2050 predictions
I was asked by @mold_time to make some predictions for 2050. Now, that’s a wack thing to do, because 2050 basically 30 years
hyperinflation
everybody owes each other stuff, we call this society then people invented coin to represent this debt and trade it around, we
better explanations
(dec2021 thread) throughout my life I recurringly find myself thinking the thought “nobody explained this to me the way it o
calendar rehab, aversion to containers
(original thread) might as well talk about it out loud: i experience a deep aversion to putting stuff to do on my calendar (ot
better explanations
(2021dec3 thread) throughout my life I recurringly find myself thinking the thought “nobody explained this to me the way it
my compulsive people
(og thread) hypothesis: a thing abt “my people” is they each have some way in which they are oddly compulsive, at
al-mamun
Al-Ma’mun was the 7th caliph of the Abbasid Caliphate (786-833 CE). I think of him as “the Pericles of BaghdadR
maniac
probably worth examining why sometimes i feel like working on this and sometimes i don’t. it’s like i don’t quite rememb
mayor
This was Aug2021? doesn’t seem that long ago. Was discussing with malcolm how we would do things differently. It’s m
In Praise of Idleness, by Bertrand Russell [1932]
Like most of my generation, I was brought up on the saying: ‘Satan finds some mischief for idle hands to do.’ Bein
Pericles’ Funeral Oration [~431 BCE]
(VV: Emphasis mine.) Most of those who have spoken here before me have commended the lawgiver who added this oration to our ot
just hit your target
This is the same core principle for starting a business or becoming an author, or anything really just sell one product, then
coleridge moment
(og thread) Just had a Coleridge moment. i took a nap, and in that nap i was on vacation, and on that vacation i was perfectly
prioritization defeats anxiety
observation: A person who is prioritizing is still not succeeding at the impossible task of doing everything they want to do,
how to scenius, draft
(scenius thread) a more general version of this is my dominant preoccupation, so here are some riffs and thoughts broad stroke
kurosawa
Aspiring directors #1- expensive, hard, you must learn and experience things, it’s not easy But if you genuinely want
sumiko tan book notes
I’m half Japanese. It feels weird. I was in Calcutta and asked to visit a slum. I did not feel good about it. I live next to
postratmusings
“Trying to sell ebooks to not have a job” well first of all, yes, I don’t want a job. I personally hate jobs. Second: in
i miss writing
I just had the thought that I miss writing. Which is a funny thought to have, considering how much time I spend every day twee
FAN reader takeaways
Quotes from the book in normal text. My thoughts in bold. (JR) “FRIENDLINESS is about being a nourishing presence. It’
the invitation: stop fussing
There are few things I dislike more than people telling me what to do. So this is not a directive. This is an invitation. You
naiise
I have been too tired/busy with other things to do very much these few days, but I promise I will never shut up about the stor
The Making Of A Public Intellectual, Devoney Looser [2017]
Summary: The author is an expert on the subject of Jane Austen. She was interviewed by CNN when the Bank of England placed her
how to become a sword guy
@alphaanomics asked, “How one can find people with the same set of interest/ideology/work ( Nerds) on the internet?̶
The Problem Of Excess Genius, by David Banks [1997]
David Banks, Department of StatisticsCarnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh PA 15213 The most important question we can ask of
no scolding
(og thread) I seldom articulate this explicitly but one of the cornerstones of my approach to peopling is “no scolding&#
arrogance
(og thread) When I was a teenager, the dominant criticism my closest friends had of me was that I was too arrogant, and they w
leadership and responsibility
prev: do whatever the fuck you want I didn’t grow up wanting to be a leader. I grew up wanting to have fun. And leadership o
Do Whatever The Fuck You Want
(written ~Dec 2020?) When I was a teenager there was a Singaporean band that I really liked called Ronin, and one of their son
everybody poops
audience-building
(2020oct12 thread) someone quote-tweeted one of my “build an audience” tweets with a very interesting disagreement
gender stuff
I wanna try tweeting like my most straightforward honest feelings about gender stuff; my thinking itself seems to be convolute
never forget: the chainsaw wants to eat you
remember to feed the kids don’t put your eye at laser beam height do not rub the belly don’t negotiate against yourself fo
turning 30, 31
30 I just turned 30. I kinda try to do an update every year, though I’m not sure if I’ve been super deliberate about that.
handover protocols (aka pass the baton)
“Political visions are fragile. They appear—and are lost again. Ideas formulated in one generation are frequently forg
how to weave a hyperthread web
“Everything rests upon Me, as pearls are strung on a thread.” – Lord Krishna to Arjuna, Bhagavad-gita, Chapter 7.7 In hi
pre-installed personalities
(original thread) with each passing year I get more and more convinced that people are practically born with most of their per
mkt1000
1000 blogpost ideas. There may be a few repeats. 0121013243069365911100013371000000s1d1st2010s2020s2nd3d3rd48laws4chan50s50sha
psychographs
(original 2019 thread) You know how people sometimes go to sleep thinking about a problem and wake up with the solution? I wen
dismantling obsolete beliefs
(2019 thread) there’s a sort of bullshit detector in my brain, which contains a set of beliefs about how the world works
aesthetics (junkyard of notes, links)
I want to persuade people that it’s worth their time and effort to experiment with their aesthetics. Why? I can start by
sensitivity
sensitivity is a superpower – IMO sensitivity + smarts + strength is the holy grail. We have many cargo cults that worship s
Narcissism
many cultures have anti-narcissist defenses that, kinda unfortunately, seem to end up discouraging everyone except actual narc
Top 10 things I’ve had to unlearn
Slingshot
The following post is a copy-paste of a Twitter thread. It will take some time before it turns into an essay of its own. I’v
make friends
Warning: This “blogpost” is currently just a messy, meandering collection of thoughts and notes. If I can only pic
threads
Here are a list of my threads.
everyone loves to make a great introduction
I think the big secret of social life is that everybody loves to make a great introduction. If you can become someone that peo
the world is not kind to those who are tacky
Late night thought: “Don’t be tacky (unless you know why you’re doing it)” is a surprisingly powerful heuristic for me
bleak
Revisiting this I realize I want to make sure all of this is in FAN2. (thread) There’s a recurring moment in multiple conver
@visakanv’s top 10 lifehacks
(Originally posted on Twitter) 10. Do 1,000 of something. Anything, it doesn’t matter what. Really. When was the last time y
magic is just persistent curiosity
I’ve been circling around a few thoughts recently, and it’s about the idea of “magic”. I guess also se
memex
People keep asking me about the memex in my Twitter header. You can download a PDF of it if you like. Make friends. It is dang
assemble the mindcity
(original thread) Now that more of us are playing the threading game: As we compete+collaborate effectively articulate things
sf friends
I was going through my photos and I wanted to keep track of all the people I met. Unfortunately sometimes I met someone and di
Where does money come from, really?
A question that made me anxious when I was a teenager is “where does money come from really?” Most people tend to be s
blogroll
In the old days, people used to have lists of links on their blogs to other blogs that they liked reading. Here’s mine.
A letter to my younger self, on the trip of our life
Dear Visa-17, Visa-29 here. So I recently got on a Singapore Airlines plane (I know, finally!) and flew across the planet to S
How to get my attention
I have a happy problem. I have over 10,000 Twitter followers. I’d like to think that I’d like to meet every last o
mkt content ideas 2017
Origin Stories I’d like to do a post exploring the origin stories of all the popular marketers and marketing thought lea
economics of dating
I’ve always been quite fascinated with the economics of dating. Louis CK had this interesting bit about how there are some p
you can’t get everything you want
getting what you want isn’t always a good thing “I think everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they e
first day of work
This was me on my first day of work. It’s been 4 years now. Here’s what I remember… I was terrified. It was
Turn curiosities into essays
This is an old note that’s interesting because it was from a while after I left my job, but before I started really succ
the boy who wouldn’t behave
“Why is nobody helping me?” Amos Yee isn’t the first person to say the things he’s said. He isn̵
battery low
I got curious about exploring this metaphor because of how I felt during a trip, thinking about how tedious and annoying it wa
govt
i have note from 2019 titled ‘what is government and how do we thrive despite it’, and i want to get it out of my
lsd quotes
LSD quotes “Psychedelics […] dissolve opinion structures and culturally laid down models of behaviour and informa
the context of ambition
the context of ambition this is really old – what was the point of this? this was pre-Purusha… 2017-ish? Venkat alread
the logic of violence
so i’ve always thought that this is interesting but i don’t see myself writing an essay on it very soon… it’s like…
make friends
— 1 — You can spend years arguing with idiots, or you can spend years making friends. The idiots aren’t going to be
2019 twitter
January strategy/marketing/biz/career stuff: threads about me questions: takes: observations: aphorisms: trivia / random inter
Relationships are challenging + a lot of work
Preamble: Hello everyone! This post has been getting shared a little bit, so I thought it might be worth taking some time to p
‘Smart Writing’ is about cultivating taste, suspending judgement and chasing your curiosity
I saw someone tweet “I wish smart writing came to me as easily as dumb tweeting” — and so I am here to share my strategy
The public is insufficiently educated on how to be a good public
The public is insufficiently educated on how to be a good public. I think this is civilisation-specific (ie not an issue for e
2018 bookmarks
📱 media / internet best tech reads https://substack.com/profile/2417812-packy-mccormick/note/c-14475201 what do you h
salaryman suspicions
my 6-month hiatus from salaryman life has confirmed a lot of my suspicions about myself there are many layers to this I was wo
hire me (2018)
Hire me (Check 2019 notebook for more details) What I can do for you Speaking engagements I have emceed several weddings, co-w
flirting is about signalling interest with plausible deniability
What I tell my nephews: flirting is basically this – give moderately strong signals of interest with plausible deniabili
We need to get better at dealing with assholes if we are to progress as a species
— 1 — As I get older I feel this subtle-but-strong pressure to become more “professional” – more “civil”, mo
LKY
Friends from abroad often ask me for suggested readings re: Lee Kuan Yew. I recommend starting by reading The Art Of Charlie C
writer master plan
Oct: Writer Master Plan I’ve been doing some soul-searching and I’ve concluded that the one thing I want to do wit
rationalbros are mainly interested in scoring points in the rationalbro game
This is a collection of notes and tweets I have about the times I’ve used the phrase “rationalbro”. I may so
different hours = different worlds
It never gets old: waking up at different times feels like inhabiting different worlds. Now I’m thinking of God of War. Did
#StrugglePorn – is it painting a false picture?
good conversation started here with Nat & Gary I’m not personally a fan of Gary’s overall brand, but I appreci
Singapore
I’ve somehow found myself in an interesting position of getting to be the only Singaporean in a room full of foreigners
my life in pictures
This post exists to help me, at a glance, get a sense of my own life over the years. 1990 – 1996 1998 2001 2003 2004 2006 20
The Statement / JIBABOM! story, so far
Statement is a t-shirt company that we started in 2011. I posted some ideas on Facebook, and they were pretty well-r
I used to be a picky eater
I saw somebody make fun of picky eaters on Twitter, and I felt compelled to write about my own experiences. I was like this my
men can and should creature nurturing spaces for each other
My wife pointed out to me recently that there are so few spaces for men to gather and talk about their feelings. We could crea
our metaphors for god adapt to keep up with our technology
Most of us inherit an idea of God as a “world craftsman”. If you think about it, this idea could not predate craft
minorities have to be extra-sensitive
(these were thoughts in response to Sarah Jeong being called out for being racist towards white men) I think one of the rules
women’s perspectives are criminally underrepresented
(2025mar8: I wonder if I still feel this way? The climate feels different than in 2017, but I think fundamentally… IR
mansplaining is sometimes (but not always) innocuous
If I had to do a “the difference between men and women” type of standup set, I think I would focus on the phenomenon of ma
many women want to have sex
my wife was telling me something interesting about an all-women FB group she was in women very often want to have sex with men
menworld: a way of considering the patriarchy
(Clarification: for the whole of this thread, when I say Men, I’m referring to the subset of straight men who live &
“I only like Chinese girls”
There is some nuance in the space between having a preference and articulating it. Lots of dudes are utterly incapable of walk
Speaking
I thought it would be interesting to make a list of notable events where I’ve spoken at. I’ve emceed 2 weddings. I