On time for yourself

When most people say they want to be rich I think they really mean that they want to be free from many of the seemingly unavoidable traps of modern life. Doesn't it follow that you could become rich by refusing to participate in a lot of the social rituals take for granted? I'm a big believer in the Stoic school of thought that says a man who forged his own chains of gold is still chained.

What's an apparent anarchist in-potentia to do? For the last little while my strategy has been to laugh at the insanity of people, but I'm feeling more and more that it is possible to make a difference, even if only on a local level. Realistically, where else can one start? If you try and change a huge system without understanding the underpinnings, you're guaranteed to fail. If you're lucky, there won't be many side-effects. Bottom-up beats top-down in any group bigger than about a dozen people. I wonder if that has anything to do with our enjoyment of team sports. I don't know of any seriously popular sorts that have more than about a dozen people on the field at a time (per team). Our monkey brains have a hard time understanding anything greater than the tribe level, and that influences us more than we care to admit.

I like to think the incredible connectivity of the Internet will make our lives better, if the designers can make sure it still appeals to our monkey brains. Maybe I'll go buy some shares in FourSquare and Facebook; they seem like good bets in that sense.

I should probably also find out if they're publicly traded.

Posted via email from Iain's posterous