When you ask people how to best build your personal brand, they'll recommend consistency, finding one's niche, becoming if not an opinion, at least a thought-leader. When you ask people what you should learn, it's usually related to paving the way for your future career aspirations or, at least, something that seems immediately useful. I too fell into these traps at first. I am sure it works for some, but it didn't for me. When I started working in crypto, all I wrote were introductions to ne...

That's how I feel quite a bit these days. And it's not just because I'm forced to using Notion at work (that is enough of a pain honestly for one human) - it's also because I feel consistently like being the odd one out for trying to argue against de-humanizing ways, against ways to strip all dignity away, from winning the race to the bottom just for the sake of quick attention. I know this doesn't go in a Tech Bro's bird brain (oh wait sorry... actually pigeon brains have double the neuron d...

In the last weeks, I spent an unusually large amount of time in transit. From moving across half the width of Germany to flying back from Tbilisi after an off-site, which took me door-to-door a casual 12 hours (including the 30 minutes I walked in the rain back home because I couldn't be asked to wait for a bus, nor did I feel like taking a taxi in this economy). It got me thinking. About the presentation by Rory Sutherland, I watched one year ago on YouTube, wondering whether we're too impat...

The best way to make yourself unpopular in crypto isn't to be a misogynist, a liar, or even a fascist - quite the opposite, those might even be somewhat celebrated. Instead, all it takes is digging out Marx's works and pointing out that the man who gave Capitalism its name had some insights into the relationship between society and capital that weren't all about crushing the bourgeoisie and bringing about a revolution. This much ahead, I am not a Marxist nor do I believe that we just need to ...

It's always trusting less, not more, in this industry born from disdain for the existing centralized financial systems that failed us badly in 2008. I don't want to argue about corrupt huge behemoths here - and anyway, for a flavor of fictional authoritarian bureaucracy gone wrong, there's Kafka. The system ain't great. And yet, I wonder whether the trustless property we imbue the technology, the blockchain with, might actually contribute to how we v...

Today was one of those days... well, technically, it still is because it's just early afternoon. But I already know my productivity will be low, which is fine because defining yourself via your output means you've bought into the system. It's a trap. The longer I am in crypto, the more often I ask myself, am I in the wrong here? Am I the insane one? It sure could seem that way when the most visceral reactions to someone on a NEAR livestream accidentally showing nudes was for people to fawn ov...

There are those nights of white and wonder wherein all has a silver shine. with many a gleaming star - a sign as though to guide the shepherds yonder towards a new infant divine. Beginning of Rilke's Nights of white and wonder One of the most magical moments is opening the curtains in the morning just to find the world wrapped in a layer of white cold embrace, snow glittering in the sunlight. That's not what happened today; as much as I long for snow - this winter appears brittle. As someone ...

'The word 'listen' contains the same letters as the word 'silent'.' -Alfred Brendel (Pianist) When I was visiting home, I started talking to my mum about how her recent pupil's concert went—a usual topic at a guitar teacher's household. Yet one thing stuck in my mind. She said that what she found astonishing and worrying was the lack of appreciation for kids who played a solo. Referencing performances of adult students and me, she noted that even a few years ago, the most obvious reaction wou...

Every day, we wake up knowing that the earth is round and that the moon impacts the ebbs and floods of our seas. We're pretty sure that humanity's footprint on Earth is contributing to a changing climate, and we feel assured in the comfort of knowing that whenever we have a question - we can just google the answer. We're inundated with information and data. All the knowledge we could possibly want is just a few clicks away. And yet, we're not happier for it. Maybe there's truth in ignorance i...

Everyone is talking about taste and how having funky slides and pretty websites (taste) will eat Silicon Valley. But they forget a crucial thing about taste...