Instigation Capital Is The Marching Power

“It is mankind’s evolutionary obligation to use all the powers at our disposal.” Love this passage from Inferno. It’s a good reminder that we’re much stronger, much smarter and a much more capable than we give ourselves credit for. We just need a testing ground. An enabler. A encounter that shows us what we’re made of. Like playing trivia in a bar. Ever notice how many answers you magically pull out of your ass? How the hell did I know what lunar excursion module meant? Love those moments when we’re obliged to go to our limits.

“Instigation capital is the marching power.” If you’re waiting for someone to tell you what to do, it’s already too late. That’s what I tell the interns at my office. You have to create your own projects and your own momentum. This isn’t a job, it’s a canvas. You have three months to make it as beautiful and valuable as possible. Oh, and don’t forget to sign your work. Inspired by boxes.

“There’s a growing need for products that offer privacy.” This article on stealth wear got me thinking about the glaring hypocrisy in the privacy debate. On one hand, we don’t want the government reading our emails. On the other hand, each year we publish twice as much information online as we did the year before. On one hand, we despise surveillance cameras. On the other, everybody has their own reality show. So which one is it? Do we really want privacy? Let’s not shit ourselves. Everything is everybody’s business, and we like it that way. Once we tune out people’s words and tune in people’s actions, one thing is clear––privacy may be our inalienable right, but narcissism is our dominant posture. 

“Not a lot, but enough.” I don’t need as many friends as I used to. The older I get, the more concerned I am with quality, not quantity. As long as I have someone to call from jail in the middle of the night––and someone to share the cell with my while I wait––I’m good to go. I’d rather spend time with ten friends I totally love than collect friend requests from a thousand people I hardly know. Inspired by a commencement address by Melinda Gates.