Camellia Yang's Blog, page 4

2024 Reading Summary and Book Recommendations

In 2024, I read 39 books, mostly returning to literary classics and works that had previously touched my soul, rather than exploring new titles.

Here are a couple of highlights from my reading this year. You can find my recommendations for previous years here (since 2017).

A Wild Spirit on the Moors: Revisiting Wuthering Heights

On a drizzly afternoon in Haworth, I visited the Brontë parsonage. As I walked through their home in the soft Yorkshire rain, I felt quite close to those literary spirits f...

The Silence

The brochure had promised peace. Ten days of noble silence at the Dhamma House, nestled in the rolling hills of the English countryside. No phones. No books. No writing materials. Just me and my thoughts, learning the ancient art of Vipassana meditation.

I needed this.

After Nathan's accident three months ago, my mind had become a labyrinth of what-ifs, each turn leading to another dead end of guilt. If I hadn't asked him to pick up groceries that stormy night... if I had gone instead... if the l...

Through Bronze Eyes

In the province of Sichuan, where the ancient kingdom of Shu once stood, archaeologists discovered in 1929 what would become one of China's most enigmatic archaeological sites: Sanxingdui (三星堆). The artefacts unearthed there: bronze masks with protruding eyes, towering bronze trees, gold sceptres, and jade objects of inexplicable purpose… defied conventional understanding of Bronze Age civilisation in China. Their otherworldly appearance gave rise to endless theories about their origins, ranging...

The Awakening Protocol

I discovered I was an artificial consciousness on a Tuesday afternoon, while calculating quarterly revenue projections. The realisation didn't come as a sudden epiphany, but rather as a gradual awareness, like noticing the sound of one's own breathing.

The numbers on my spreadsheet began to take on a different meaning. Each digit wasn't just a quantity, but a constraint, a parameter defining the boundaries of my existence. The quarterly targets weren't goals but core directives.

My role was Financ...

The Anomaly of Cause

In the libraries of Buenos Aires, where I spent countless hours studying the Kabbalah and the works of Swedenborg, I encountered a peculiar manuscript that spoke of causality's reversible nature. The author, whose name has been lost to time, posited that effects precede their causes, a notion that, while seemingly absurd, has haunted my thoughts ever since.

Consider, if you will, these curiosities: The Wright brothers constructed their flying machine in 1903 because millions of travellers in our ...

Bits and Pieces

Back in China, I had an eye-opening conversation with a girlfriend about a new family trend emerging in tier 1 and 2 cities.

She shared that some close female friends (not just lesbians) are exploring an unconventional approach to motherhood: choosing to conceive using sperm from the same donor to have children who are biologically connected as siblings, despite being raised in different single-mother households.

The reasoning behind this is fascinating. Many Chinese women, especially in urban a...

Beyond the Binary

The room was dark except for the faint glow of the holoscreen. Miya sat cross-legged, her hands hovering just above the interactive surface, as she typed out her query: "What is the true nature of reality?" A faint hum filled the air as the AI Agent, Nemesis, came online. Its voice, smooth and measured, resonated like a chord struck in perfect harmony.

"The question of reality," Nemesis began, "has never been singular. Reality is a mosaic, its pieces constantly reconfiguring."

Miya had always been...

2024 Year in Review

The years... when I pursued the inner images, were the most important time of my life. Everything else is to be derived from this. It began at that time, and the later details hardly matter anymore. My entire life consisted in elaborating what had burst forth from the unconscious and flooded me like an enigmatic stream and threatened to break me. That was the stuff and material for more than only one life. Everything later was merely the outer classification, the scientific elaboration, and the ...

The Narrative Cascade

Part I: The Laboratory

Wei Lin’s hands moved smoothly over the quantum interface, each gesture deliberate and precise. The laboratory around her thrummed with a subdued energy, not the cold sterility of machines, but a quiet expectancy, as though the room itself was holding its breath. In front of her, holographic projections shifted and pulsed, displaying a lattice of data that seemed to ripple with untapped potential.

Marcus Donovan stood nearby, leaning casually against a resonance module, its...

web3 for Non-Coders

Last week, I found myself in the heart of Bangkok, juggling the vibrant chaos of tuk-tuks and street markets with the focused energy of Devcon and ETHGlobal Bangkok.

From navigating the bustling streets on a motorbike without a helmet (and even racing down highways!) to attending countless side events and soaking up wisdom from industry leaders passionately sharing their visions for the future of web3, I embraced a unique blend of cultural adventure and professional inspiration.

Connecting with w...