It's weird, but I could have sworn that this thing you say is settled is actually strongly contested

A disappointing encounter with ChatGPT

Everyone can see that these men don’t like migrants

Before anything else, pause to consider a great man, lost to this world yesterday.

Jazz saxophonist Wayne Shorter, who co-wrote an open letter with Herbie Hancock a few years ago to 'the next generation of artists'.

No need to be an artist to be stirred by this part. A reminder of the weave between music and life.

'The world needs new pathways. Don’t allow yourself to be hijacked by common rhetoric, or false beliefs and illusions about how life should be lived. It’s up to you to be the pioneers. Whether through the exploration of new sounds, rhythms, and harmonies or unexpected collaborations, processes and experiences, we encourage you to dispel repetition in all of its negative forms and consequences. Strive to create new actions both musically and with the pathway of your life. Never conform’

Wayne Shorter
August 25 1933 – March 2 2023

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Starting this week I’m going to unlock some previously paywalled posts, in the hope that some currently free subscribers will consider upgrading.

This one is about some insights into happiness and wellbeing which have stood up well to re-reading.

That feeling when you get phasic bursting of dopamine neurons in the Ventral Tegmental Area

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Those men up top were 'the wall of gammon', a meme beloved of us libs on Twitter around the time of the Brexit referendum.

The meme worked because it's a stereotype of the Tory/right-wing angry older man that is recognisably true to life.

That's the thing with stereotypes. They often ring true due to a strong relationship with reality. Fun-poking stereotypes are only funny when they're true. This is why we'll enjoy the 'traditional Jewish mother' pastiche when delivered by a Jewish comic in particular. It's funny because it's rooted in truth.

In other words, stereotypes often conform to objective material reality.

The wall of gammon still makes me laugh. Because it's, in some sense, 'true'. It corresponds with experience in the way we can often sense what someone's values are likely to be just by looking at them.