Essays
What Might We Miss in the Metaverse?
Four fundamental ways in which our perception will be limited in virtual reality, and why this may be important.
Anekāntvād: The Ancient Wisdom of an Open Mind
Do you know the story about the elephant and seven blind men? Each man stands next to a different part of the animal and is asked what he makes of it. The man touching the ear says it is a fan; the man by the tails thinks it's
Window Gazing
I love how when I'm looking out at the world through a glass pane, I know intuitively that it is all outside and, for now at least, "none of it depends on me". "Windows are, in (a) sense, a powerful existential tool: a patch of
Shadows as Things
Shadows get a bad rap. They are commonly considered evil, sinister, or at best inferior (who would ever want to live in somebody else’s shadow?). But give them a chance and you’ll discover that shadows are fascinating things. They are creative interpretations of the objects that block their
Unlikely Rainbows
Those big rainbows in the sky after a sun shower are actually pretty rare sightings. But smaller, everyday rainbows can be found in the most unlikely places. If only we pause to look. And, thanks to frequency illusion (technically known as the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon) once you see one the chances
Background Noise
Do you tend to notice the rustling of leaves in the wind when you're out on a walk? Leaves can be loud - they tend to make an average of 10dB of sound. Whether you notice it or not will, of course, partly depend on how much you
What the Happiest Man In The World Sees
Nobody wakes up in the morning thinking: “May I suffer the whole day”. As the French philosopher, Pascal said, even the man who hangs himself is looking for a cessation of suffering.
Noticing Strangers
Sonder. You are the main character—the protagonist—the star at the center of your own unfolding story. You’re surrounded by your supporting cast: friends and family hanging in your immediate orbit. Scattered a little further out, a network of acquaintances who drift in and out of contact over
Wabi-Sabi in Photography
Wabi-sabi is a giant marketing effort that urges us to take a second look at what we might otherwise dismiss or treat with disdain.
Aimless Love
A poem by Billy Collins. This morning as I walked along the lakeshore, I fell in love with a wren and later in the day with a mouse the cat had dropped under the dining room table. In the shadows of an autumn evening, I fell for a seamstress still
