Matthew's Blog
My Daily Blogging: Mindless (Mostly) Work + Creative Work
The creative part of blogging is choosing the subject, writing the piece, and selecting a photo. Everything else is mindless. Creative: Choose the topicCreative: Write the rough draft of the blog post on Ulysses.Mindless: Spell check the post on Grammarly.Mindless:...
Avoiding Drama
Although most people say they hate drama, in my experience, most people seem to revel in it. For me, drama in every form (political, personal, financial, spiritual) is a creativity killer, and lately, thanks to CoVid, (or, more specifically, our culture’s response to...
The Stresses of Invasive Diagnostic Testing
This week, I got a Nuclear Cardiac Scan in preparation for two upcoming surgeries. The test process reminded me of a specific psychological time domain of a patient: the stresses of an invasive diagnostic medical test. First, there was pre-test stress: the stress of...
Approaching Tough Questions: Can Computers Think?
Can computers think? When I approach a question like this, I start by stating my own guess. (Since my guess usually isn’t yet well informed, it may be better called a bias). In this case, the answer is yes. I then look for two basic books with seemingly opposing...
Radical Responsibility
Radical responsibility-taking responsibility for everything that has happened, is happening, or will happen to you–can be a valuable mindset for achieving success. Why? Because it strengthens the belief that you—and you alone—can create the life you want. But two...
Tweet with Excellence?
Seth Godin, one of my online writing role models, was once asked why he wasn’t an active tweeter. He replied—and I am paraphrasing here—that he didn’t feel he had the time to develop the skills to do it with excellence. Two points: First, he prioritizes his creative...
My Solution to Writer’s Block
Here’s my solution to writer’s block. I have a sufficient number of parallel writing projects in the works, that when I stall on one, I shift to the other. In my case, I currently have a daily blog, two non-fiction projects, and one fiction project, which has allowed...
The Mind-Body Problem—Innovators Need Apply
In regards to the Mind-Body Problem (the most difficult problem in philosophy?) I read that of over 900 philosophy professors polled, 56.5% leaned towards physicalism, whereas 27.1% leaned towards dualism. The balance was “other.” (Philosophy of Mind-The Basics, Amy...
Blah, Blah, Blah
Creating an international economic and political solution to global warming is difficult—perhaps the most difficult problem humanity has ever faced. Mocking the people who are trying to do this in a speech by saying blah, blah, blah is easy—but infantile and...