Time Time Time
See What's Become Of Me
All I wanted to say was that I now feel the need to share a few words and a monologue or two … if my character is blessed to show up then it will do its best to share the grace and deep, abiding love that remains hidden to all but a few people.
💬
Do you read Julian’s work? I have. For years. Highly Recommend.
The words above are from a newsletter he published after what turned out to be a 5 month pause.
Ok1, it’s not been 5 months, but it is clear that this newsletter is not on the cadence of the past! Is it me? Or are we all ‘catching it’? This shift from ‘machine’ to ‘circadian’ time?
The idea seems to have surrounded us. Do you feel it? That swoosh. Another day, week, month gone2.
And this is ‘top-o-mind’, because I have been wrestling with a follow up newsletter to ‘The Dawn of Mediocre Computing’ - the plan3 was to publish it mid last month! #Fail.
Which brings me rather neatly to this week’s4 theme.
Time, time, time
See what's become of me
While I looked around for my possibilities
… I was so hard to please
Look around
Leaves are brown
And the sky is a hazy shade of winter
💬Paul Simon
The pause, highlighted by Julian’s words found me wondering about the passing of time … is it speeding up? The very question is wrong thinking. My mind jumped to a podcast I listened to in January.
🎙️Ezra Klein in conversation with Dean Buonomano
It was a wonderful and thought provoking show. Dean wrote ‘📚 Your Brain Is a Time Machine: The Neuroscience and Physics of Time’ and to pre-empt the next question … no I have not read the book (yet) - but it is very much part of my ‘Bookish Backlog’.
BUT - while listening to the podcast, my mind jumped to a book I had read. A wonderful book, whose diminutive size should not confuse you. It is EPIC.
Einstein’s Dreams, published in 1992, is a must read even though it has not been banned.
But wait. There’s more. The synchronicity is palpable.
David Perel had a twitter storm. (I saved it here in my Readwise - because nobody likes Twitter any more. Do they?)
Body time is the world of hunger, moods, and circadian rhythms, while mechanical time is the world of clocks and alarms. It'd be fun to switch between these time speeds throughout the year. To help myself enter the calm flow of body time, I've deliberately chosen not to put any clocks in my home.
💬 David Perel
For me, it has all come together.
As always in the spirit of offering thoughts, rather than leaving you hanging with unanswered questions … some thoughts as to how you can start to embrace this thinking in your life5.
Balancing arcadian and mechanical time is not obvious - and trust me - I am no expert in these matters. That said, this is a small start to what you can do to escape the shackles of the machine - and put yourself first.
1. Embrace Natural Rhythms: Align your schedule with your body’s natural rhythms, for example, if you’re a morning person, schedule your most demanding tasks for early in the day.
2. Listen To Your Body: Pay attention to your natural hunger and energy levels.
3. Manage Your Commitments: Be aware of your capacity. Do not overcommit.
4. Prioritize Sleep: Ensure you’re getting enough sleep.
There are many more things you can do (I am not a ‘life coach’), so these are just a taste of a few things that I try to employ. What do you do to find that balance?
More will come in time (both kinds), but until then let me leave you with a quote from the future6 …
The parallels between founders and prophets are very obvious, as are the cultish aspects of Silicon Valley itself. It really does have the flavor of a millenarian religion, with all the fervor, reforming zeal and hagiomachy you could ask for. Not just snake-oil, but quarrelsome snake handlers.
💬 Henry Farrell
… taken from an article called ✍🏽The Cult of the Founders, which in turn is riffing on another idea that I have been thinking about.
You read a lot about the decline of religion. How the number of people who self identify as part of some kind of religious belief is dramatically falling. But to ask why that is - is to ask the wrong question. We need to step back and look at the big picture. God and religion aren’t being rejected, we are simply switching to a new religion … ‘Tech’.
Credit to Leonardo.AI, using the prompt;
Subject: A vintage pocket watch with intricate engravings and a leather strap
Type of Image: Photorealistic photograph
Art Styles: Realism, Fine art photography
Art Inspirations: Ansel Adams, Henri Cartier-Bresson
Camera: DSLR
Shot: Close-up
Render Related Information: High-resolution image with detailed focus on the watch's engravings and textures
5 months of 2023 have just passed us by without so much as a ‘by-your-leave’. Do we care?
We all know about plans.
Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.
💬 Mike Tyson
A week seems about right in ‘Arcadia Time’.
To be clear, this is not one or the other. It is both. It’s about rebalancing.
The future - because this is part of the newsletter that has yet to be published,