PinnedTopics I PonderI have no certified expertise in any of these areas. I am informed and actively engaged in them. That is all. Virtual Reality This is my most active topic with over 50 articles related to VR linked, (below the picture). They range from think pieces to narrative evocations of VR community. The…Virtual Reality6 min readVirtual Reality6 min read
1 day agoPig in the Python Wants Meaningor Death with Dignity, One or the Other — I’m not sure we’ve thought enough about what Meaning means. I’m still working on it. As for Death with Dignity, let’s just say there is no widespread agreement, except maybe in Switzerland, about Dignitas, the hotel for dignified dying. Part of my sense of meaning at the age of 74…Death7 min readDeath7 min read
Sep 10Why Heads ExplodeAnd How to Keep Yours Intact — Avalokiteshvara’s story begins in northern India, about 100 generations ago. He was a person like you and me — he could be our great-great-great-great-great … (you get the idea) grandfather. He even looks great on the walls of the Ajanta Caves, in murals painted in over two thousand years ago.Compassion5 min readCompassion5 min read
Aug 30Africa ReadingUntil the last few years, I had read exactly three novels set in Africa: “The Heart of Darkness” (1899), a novella by the Polish/British sea captain/author, Joseph Conrad “Cry, The Beloved Country” (1948), by the South African writer, Alan Paton “A Bend in the River” (1979), by Conrad’s modern heir…Africa5 min readAfrica5 min read
Jul 8Our Bodies, Our Selves?Privileging our Primary Avatar — “Oh, but you haven’t actually met him in the real world?” That’s what many people say when I tell them one of my closest friends, who I am in touch with almost every day, lives in Nairobi, Kenya. They usually find it interesting at first. Then they ask the question…Virtual Reality4 min readVirtual Reality4 min read
Jul 2Liberation and PoopingSeeing Things as They Really Are Ain’t Always Pretty — I have never hidden my habits but I don’t broadcast them either. I’m 74, which I call “semi-old,” full of energy and generally enthusiastic about life. I have been programming my bio-computer for decades. Consciously using chemicals to be how I want to be. It worked well. The story I…Personal Development5 min readPersonal Development5 min read
Jul 1Richard Powers’ PowersRead any good novels lately? I didn’t think so. I mean, what “serious writer” can compete with the lite fiction served up daily by what we used to, unironically, call newspapers. Richard Powers is a serious writer. He’s a MacArthur Fellow and he’s won every award a novelist can win. …Richard Powers4 min readRichard Powers4 min read
Jun 30Risks and RitualFixing What Wasn’t Broken — I thought I knew what I was doing. I didn’t. I thought I was prepared. I had written about it and practiced. I wasn’t. Writing and practice did not prepare me for the reality of so much newness. I am confident in my ability to improvise on the fly, sometimes…Virtual Reality6 min readVirtual Reality6 min read
Jun 16Hybrid Rituals, Part 2Designing Rituals for Virtual and Physical Worlds — Ritual Elements Rituals aren’t abstract. They need to be concrete and specific. But there may be a framework that cuts across many if not all rituals, a framework that gets filled in with details. A ritual is meant to facilitate a transition, a passage out of some situation or internal state into…Ritual8 min readRitual8 min read
Jun 15Hybrid Rituals, Part 1Letting Go in Virtual and Physical Worlds — I see rituals as behavioral medicine. Rituals are active. They involve doing something, not just thinking about it or wishing for something to be different than the way it is. Humans have used ritual to help with life’s challenges for hundreds of thousands of years, even before what we now…Ritual7 min readRitual7 min read
