What exactly is freedom? Articles on free will and what shapes it. I kinda got used to it but the regime in the UAE has its own type of propaganda. Union, Law, Business, Public-Private Cooperation, Discipline, Diversification, Talent, Future Generations. These are the 8 values of His Highness, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. Above all, in Dubai specifically, is tolerance. There are boys holding hands, there are girls in tiny skirts. There are free beaches. There are public libraries...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Is it just me or are these two kind of similar? The Tower of Babylon Update what you know from the Old Testament Every time I see that thing (the Burj), stretching upwards towards the sky, especially on a foggy night, I keep going back to the story of the Tower of Babel. Babel because people couldn't understand each other. But Babylon was, in fact a great ancient city that existed for thousands of years. The people were engaging in complex economical activities and registered everything on...
2 months ago • 1 min read
Radical Architecture of the 1970s Dubai really took that seriously. While I was in Venice last month representing Vlad Nanca's work, I got reintroduced to Superstudio. The guys were on that political discourse of taking functionalist architecture to the extreme. It was supposed to be a joke. Well, here we are in 2025, with a city like Dubai that took Superstudio's joke superseriously. Read more about that here: Superstudio Get familiar with their concepts for radical architecture taken to the...
2 months ago • 1 min read
Last weekend was magical. I know you felt it too. Don't forget that feeling. I was meaning to send this out last weekend. You were supposed to get this on Monday morning instead of Sunday because I know you had a good time last weekend. There is something magical about the summer solstice, isn't it. It's the longest day. Most of us spend this day outside as much as possible. Here's some Instagram stories I screenshoted because I knew you guys were having a magical time: I like seeing people...
3 months ago • 1 min read
Happy Easter Here are some bootleg books for you. This morning I woke up and saw the date - April 20th. I had the feeling it's an important date. Maybe someone's birthday. Maybe I'm forgetting something really important. And then it hit me. It was 420. If you know, you know. Jah is the most important being in Rastafari and they associated him with King Selassie, ruler of Ethiopia between 1930 and 1974. Jah is one of my favorite leaders. He opened up Ethiopia's economy to the rest of the...
5 months ago • 1 min read
Personal Brands suck. Seriously, don't build one. I just read a Forbes article about a guy who sold his e-learning company to private equity. The article mentioned the powerful combination between the PE firm's 'financial might' and the guy's 'formidable personal brand'. What even is that. The company was faceless and the PE was only interested in net profit and number of active recurring clients. Moreover, the guy exited. Who cares about his personal brand. This idea of a personal brand...
5 months ago • 1 min read
It's Black Friday on the S&P500 and other statistics When you watch a leopard through a hole, you see a spot. I heard I have to start making these shorter so here goes. INTUITION vs. METRICS is a pretty symmetrical confrontation. Copying models is a good way to start but isn't sustainable. Feelings are more real than thoughts. Illogical passions turn out to make a lot of sense when looking back. Smaller sample sizes love specificities. Statistics-based decision making versus natural decision...
6 months ago • 1 min read
This week's mental struggles I went viral by accident because people argued in the comments about whether a building was beautiful or not. 'Information Wants To Be Free' is one of the prime directives of the Hacker Ethic. It stands against the gatekeeping of knowledge. Illegal drone shot of ETH Zurich Campus This week I visited ETH Zurich, Albert Einstein's alma mater. It's a Swiss university that has been doing science for over 150 years. Some notable breakthroughs are: simulating human...
6 months ago • 1 min read
Pro Tip for ADHD If you have to start doing something that you don't wanna do, just pop an L-Tyrosine. This week I read about ADHD and how it actually relates to our brain's dopamine system. Basically I found out it's not our fault for not paying attention if something is boring. I space out during discussions the same way I used to lock in during CS:GO matches. You see, gamers are valuable members of society. Without us obsessing over shit, there would be no progress. Games, rules,...
6 months ago • 1 min read