1---
2location: New York
3description: Thinking on the future of communities.
4date: 2022-07-17
5tags: community, crypto
6---
7
8# Communities?
9
10I’ve been reading [Balaji’s](https://balajis.com) new book [The Network State](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09VPKZR3G) and Vitalik’s [review](https://vitalik.ca/general/2022/07/13/networkstates.html) of it. They are both extremely smart people  and it’s always interesting to read or listen to their ideas.
11
12Balaji in his book wrote about new types of communities.
13
14> 
15
16> Next, let's do an example which requires a network archipelago (with a physical footprint) but not a full network state (with diplomatic recognition). This is Keto Kosher, the sugar-free society.
17
18> 
19
20> 
21
22> Start with a history of the horrible USDA Food Pyramid, the grain-heavy monstrosity that gave cover to the corporate sugarification of the globe and the obesity epidemic. ... Organize a community online that crowdfunds properties around the world, like apartment buildings and gyms, and perhaps eventually even culdesacs and small towns. You might take an extreme sugar teeotaler approach, literally banning processed foods and sugar at the border, thereby implementing a kind of "Keto Kosher".
23
24> 
25
26> 
27
28> You can imagine variants of this startup society that are like "Carnivory Communities" or "Paleo People". These would be competing startup societies in the same broad area, iterations on a theme. If successful, such a society might not stop at sugar. It could get into setting cultural defaults for fitness and exercise. Or perhaps it could bulk purchase continuous glucose meters for all members, or orders of metformin.
29
30> 
31
32Vitalik in his post wrote following:
33
34> 
35
36> One can think up of many more examples for both categories. One could have a zone where it's okay to walk around naked, both securing your legal right to do so and helping you feel comfortable by creating an environment where many other people are naked too. Alternatively, you could have a zone where everyone can only wear basic plain-colored clothing, to discourage what's perceived as a zero-sum status competition of expending huge effort to look better than everyone else. One could have an intentional community zone for cryptocurrency users, requiring every store to accept it and demanding an NFT to get in the zone at all. Or one could build an enclave that legalizes radical experiments in transit and drone delivery, accepting higher risks to personal safety in exchange for the privilege of participating in a technological frontier that will hopefully set examples for the world as a whole.
37
38> 
39
40> 
41
42> What is common about all of these examples is the value of having a physical region, at least of a few hectares, where the network state's unique rules are enforced. Sure, you could individually insist on only eating at healthy restaurants, and research each restaurant carefully before you go there. But it's just so much easier to have a defined plot of land where you have an assurance that anywhere you go within that plot of land will meet your standards. Of course, you could lobby your local government to tighten health and safety regulations. But if you do that, you risk friction with people who have radically different preferences on tradeoffs, and you risk [shutting poor people out of the economy](https://podcasts.apple.com/ee/podcast/the-truth-about-food-trucks-ft-kyle-sweetland/id1390384827?i=1000557605438). A network state offers a moderate approach.
43
44> 
45
46Both of those descriptions for future communities are very similar and sound dystopian to me personally. They resemble my personal hell rather than my personal paradise. Which is an interesting in itself! Meaning there are people living and working now towards opposite models of the future.  Which in itself is a beautiful idea. It shows that people are diverse and our ideas and desires are diverse too.
47
48Why do I personally not like ideas about future promoted by Balaji and Vitalik?
49
50My first issue is the meaning of the word “community” used by both Balaji and Vitalik. They think of online communities - the ones that are created around one idea or interest - and their materialization into the physical world.
51
52Neil Postman many years ago in his book “Building a Bridge to the 18th Century” wrote following
53
54> 
55
56> Think, for example, of how words “community” and “conversation” are now employed by those who use the Internet. I have the impression that “community” is now used to mean, simply, people with similar interests, a considerable change from an older meaning: A community is made up if people which may not have similar interests but who must negotiate and resolve their differences for the sake of social harmony… As to “conversation”, two (or more) people typing messages to each other are engaged in activity quite different from what is usually called a conversation.
57
58> 
59
60This idea of community stuck with me since then. This is why I consider New York City to be the greatest city we currently have. New York City has people of most of the ethnicities in the world, it also has people of all economical backgrounds, it has people from all the religions and also atheist. It’s the city of diversity. The city that tries to include different people. Online communities and ideas proposed by Balaji and Vitalik have different goal. Theirs are the communities for exclusion and not inclusion. Ideas of burning bridges instead of building them. They are about “we vs them” mentality.
61
62And I cannot subscribe to those ideas. I grew up in extremely homogenous society - Ukraine of 1990s: when everyone was of the same economic status, looked the same and believed in the same things(25 years later it is not the case anymore). Later in life I lived for 6.5 years in San Francisco. While SF was way more diverse than Ukraine in 1990s, it was too easy to get stuck in the homogeneous tech bubble.
63
64Both Balaji and Vitalik are talking about Keto or Paleo “societies”. And this is the part that I don’t understand at all. I love to have one latte with a pastry every day. Does it mean I want to live in the physical community in which everyone does the same? Do I want to live in the city where everyone drinks latte and eats pastries every day with me on the same schedule? Do I want this town to be optimized for latte drinkers and pastry eaters? Hell, no. It’s absurd.
65
66Such shallow “communities” scare me. I wrote a bit about it [here](https://podviaznikov.com/writings/copied-unicorns). “Communities” that build around one common trait and idea are not desirable to me personally. It’s kind of like attending meetups. You go and see people who share one interest with you. But it doesn’t make you true friends. You know nothing else about each other. You see one side and usually it’s one side of compartmentalizes individuals.
67
68Another interesting part form Vitalik is in this paragraph:
69
70> 
71
72> What is common about all of these examples is the value of having a physical region, at least of a few hectares, where the network state's unique rules are enforced. Sure, you could individually insist on only eating at healthy restaurants, and research each restaurant carefully before you go there. But it's just so much easier to have a defined plot of land where you have an assurance that anywhere you go within that plot of land will meet your standards.
73
74> 
75
76Basically explanation why such online communities should be manifested into the physical world is just “because it’s just so much easier”. I think this is the key message. One month ago I [tweeted](https://twitter.com/podviaznikov/status/1534651769749483520):
77
78> 
79
80> Blockchain and NFT tech are so popular because developers are lazy. Instead of going out and protesting and asking governments to update laws (to democratize access to financial tools and so on) engineers prefer to write code from the comfort of their homes. Most of the things that crypto promises are possible in our current frameworks. It just those things require different type of work.
81
82> 
83
84I think it applies here. Laziness creates desire to come up with new ideas - which is great. The problem is not all the ideas are equal and not all the ideas are good. Somehow I didn’t see Balaji and Vitalik writing about of all the side effects of their ideas. And what those new “communities” not only would bring but also would destroy.
85
86At the end of the day, I like that Balaji and Vitalik proposed some new models how humans can live. All I have to say is that I am glad I have freedom and option of not participating in those models. And I have freedom to stop reading books I don’t like.
87
88[#community](/tags/community) [#crypto](/tags/crypto)

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1---
2location: Cardiff
3description: On Big History, Agency and Empowerment
4date: 2022-06-05
5tags: history, agency, democracy, optimism, empowerment
6---
7
8# Big History, Agency and Empowerment
9
10In 2014 I wrote an essay called [Is History Harmful?](https://podviaznikov.com/writings/is-history-harmful) I still stand by it with some corrections. However, I do have another metaphor to make similar point.
11
12I do believe that there is this notion of *Big History*. Some countries claim that they have big history and this allows them to justify either some *action*, or *inaction*. Similar to tobacco, pharma and tech the idea of history looks benevolent initially. History is presented to be rather part of culture. And because it’s culture and culture is good we loose our guards. And we forget that history is not only a tool to promote culture. It’s a political instrument, an instrument of propaganda(in the Goebbels’ or even Edward Bernays’ sense). It’s a tool to promote some narratives. And this is where it gets scary. And that is where the word *Big *should be attached to the History in the same way as it was attached to Big Tobacco, Big Pharma and Big Tech.
13
14Many people I know don’t like the concept of *old money*. Because it’s boring and not very just. Do you remember [this story](https://qz.com/694340/the-richest-families-in-florence-in-1427-are-still-the-richest-families-in-florence/) that says that most of the people who are still rich now in Florence came from the families that were rich in XV century? Well, this is really *not* *just* and it’s *boring*. It makes societies rigid, stuck in past. Big History is like that. It removes livelihood from the country, desire to improve, develop. It sucks all the vitality, creativity and entrepreneurship out of the air. Last year I visited Italy which is obviously famous for it art. Few months after that trip, in New York, I’ve met Italian woman who said that it’s almost impossible to be an artist in Italy now. You suffocate, you don’t know how to create something new, because all prior art is imposed onto you. You don’t know how to claim your own space. You don’t get empowerment by observing prior art, you surrender to it.
15
16Can history be useful? Of course yes. It can be highly useful. Unfortunately because of our ignorance we don’t use it as a tool to learn things, to obtain some knowledge and insight. The whole notion of history is used currently as a pathological tool, it’s used as a propaganda to justify some action (see russian wars in past 20 years, or Serbian in 1990s) or justify inaction (see German or French political response to the russian war in Ukraine). Something went very wrong with our relationships with history.
17
18After Feb 24, 2022 I look at some countries with fresh eyes. I already knew for many years that I would never live in russia. But now some other countries joined this list (at least temporary for now, after all I am an optimist and I do believe that things change). I realized that if things stay the same they are now I wouldn’t want to live in Germany or France. What are the common things between russia, Germany and France? Well, all of them have *Big History*. At least according to people from those same countries. I believe that instead of being masters of history they are the *prisoners* of it. They created closed minded societies that enabled very outdated policies.
19
20When I was in Germany in April 2022 I’ve heard many times that people didn’t agree with actions of their government but they lacked any agency and desire to change it. In Ukraine (or Chile, or Colombia, or many other places around the world), if you don’t like the government, you protest and ask government to resign. As you should, because we live in the age of direct democracy, expression of peoples’ will and distributed power. We live in the age of *empowerment* and *agency*. And if some place doesn’t have it, you know it stuck in the past. That is where I personally see Germany. It might be economically advanced country. But politically and culturally it stuck in XX century. I will be more than happy to be wrong on this one.
21
22*Dynamism, vitality*. Those are extremely important things. Those things drive human progress. They drive change. If you create morbid or sleepy society that doesn’t believe nothing can be changed, then why dow we even live?
23
24It’s possible to find appropriate event in history to push for any narrative that justifies any action or inaction you want. So history can be used merely as a tool to hide behind from responsibility, not as a tool to seek knowledge.
25
26Adam Grant [wrote](https://twitter.com/AdamMGrant/status/1532440854748708881) that pessimism is when the problem is visible but mental attitude doesn’t allow to solve it. This is the most scary part of many outdated societies. It wastes tons of human potential, because the whole societies of people can exist for generations without realization that things can be changed and problems can be solved.
27
28*Empowerment and agency*. I want to see more of those in the world. We all deserve it.
29
30In April 2022, after Germany I went to Estonia and Finland. Those places have completely different mood comparing to Berlin. The mood of possibility, of human progress, of hope. Estonia went from being russian colony to highly advanced society in merely 30 years. There are robots driving on the streets delivering goods. Estonian and Finnish Prime Ministers are modern, empowered and outspoken leaders who are able to standup to the modern challenges. Nordics and Baltics set the example for the rest of us of what is possible. I’ve read book on Estonian history, and when you compare it to countries like France and russia Estonia has very little of what we perceive like history! It’s a very young country. And at the end of the day I would rather live in Estonia or Finland than France. What matters is present and what you believe the future should be. Past does’t matter that much. Past can always be retold, it exists in the virtual space, through the stories (it’s not that *real*). However, present exists in the real and physical world. And the future has potential to materialize into the reality (the thing that past cannot do).
31
32It took us 50 years to understand the issues with tobaccos industry. It took us 20 years to see problems in pharmaceutical industry and 10 years in tech. History is not an industry. It was used as a propaganda tool by the old imperial powers. I will be honest, I thought that we finished with imperial/colonial narratives and narratives of old big powers in the XX century. But it seems I was wrong. Only now, in the Age of the Internet, we are actually creating the new world order. The one that is more distributed, decentralized and ultimately more just. Places like Paris and Berlin will be less and less relevant politically. And places like Tallinn, Santiago, Abuja will play more important roles - either in their respective regions, or hopefully even globally.
33
34We live in the world that is more flat and less hierarchical (still long way to go), and in this world past doesn’t matter much.
35
36What matters is the present and your values and your attitude. Do you want to work? Do you want to make things betters? You can do that now. Welcome to the *Brave New World*.
37
38P.S. As a reminder, at the age of the Internet we don’t need to ask anymore anyone for permission for anything. See [Alexis Ohanian's book](http://withouttheirpermission.com/). It’s different now. Many things are possible. Starting your own company is possible, starting political party is possible, making sure old politicians resign is possible. To some extent you are limited by your imagination.

1---
2location: San Francisco
3description: The Man from the Eastern Europe
4date: 2018-01-02
5tags: Eastern Europe, ego, profanity, emotions, Ukraine, generalization
6aliases: writings/eastern_european_man
7---
8
9# Eastern European Man
10
11Warning, unfair generalization and reversed sexism ahead. This is just an exercise to describe one of the archetypes, don't take it too seriously.
12
13Eastern European Man appears to be smart, tough, direct and confident. He appears to be able to loudly disagree with a group of people. He is ready to put himself into the opposition/confrontation to the group of people of any size. He appears to be also quite in most of the life situations. He looks like as if he knows something about life. He looks calm and it might seem like his calmness comes from inner security and integrity. Maybe he looks like he is at peace with himself and life.
14
15However, underneath it is not like that at all. Eastern European Man is a child in a body of an adult.
16
17His quietness and calmness come from the fact that he was never taught to express his emotions properly and integrate them into his life.
18
19His directness in expressing unpopular opinion comes not from the fact that he is smart but from the fact that no one taught him how to behave in the groups of people. When Eastern European Man meets Westerner (and especially American), he sees a shady person who never speaks his mind. Immediately he feels superior. But he doesn't know that it is him who is shady in reality. You can't do much with direct, but aggressive and careless person. You can't build team or company, you can't build friendship or relationship, you can't build society and a country with such people. Aggressive directness is toxic and counterproductive.
20
21No one taught him that the best strategy for life is to be kind to other people, and no one taught him that there are different ways of expressing one's opinion. He only knows the way in which you isolate yourself, make other people feel bad (or stupid) and close possibility for the future dialog and development of relationships.
22
23Have you been to programming conference or event? There is always this Eastern European Man in the audience who would ask some strange question to not help improve conversation or common understanding of a problem but to show off. Eastern European Man tries to show his intellectual superiority to everyone: his partner, colleagues, etc. It is acceptable to him that he would hurt every one of them in the process. But at least he is a "true man", he sticks to his principles and stays direct and "tough" at all time.
24
25Eastern European Man always competes. He is never *for* something, he is always *against*. He competes against everyone else. No one taught him that competition is good, but it should be in the balance with cooperation. The combination of cooperation and competition is the secret to every game, and to life and evolution itself.
26
27Eastern European Man shouts at his colleagues and insults them. Just to show who is the boss, who is the smart one and the tough one. The tougher you are, the better you are. He would show that he does not care about you and despises you. Because he is independent and a loner. But, of course, it comes from the inner insecurity.
28
29Eastern European Man swears a lot. To him, profanity is the symbol of adultness because only adults can do this. But in fact it is opposite, real adults *know *swear words and have the discipline and wisdom to not use it in every sentence.
30
31Eastern European Man jokes at the expense of other people. He would mock and make fun of his friends. It should always be one-directional. Nothing like that should happen to him. For the Man, a joke is a tool to boost ego and to establish his superiority towards the other people.
32
33In fact, Eastern European Man preoccupied with his ego all the time. Building it up makes him feel better. No one taught him that it is better to go the opposite direction with ego.
34
35Eastern European Man doesn't know the difference between information, knowledge, and wisdom. He would think that he is smart just by knowing a lot of different facts (which is information). He doesn't know that there is something beyond that.
36
37Eastern European Man looks grumpy. And you would think it's because he is so smart and read great literature and philosophy and he is preoccupied with understanding the world and life. But it's because no one told him that he can be happy and how to achieve that. He only knows how to be bitter about life.
38
39Eastern European Man is of course nihilist. He believes in "Nothing Mattersness." Everything is someone else's fault, nothing can be done about it. Only he is enlightened but no one from these stupid people is smart enough to realize his greatness and start listening to him.
40
41Eastern European Man is of course selfish. He doesn't believe in people, collaboration, and action. He is not preoccupied with self-transcendence.
42
43Eastern European Man is, of course, an unhappy person. But more than that he would be very willing to destroy fun for everyone else. If a group of people is having fun and the man can't participate, he would ruin the mood for everyone (by shouting or saying stupid things). If he can't have fun, no one should, and it's his right to make everyone feel in tune with him.
44
45Eastern European Man wouldn't dance. He would explain it as a trait of a "real man," however, it seems like he couldn't integrate his body together with mind.
46
47Eastern European Man has no feelings. He is a person of the intellect, and he is above emotions. But of course, it is because no one taught him how to integrate his emotions and feeling with his mind and body. Eastern European Man doesn't know that they are essential, he denies them, and is scared of them.
48
49Eastern European Man is very romantic and believes in magic. For some reason, he thinks that other people can read his mind and read his feelings without him saying a word or expressing any emotions.

1---
2location: Wrocław
3description: Two stories from Warsaw. March 2022
4date: 2022-11-16
5---
6
7# Grateful
8
9On March 1, 2022 I arrived to Warsaw. You can read more about it [here](https://podviaznikov.com/writings/the-bravest-of-men).
10
11Poland was the best place for me to be at the time. You could feel unity and solidarity with Ukraine and Ukrainians everywhere and the desire to help.
12
13Ukrainian flags were everywhere. Posters to help displaced Ukrainian were everywhere. It made me feel that Ukraine is not alone. And that was very comforting feeling. Who likes the feeling of being alone? Especially during the most troubled times - such as war.
14
15I remember coming to Poland thinking that maybe I can somehow help displaced Ukrainians. With translation or something. But when I came I quickly realized that Poles had everything covered. So many people were involved in helping newly arriving Ukrainians. And that was comforting to me too. Because I realized that I can focus on thinking how to help people in Ukraine. It was less things to worry about. It was important because at the end of March I went to Germany and my experience was the opposite. Instead of worrying about Ukraine in Germany I’d worry about German politics towards the war. Which is the last thing you want to do - worry about things that are of way less priority and which you cannot impact much.
16
17Anyway. I wanted to tell two stories from my time in Warsaw. After I arrived to Warsaw I immediately went to the military store to buy some things that I can sent to Ukraine. On March 1 the most important things at that moment - bullet proof vests and helmets - were already sold out. So I needed to buy some smaller things that were requested. Shopping assistant was so helpful all this time. He really felt for Ukraine and people and tried to help. I bought some things and he gave me 25% discount. And that felt very good at the moment. Because you often hear about profiteers that try to make money of people during troubled times. And he didn’t. You can see that he cared and wanted to help. And it was a small thing. But I had tears writing this, because I remembered him and that day again. Small thing - calling his suppliers, giving discount, really carrying - that makes such a big impact. We are human and we can be humane and when that happens it’s beautiful.
18
19Next story happened maybe 10 days later. A friend of mine was coming to Warsaw. She needed to go to the Ukrainian border, pick up her godson, go back to Warsaw and then go with her godson to Estonia. I volunteered to drive her from Warsaw to the border and back. It was great for me, because doing anything during those days meant so much for my mental health. It meant 1) not checking news for one day 2) doing physical work that would exhaust me 3) doing something useful for other people.
20
21So I went to the airport to pick her up. I was going to rent a car directly from the airport. I come there with my American Driving License and the guy told me that it’s not possible to have a car because American Driving License is not accepted anymore and I need International Driving License - which I don’t have. This surprised me because just 5 month before I was able to rent a car in EU with my license, so I wasn’t prepared for this situation.
22
23But then guy sees my Ukrainian passport and asks me what do I need. I tell him the story how I need to go to the border. He calls his friend that works for the smallest rental agency that only has 3 cars. Guy tells me that he can give me the car from his friend. And that I would need to pay the same amount. I pay him money. He doesn’t even take the copy of my credit card details and we go to pick the car. And when we came to the car I’m shocked. He gives me the keys from the white BMW.
24
25He gave me keys from very expensive car. That belonged to his friend. Without charging me extra for that expensive car. He didn’t ask for any deposit or thing like that. He just wanted to help. All he said was - when you are done, try to fill up the gas and drop off the keys.
26
27That was it. The fact that two random people at the airport helped me that day still touches me today.
28
29I’m grateful for the car of course, but mostly I’m grateful for that act of kindness and support and help. It was so important to me during those days.
30
31And I’ll be forever grateful to those 3 people in Poland.

1---
2location: New York
3description: People who can break you
4date: 2019-09-30
5tags: empathy, danger, emotions, relationships, people, lesson
6aliases: writings/danger_danger
7---
8
9# Danger, danger
10
11Three years ago I wrote an essay about [people I'm afraid of](https://podviaznikov.com/people_i_am_afraid_of/).
12
13I still mostly stand by that article. However, I want to address some things. I'm no longer *afraid* of these people. They are there, and we can be aware of them and do something about their impact. But there is nothing to be afraid of. It's easy to spot such people.
14
15However, today I want to talk about different a kind of people. Today, people who are the most dangerous to me are not "one-dimensional" people I described years ago. The most dangerous people are *complicated* people that talk about being kind and empathetic, but in real-life situations, they are often the exact opposite.
16
17I've met a decent amount of people in my life who claimed to be *empathetic*. They usually also seem to *love dogs* and maybe even care about big causes like *nature*, *education*, etc. They would talk to you about *love*, *empathy*, and all the noble issues.
18
19However, when you see them act in life in real-world situations - that is where everything breaks up. Those people actually cannot emphasize with anyone. They can feel their pain, but for some reason, they can't feel other people's feelings.
20
21They do crazy things. Because they can't see that their actions may cause to other people's sadness or pain, or anxiety, or anger. Even worse, not only can't they see it, even if you tell them what you feel - they would not understand. They wouldn't be able to put themselves in your shoes. They will continue with doing what they are doing.
22
23So why are these people are the most dangerous ones? Because they pretend to be someone they are not.
24
25*Empathy* is an illusion in a sense this word is used today. A lot of modern people claim absolute empathy. They are not aware that at best they can emphasize to the *tiny subset of feelings* and in *tiny subset of situations*. This unawareness strikes very hard. Because usually, when you hear that someone is empathetic, you want to trust them.  And that is where the reality will hit you.
26
27So what is one can do in such circumstances? *Actions* speak louder than *words*. This is one of my core [beliefs](https://podviaznikov.com/beliefs/). People can talk to me about *universal love* all day. But in reality, very simple life situations can tell much more about them.
28
29If someone cares more about *abstract* things than everyday simple situations run from them. You deserve better. Simple things in life that is what matters. Care, attention to details, to your dreams, your feelings, your thoughts, your emotions. You can get that.

1---
2location: Zurich, Paris
3description: On authenticity in the modern world
4date: 2021-07-20
5tags: society, discourse, authenticity
6aliases: writings/copied_unicorns
7---
8
9# Copied Unicorns
10
11Last year I moved to New York City. At no time in the past was I more aware of my non-authenticity.
12
13So many episodes led me to feel this way. First, why did I even move to New York? Is it because of my internal desires and dreams? Or was it just because I - together with tons of my peers - were preprogrammed to come to this city. Didn't we all absorb the same culture?
14
15Didn't we watch Friends, Seinfeld, How I met your mother, Woody Allen, and countless other films, TV series set in New York and told us that coming here will solve our issues and make our lives different? Full of meaning, great friends, incredible jobs, honest and deep relationships, and so on.
16
17NYC is a cultural siren. It calls you. What is the share of this cultural wave in "my" decision to move once again in my life?
18
19Ok, I moved to NYC. I go and visit Brooklyn and Williamsburg. Nowhere else in the world do I feel like being copy/pasted. I feel like an exposed impostor because I look like everyone else. This place is full of people who are supposed to be on top of their creative game, but all look very similar - similar age, style, similar tastes. All the coffee shops are packed with people and out of croissants by 2PM, just because everyone went to the coffeeshop and had their own. Do I really like croissants and coffee shops? Or was I made to love them?
20
21It's Saturday morning. 11AM. I walk in the city. All the brunch places are full. 90% are filled with women. They are drinking their brunch cocktails. All of them would tell you how they love brunch and cocktails and mimosas. But if cocktails are so "objectively" great, how come they are no so popular in other demographics? Do those women are authentic in their taste or were they programmed by watching Sex and the City and reading glamour magazines and so on?
22
23What is authenticity? Where am I? Who am I? Are we memetic machines that just reflect back what was absorbed by culture? We were made to think that we are creative unicorns. That authenticity is the key. But where are those authentic people? I doubt I'm one of them.

1---
2location: San Francisco
3description: Note on good causes and actions
4date: 2019-10-29
5tags: people, observation, emotions, left, communism
6aliases: writings/good_causes
7---
8
9# Good causes
10
11Few years ago, I subscribed to the leftist magazine published in the US. I wanted to learn more about socialism and politics in the US. I joined the reading group for that magazine in San Francisco.
12
13I attended a few meetings but very soon realized that it was not for me. You see, I always thought that left politics are more humane. Maybe that is the case somewhere in Northern Europe, but it wasn't my experience here in San Francisco.
14
15During the last meeting I attended, I observed a lot of hate. Initially it was hate mostly directed towards ultra-right people. But also such words as "liberal" were used as curses. Surprisingly, the angriest person in the group was 45+ years old professor. He projected anger.
16
17After the event, we all went to the dinner, and he started talking bad things about his colleague at one of the local leftist organizations. The colleague wasn't there to defend himself, and lots of people (including me) didn't know who he was. One of the people asked the professor to stop ranting because it made him uncomfortable to hear things about his colleague. This man couldn't stop. It took him minutes to wind down.
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19He was full of anger, and it was all about his emotions. He couldn't attune himself to the feelings of other people in the room.
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21I didn't like it. I have nothing against *anger*. But I do not like an organization that is setup with hate at the core. It seems like creating an enemy and hating other people was the motivation, at least for some people in that group. For me it was the last event there. I explained my thoughts and feelings in the email, left the group and unsubscribed from the magazine.
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23The biggest paradox here for me was the contrast between goals and means to achieve the goals. Equal pay, diversity, equality, liberation - those are all good causes.But the means were the opposite.
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25I do believe that the emotions behind the cause and values should match emotions of actions. Or at least to be close enough.
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27Here is another situation. I happen to experience how small group of people that belonged to Christian religion (with crosses, going to the church on Sundays) handled one complicated interpersonal situation. They went mad, started swearing, drinking, scandaling when things didn't work their way.
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29I didn't like that at all. I do not believe in virtue signaling by belonging to some group or by proclaiming some values. I covered this topic also [here](https://podviaznikov.com/writings/danger_danger). I stand by the statement that actions (and primarily actions in critical situations) tell me more about who you are than all the conversations in the world.

1---
2location: New York
3description: Why context is important?
4date: 2022-07-16
5---
6
7# Context matters
8
9I’ve been reading [Balaji’s]([https://balajis.com](https://balajis.com)) new book [The Network State]([https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09VPKZR3G](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09VPKZR3G)). He is an extremely smart person and it’s always interesting to read or listen to his ideas.
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11However, reading his book (and before that listening to his podcasts) I noticed that it seems like he always gives examples of US, India, China, Russia and Singapore to justify his ideas. This kind of makes sense. I think he lived in at least 2 countries from this list and it seems like he spent decent amount of time reading about India, China and Russia. Because Balaji lived in at least 3 countries he has way more context about the world than regular person. But I don’t think even this context is enough to justify his ideas.
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13He reminds me of Adam Curtis. Adam Curtis makes brilliant documentaries and have this beautiful mind that connect different dots and able to produce incredible stories. However, there is one issues with Adam Curtis’ work. Most of his films are about US, UK, Russia and China. He is an expert on this countries. And he tried to explain everything (from history to the future) through the knowledge of those 4 countries.
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15And if you happen to know any other context that is not the same that Adam Curtis or Balaji know their ideas and their explanations stop to be so solid. World is way more diverse than US, UK, China, Russia and India. There are so many places with so many different histories and trends - think Latin America, Eastern Europe, Africa, Central America and so on - that they would break any theory of the past, or present, or the future that you are trying to build.
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17Another example is Alain de Botton. Alain de Botton knows a lot about US, US, Switzerland and judean societies. That is his context. His work inspired by what he knows in this context and solves some problems in it. But Alain de Botton is at least acknowledges this limitation. He always says that he is focused on the problems of the Western world. He doesn’t try to come up with the solution for Eastern Europeans or Latin Americans.
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19So we come to the second point I want to make. I’m reading [“What Do You Care What Other People Think?”]([https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004OA6KIS](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004OA6KIS)) by Richard Feynman. He says the following:
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21> 
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23> I’ve always been very one-sided about the science, and when I was younger I concentrated almost all of my effort on it. In those days I didn’t have time, and I didn’t have much patience, to learn what’s called the humanities. Even though there were humanities courses in the university that you had to take in order to graduate, I tried my best to avoid them. It’s only afterwards, when I’ve gotten older and more relaxed, that I’ve spread out a little bit. I’ve learned to draw and I read a little bit, but I’m really still a very one-sided person and I don’t know a great deal. I have a limited intelligence and I use it in particular direction.
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25> 
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27Please read this carefully. How come one of the smartest people of XX century had this humility and honesty about himself? And how come we don’t have such disclaimers in the books of “experts” and “thought leaders” of our time?
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29Balaji (and many others) has a very beautiful mind (probably 10x more powerful than mine will ever be). Why doesn’t he just write something like this?
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31> 
32
33> I’ve read many books on topic such and such. I lived and heavily studied this and that society. I don’t know much about anything else, but here is the list of ideas and connections my mind was able to produce based on all the knowledge I received. Read those ideas and stories, think about them, try to criticize them, but don’t take it as a final truth.
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35> 
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37That is what I want from the modern books. It feels not many people since Richard Feynman or Neil Postman were able to stay humble and honest and down to Earth. The idea is simple. No one can discover ultimate truth and find prescriptive solution. The idea is to make small advancement, acknowledge its shortcoming and pass it on to further generations.
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39[#science](/tags/science) [#honesty](/tags/honesty) [#humility](/tags/humility) [#context](/tags/context) [#geopolitcs](/tags/geopolitcs)