I’ve noticed that I find some undeniably brilliant people to be rather uninteresting. While a bit obvious in hindsight, I’ve realized that is because those people aren’t especially curious. If you’re intelligent you can learn and adapt readily, but to do that requires some internal or external prompting. Many receive…

As a general rule, it seems in our society that the amount that people are willing to help you depends on how much you have helped them, or how much they believe you could help them. There are people who are more kind and generous than others, who may give…

A week ago I would have never imagined I would be writing about Silicon Valley Bank today. Actually, even three four days ago, on Wednesday, I would have never imaged I would be writing about Silicon Valley Bank today. To make a long story short, a small thing became a…

A sure strategy for failure is expecting people to change. You can forgive yourself for not immediately understanding a person’s strengths, motivations, and weaknesses. It often takes a while to get to really know someone along these dimensions. But after sufficient time, the excuses begin to fall away. After working…

For much of my life I have considered myself an end in the long and perfectly continuous but finite chain from the first life to myself. One single break anywhere in that chain going back 3.5 billion years or more, and I simply would not exist. It’s quite extraordinary to…

I thought I’d have about an hour to write today, but I just found out I have closer to ten minutes. I was about to tackle a relatively lengthy and weighty subject, one not worth rushing, so I’ve decided instead to traverse a random musing. …

Dealing with scammy businesses is always frustrating. In my experience car dealerships are typically at the highest level of shady, while real estate agents and sales people are often a close second. These are the types of people who in business will say anything to get a sale and lie…

This year may herald a major breakthrough in single-molecule protein sequencing. This in turn could be one of the most significant technological advancements of the year. To most it isn’t immediately obvious why that is the case. After all, DNA sequencing has been around for some time and has matured…

I remember my first favorite color. Maybe that means it’s always been my favorite color. When I look back to those earliest thought-memories, that is: memories of thoughts, words, and idea; distinct from the memories of places, faces, feelings, and images that predate them, I wonder why I stated a…