Sixth installment, belated release. A new year, a successful search for a new place to live.
Updates
Work — Headed to Miami Beach for Leverage’s first annual retreat. Time on the beach, paddleboarding (first time), and setting institute priorities for the year. It’s good to have things planned out. (Also, started using Excalidraw.)
Play — Bars and restaurants in Miami while looking for a place to live. (This moment was memorable.) Struck out with a cursed tiki bar, and an unimpressive PB&B burger; also missed a photo at FTX stadium before the name change.
Art — Visited the town of Celebration, Florida to study its design and architecture. Was impressed. An iconic town square and theater, beautiful houses in different styles, and only the tiniest touch of Disney.
Travel — Started in Miami as part of an apartment search, though Celebration was the clear winner. Finished the Leverage retreat and headed back to Oakland to prepare to move.
Writing — Some poetry.
Reflections
Visiting and living in — On my visit in September, I found Miami fun, energetic, and invigorating. This time, I found it hard to absorb. Why the difference? Each time, my partner and I visited different parts of the city and did different things. But I suspect the actual difference was our intention with the visit. In September, we were sampling the city; this month, we were planning to move there. Different intentions yielded different levels of permeability and gave us quite distinct experiences.
Opposing intentions — Consonant intentions create synchrony. People adjust to one another, making room for each other. Opposing intentions, naturally expressed, do the opposite. People bump into each other, misunderstand each other. This can happen at the personal scale, of course, but can also happen between people and their locales.
News
Society —
Technology —
Chatbots — ChatGPT becomes the fastest growing consumer app in history, with 100 million users in January. More on this next month.
Ideology —
Effective Altruism — EA notables self-immolate and stumble. Unforced errors indicate substantial pressure from the outside, which continues as society challenges the ideology.
Micro-movements — The energy pouring into new movements increases. Ellie Hain and Joe Edelman launch Rebuilding Meaning. Also, behind the scenes, an EA media mogul throws in with a new effort.
Other —
Game — Waiting and watching for signs. The first has fallen, but what of the second, or the man in the suit?
Recent Work
Poetry — Future
What’s Next
February — Moving to Celebration. Looking forward to new things.