Colin Wright's Blog, page 30
April 9, 2015
Appropriation
There’s a meme going around in which an attractive person is shown wearing fashionable clothing in public. Typically they’re wearing something a little over the top, or at the very least rugged in a high-end way. The caption of the post or the text displayed over the image reads “Live your life.”
If you trace such messages back to their source, it’s remarkable how they promulgate. This one started out as a reference to a hip-hop song by T.I. and Rihanna, which, if you watch the video, evokes...
March 30, 2015
Kindness and Reason
This essay originally appeared in my free newsletter.
When we ask someone to be reasonable, what we’re really asking is for them to see things our way. To put on our shoes and walk around a little. Certainly once they’ve seen our point of view they’ll rethink their position on the matter in question.
But reason is not the study of truth, it’s the application of logic, establishment and verification of facts, and justification of our actions and beliefs based on data (experiences, science, con...
March 25, 2015
Air
Air is common. So common that we don’t think about it most of the time. Maybe if we’re scaling a mountain and the chemical composition of what we’re breathing starts to change, or have just finished a marathon and are struggling to catch a normal breath.
But beyond nonstandard circumstances, air is valueless. It’s the most valuable thing in the world in that it allows us to exist, but it’s also valueless.
Air on Earth is made up of mostly nitrogen, about a fourth as much oxygen, and trace amo...
March 12, 2015
WordTasting Tour, 2015
I’m a huge fan of road trips.
I love exploring a country overland. There’s so much worth seeing in the space between places, and a road trip is the longer-term embodiment of that type of exploration. It’s a project that allows you to take more wrong turns, enjoy more random opportunities, and encounter more people you wouldn’t have ever met, otherwise.
As such, I’m thrilled to formally announce the first ever Asymmetrical Press WordTasting Tour, which will take place in May and June of this...
February 26, 2015
Fuel
For me, novelty is fuel.
I stoke my inner-fire by introducing my senses to new things. I do this all day long. “Check out these new flavors,” I tell my taste buds. “Or how about this new texture, that’s pretty nice,” I say to my fingertips, running them over a particularly appealing fabric while murmuring to my eyes, “That’s pretty interesting, right? Those colors? The pattern?”
Most days, particularly when I want to make something — to do creative work — I’ll change my work location every twen...
February 17, 2015
Rework or Retreat
Many of the emails I receive each day relate to the topic of imperfection.
More specifically, I hear from people who are trying to determine how they might extract themselves from a lifestyle that seemed to creep up on them; a lifestyle rife with responsibilities and issues that weren’t part of the plan. Whether because of work, or a non-functioning relationship, or monetary issues, or a combination of these and other variables, they’ve found themselves stuck in a rut. Fine, but not great. Mak...
February 9, 2015
Real Life
Upending my life to travel full-time was, without a doubt, one the better decisions I’ve ever made. Despite the sacrifices required, and even during the really tricky or troublesome times, I’ve yet to regret that choice even for a moment.
But something I’ve learned since then is that ‘travel’ itself isn’t what I was after, and isn’t why I enjoy my lifestyle so much.
It isn’t the act of locomotion that thrills me, nor the status of ‘living elsewhere,’ nor the passport full of stamps. It’s the ex...
January 26, 2015
Outrage
Outrage is sexy. It sells newspapers and attracts online clicks. If you want to raise a ruckus, get outraged, because people go gaga over people going gaga.
Of course, that’s all the value one can get from outrage. Although entertaining to watch and speculate over and gossip about, outrage very, very seldom changes anything, and can even make a bad situation worse by injecting anger into the mix.
On a personal level, outrage makes us feel superior. By becoming indignant, we’re drawing a line in...
January 8, 2015
Fiction and What Comes Next
I daydream quite a lot about pie-in-the-sky efforts, like a guaranteed universal minimum income and solar roads and post-scarcity social models.
As a result, I end up talking about them a whole lot and bringing up some of the more unlikely ones in my fictional work so that I can show how they might happen, what they might look like in practice, and what the repercussions might be.
One thing I love about fiction is that you can speculate, while nonfiction requires that everything be tethered to...
January 7, 2015
Free Speech and Labels
Remember:
1. The freedom of speech is only really necessary when someone is saying something you don’t agree with. If we all agreed on everything, or were only told things we already agreed with, no one would have to fight for free speech (and no one would be exposed to new perspectives, ever).
2. Violence against those who would express themselves is heinous and indefensible (note that as soon as the speech itself infringes upon others’ rights to express themselves, it’s no longer simply ‘spee...
