Imagining better priorities for yourself

I really enjoyed this NYT article about setting new priorities in the post Covid world. Maybe I am just a math nerd but he does an interesting job of quantifying our priorities.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/25/opinion/covid-pandemic-depressing-math.html?smid=em-share

We underestimate future possibilities for the same reason we overestimate the time we have left with those we love: our intuition is not very imaginative. It’s a human instinct to believe the life we’re used to is how things will always be, both the good parts and the bad.

Wallowing in regret carries an implicit assumption that we had agency in the past — that we could have had those other life paths if only we had made better decisions. When we think about the future, though, that feeling of agency often disappears, which can leave us feeling resigned and even hopeless.

But the life we’ll be living 10 years from now will largely be determined not by our past selves but by our present and future selves. If we imagine what we might regret down the road, it’s very much in our hands to do something about it now.

This is the good news about being a human. The time we have left with family and friends is not a law of nature like the weeks we have left to live. It’s a function of priorities and decisions.

Is it just me or did Crypto jump the shark last night

The Crypto companies went all out on advertising spending last night during the Superbowl. This is one of many articles about how they dominated the airways. https://fortune.com/2022/02/03/crypto-super-bowl-commercials-binance/

I will be the first to admit that I don't really get Crypto currencies. It is more than just having a limited understanding of them. I just don't get why they exist in a broad market. It seems to me that they have limited uses for limited kinds of people like criminals and anarchists. All of the rest just seems like hype and the fear of missing out. Which is where the Super Bowl advertising spree comes in to fuel even more hype and FOMO.

I don't particularly have any gripe with the concept as long as they don't undermine actual currency that we all depend on.

But if I am going to adopt any means of currency, I have two major hurdles: A) Confidence that it is at least real enough not to burn me and B) Widespread places where I can use it

I don't see either of those things even close to being true yet. Maybe Bitcoin is conceivable in the 5-10 year horizon but it isn't there yet.

The problem I see is that there are dozens of different crypto currencies and there isn't room for more than 1-2. Meanwhile, the proliferation and ultimate failure of the rest is simply going to undermine the potential of the few.

Meanwhile, the entire argument for crypto seem to be in the speculation and trading realm. Which seems particularly suspect to me. Without a widespread marketplace actually utilizing the currency, it seems even more theoretical than ever.

Or, maybe I am just old.

Outrage of the day

So there is this...

https://www.foxnews.com/us/ohio-state-university-sex-week-event-encourages-students-to-thank-abortion-providers