A Few New Tabs: Hello World
A critique of Stoicism, A Letter To My Younger Self, and Liberal Radicalism. Here goes!
‘A Few New Tabs’ is an idea I got from Eugene Wei’s fantastic blog, where he intermittently post posts titled “x New Tabs” which he thought others should read. In the same way folks curate Spotify playlists, it’s amazing to me that no bibliophile has made it easy for me to create a public record of my favorite reads (looking at you, Pocket).
Until then, consider this a way to make my reading list more easily accessible, while synthesizing the things I’m reading on a regular basis to anyone interested (including myself).
If you’d like to get a notification when A Few New Tabs updates (intermittently, only when something really catches my eye), click here. Without further ado, here are a few early links of interest.
The Inadequacies of the Invincible – 1517 Fund
A critique of modern day stoicism, something I’ve been grasping for as of late. While I generally agree with modern Stoic ideals (control your emotions, don’t let external factors effect your mood), I don’t think it should be used as a crutch against action. The world is not going to just be a certain way, regardless. Also, leaning in to emotion (or what causes emotions, dreams, recurring subconscious thoughts) can also yield fantastic learning.
The article also speaks of the relative stagnation of our current times, and the opportunity cost we leave on the table by not being productive as a society. The Serenity Prayer, valuable to all of us, rings important as we consider Stoicism while maintaining courage when it’s worth the fight.
God grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change;
Courage to change the things I can;
And wisdom to know the difference.
A Letter To My Younger Self – Willie Mays Aikens (former MLB player)
The “Letter To My Younger Self” series by Players Tribune is one that keeps on giving. Basically, it’s athletes writing a letter to themselves, years after their career. This one, by Willie Mays Aiken, a one-time baseball player turned drug addict turned baseball coach, is a true Hero’s Journey. His story of loss, addiction, survival, redemption, success, and pain is one worth learning from, no matter your views on sports. An amazing story, a great editorial format. Bravo.
Liberal Radicalism – Glen Weyl, Vitalik Buterin, and Zoë Hitzig
An economics paper which draws from philosophy, history, and politics to explain it’s purpose. The goal? Fund public goods / infrastructure projects using a combination of crowdfunding (from individuals) and matching (from governments, philanthropists, etc.). The nuance is in how much is matched, depending on how the crowdfund unfolds.
CLR (and other mechanisms to fund public goods) have become increasingly interesting to me as I continue research into open source sustainability. If you enjoy the abstract, I wrote a piece which dives deeper how this affects our work at Gitcoin.
If you’d like to get a notification when A Few New Tabs updates (intermittently, when something really catches my eye), click here.