverage by making risky speculation sufficiently costly

Some last comments

Contrary to popular opinion, I'm actually quite glad crypto isn't as big as the traditional financial markets. There are no billions of users who would've been exposed to LUNA, 3AC, Celcius, and FTX. No mass liquidation. No widespread housing crash. That would have triggered another period of Global Financial Crisis.

Sources:

Press release: The Prize in Economic Sciences 2022 https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/economic-sciences/2022/press-release/

FINANCIAL INTERMEDIATION AND THE ECONOMY, THE ROYAL SWEDISH ACADEMY OF SCIENCES https://www.nobelprize.org/uploads/2022/10/advanced-economicsciencesprize2022-2.pdf

Diamond, Douglas and Philip Dybvig, "Bank Runs, Deposit Insurance, and Liquidity", mimeo, 1981. https://www.macroeconomics.tu-berlin.de/fileadmin/fg124/financial_crises/literature/Diamon_Dybvig_Bank_Runs__Deposit_Insurance__and_Liquidity.pdf

NON—MONETARY EFFECTS OF THE FINANCIAL CRISIS IN THE PROPAGATION OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION, BEN S. BERNANKE https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w1054/w1054.pdf