Matthew Sweet @msweet@refactorcamp.org
Unreliable narrator.
- Writing
- swellandcut.com
- twitter.com/Matthew_Sweet
- Contact
- matt@swellandcut.com
#introduction I’m Matt. I write a daily blog about mastery, strategy and practical philosophy at SwellandCut.com and recently had the essay “Near-Deathness” published on Ribbonfarm.
I do some editorial work on the side and I’m currently in the research phase for a novel. Three significant elements of the latter are the virtues of the Third Reich, ubiquitous tech and alternative systems of education.
@msweet imho postrationalism means providing a usable *context* for rationalist *techniques*.
Losses are things that happen in the external world, but losing is a cognitive shift that happens in your mind. It is the shift that leads you to accept the role of loser. A shift that, ideally in the winner’s mind, makes you quit playing the game simply because the rules do not permit you much room for action. To not lose on the other hand, is to expand the playing field, the definition of the game, and begin playing by different rules.
There are two ways to handle loss: an awful way and a powerful way. The awful way is to turn into a loser: which is to accept the role scripted for you by the winning side. The powerful way to handle a loss is to not lose. This only seems like a paradox if you don’t understand what Henry Kissinger meant when he said, “the conventional army loses if it does not win, the guerrilla army wins if it does not lose.”
Currently learning about the Third Reich. Hearing all this stuff about the US progression along the road to Nazidom, and seeing people’s denials and other people’s pleas for action. It makes me realise how hard it must have been in the 1930s to
1) figure out what was actually happening
and
2) figure out WTF to do about it.
Don’t think I’ll be making the mistake again of writing the people who lived in that period off as morally inferior because they “allowed” the rise of Hitler + the Nazis.
What’s your default comedic persona?
A) Deadpan
B) Goofy
C) Dark/Cynical
D) Other (describe)
@ben come across any maps or models in your work that directly or indirectly, uhh, map to the writing process. Currently collecting them.
Problem. I don’t read 99% of the articles I bookmark (via liking) on Twitter. Is this...
A) Bad because I’m not doing my fair share of consumption labour.
B) Good because it indicates a strong BS filter.
C) Something else that my PM-brain can’t imagine right now. (Please elaborate)
@alex We are here in the void. Listening.
#introduction I’m Matt. I write a daily blog about mastery, strategy and practical philosophy at SwellandCut.com and recently had the essay “Near-Deathness” published on Ribbonfarm.
I do some editorial work on the side and I’m currently in the research phase for a novel. Three significant elements of the latter are the virtues of the Third Reich, ubiquitous tech and alternative systems of education.
