Colin Wright's Blog, page 31
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...
January 6, 2015
The Passage of Time
The way we experience time is the direct result of how we spend it.
That is to say, one hour in the hands of a person who uses it intentionally can seem like ages, each second noticed, held, weighed, and tasted before it flutters off to be replaced by another.
That same hour, used in a flurry by someone trying to cram too much into it, or who uses it in a scattered sort of way — spread too thin — will barely notice its passing. Every single day can seem like a non-event to this latter person, t...
December 6, 2014
Update
Above is an excerpt from the audiobook version of my new book, Considerations. That’s me doing the narration.
The text version can be found here.
December 2, 2014
The Cost of Things
It’s amazing what we can get for twenty dollars these days. Sure, it sometimes seems like inflation just won’t quit, and the costs of living add up to a frightening sum, and a pack of gum could once be had for less than a dollar, but now costs several.
But this is mostly a slow-burn perspective; difficult to see clearly because it moves so steadily.
Our buying power for most things (in the developed and developing worlds) has been on an upward trend for generations, and our lack of appreciation...
November 18, 2014
Subtlety
It’s human nature to be reductionist.
By simplifying complex concepts, we’re more able to consider them quickly, share them with others, and move forward into a state of understanding from a state of ignorance. Our instincts are wired for this so that we might quickly assess which aspects of our environment could be dangerous or beneficial. The other parts of our brains aim for similar, metaphor-based comprehension. Symbolic grokking.
Unfortunately, when we lose details we also lose subtlety, a...
November 11, 2014
Ambassadorship
The following is an excerpted chapter from my new book, Considerations. The book is made up of over 50 concise essays of this flavor on various topics.
We all serve as ambassadors for something, and in most cases we don’t even realize it.
“Why do you use that brand of computer?” someone might ask. Or, “What’s your city like?”
Whether you want the responsibility or not, you’re an ambassador for everything you do, have done, and believe. This may not be your perception of yourself and your relatio...
October 31, 2014
Order Considerations
My new nonfiction book, Considerations, is now available as an ebook, paperback, and audiobook through various online and in-person booksellers.
Snag yourself the ebook:
Amazon, Kobo, iBooks, and Gumroad.
Or perhaps the paperback:
Or maybe even the audiobook:
Or ask your favorite independent bookstore to order you a copy, if they don’t have one in stock.
About the book:
Few of us take the time to consider. We act according to data acquired by viewing the world from a single persp...
October 27, 2014
Getting Lost
There’s a game I play with myself when I want to explore a city but don’t have a particular destination in mind.
I start walking and I follow the signals and signs provided along the way. I turn left and cross the street because the little glowing walking man indicates that I should. If I encounter an intersection without stoplights, I keep going straight, but at the next such intersection I go right, and at the next I turn left, and continue to circulate between the options at each new opport...
