Thought Overflow…Golda’s BlogIf memes are like genes, then having a conversation in which you share ideas and come up with new ones is like…?

agreements create the structure that makes us more than slime molds
agreements with ourselves, what we call integrity, keeping one’s word, character

they allow us to plan ahead, and follow through; make a promise, and mean it

but too many agreements can tie a life into knots that can no longer follow its muse

the honesty to say no, to make changes, to include escape clauses

but also to stay up and follow them through

for cognition, perhaps attention is all you need

but agreements determine where attention can be paid
(at least, if you want your past self to have a vote, or to trust your future one)

Feeling very lucky today to have such strong, creative, independent daughters

Not to mention artistic:

Expression through art is so valuable, and it reflects a synthesis that is hard to capture in linear form.

There was a period when I didn’t post about my family much, partly because i didn’t like how facebook manipulated and monetized connections, and – this may sound weird, but doing human rights work it made me afraid that if I showed connection to them someday someone would retaliate against my family, like they do in other places. But I think now, that I never will be that influential, and anyway the information is already out. So I will start to share, and celebrate my family, just a bit.

How did I not realize my daughter published this lovely short piece back in 2017.

Cherry & Chocolate by Amber Velez, published by Drunk Monkeys

The title is familiar but I think I had read a different one and confused it for this one. Reading now – its like finding a treasure you didn’t realize you’d misplaced.

And it has a reference to Tesla’s pigeon. or dove. Dove sounds better. And a memorable take on welding.

AIs good at helping humans do what they intend << AIs that are good at manipulating humans to do what someone else wants

this is more a tweet than a blog post, but I’m not tweeting now…

saving it here for reference, will frame it more later. these were really cool lawyers who work on human rights and freedom of expression and also they are hopeful for decentralized tech solutions

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YsnGkFG7o8

so high level patterns are the most durable – look at what percent of code is left from even 20 years ago; words from 500 years ago remain and are widely used

“what a tangled web we weave…”

quotes that use powerful imagery to communicate a complex pattern survive and become encapsulated in speech and writing…it is also chance tho which are focused on. song titles, even meme culture – analyzing the survival of phrases would be really interesting

Sometimes, it’s hard for me to switch gears from something I care a lot about – launching this cooperative startup, or lobbying for these guys who are facing down dictators in Myanmar or kidnapped by thugs in Iraq – to writing python tests for a purpose that is, shall we say, less than earth-shaking. And to force my brain to make the switch, sometimes I put on a tv series, that effectively disengages my emotions from the real world and somehow lets me work on things I really don’t want to do. But then, I find myself attached to this fictional narrative more than I am to the people really relying on me, and that is disturbing.

So how to make myself interested in my own story, in our shared story of crafting this startup to change corporate behavior, of connecting grassroots activists together into a loose team that support each other around the world. How to shape that into a narrative with enough tension and resolution to make the real world addicting? Sometimes it is; but any time I break the connection, re-forging it can take days. I want to find better ways to hold onto the threads, to let them rest when I need to without losing my grip. Relationships are the main way – common purpose, teammates, friends who are willing to hear about the journey. Writing is another, that crystalizes purpose and makes it real.

Making ideas real, making them happen, is fundamentally what all these things are about. And somehow telling their stories, is what connects us to reality and brings it to life.

So perhaps, I should tell more stories, if only to myself.

I like biking in the heat. Being in touch with my body, feeling that actual need for shade and water, somehow makes me feel a bit more alive. It would be different of course if I had to do it, or if I had no shelter. But maybe because I am secure, I can enjoy the feeling of being exposed a little bit.

One thing I realized today – I think the reason we sweat in our inner joints, like inside your elbow or behind your knee, is that blood vessels are close to the surface there. Also neck and temple. Pouring cool water at those places is more effective in cooling down than like on the head or back. I wonder if that is part of first aid for heat stroke – I don’t remember being taught that. Maybe it should be – hope they don’t do a study on some poor creature, but anyway it makes sense to me.

So many ideas, if I write one a day I could probably write for three months straight. But I am slow to put them out. Some because I want to really make a difference with them, and write for an audience; but finding the audience, and adding the research and up-to-date lateral context takes more time than I have.

Context too, in the sense of what the reader expects. This site is mine, and I write for myself here; I have no contract with the reader to deliver a certain flavor, or for a consistent theme. Not even to frame and hook. This is my place to put words that have some importance to me, that later I will find a useful way to share.

As an engineer, useful is everything; but truth and ideas are seeds the usefulness of which is not known until they grow. So I am storing my seeds here, wrapped in some words to keep them safe until later, when enough rain appears to make it worth their risk to push out into the world.

And I thought Ralph Waldo was my friend…reading his essays for some comfort and deeper thinking and ran into one where he idolizes Napoleon. For ruthlessly killing people without hesitation. Emerson, really? What is wrong with you?

So much for comforts of the past…we’re gonna have to think our way out of this thing ourselves, ladies.