Hey all,
Just wanted to apologize for being MIA the past couple of days - Colin (on my team for our social venture) will be introducing some new features soon, and we had some technical difficulties while playing around w/the site.
-David
[nsn_quick_feedback]
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
On Gratitude – A good friend (is one of the greatest things you can be in this world)
As the New Year approaches, and I reflect on all that has passed in the past two years, I feel overwhelmed with gratitude, and with the recognition that I would be nothing if it weren’t for the efforts of many people.
One person stands clear above the rest – my good friend Anatoly Rinberg.
I’m going to keep this short, because this will be irrelevant for most of you, and because he should already know most of this. I admit – this post will be more for myself than for anyone else.
When I fell off the radar during the depths of my depression, Toly reached out to me.
When I thought I was going insane, and loathed myself for mistakes I’d made in my past, Toly expressed his strong belief in me.
When I isolated myself in China, and each day looked forward to nothing but drink, Toly visited me.
When I survived rock bottom, Toly stayed in touch.
When I dropped out of school, and my father cut ties, Toly opened up his world to me and gave me a place to stay.
While I hold unorthodox views on many issues, I am very old fashioned when it comes to my views on friendship. I value loyalty above almost all else – to an extent beyond reason.
Toly surpasses my standards.
One thing I have learned from these past two years is that there are few people in this world you can count on. This is not a matter of my being cynical – it is fact. There are many good people who will treat you with kindness, and many who will generously offer help when it does not greatly inconvenience them, but when shit goes down, it is incredibly rare to find someone who will sacrifice for you. It is nearly impossible.
Let me briefly recount a story about my Younger Uncle in China.
When my Younger Uncle, at my father’s request, quit college to start working on my father’s chemical business, they were the poorest of the poor. This was blind faith between blood brothers. My father was a scientist, with no experience doing business, and they were ten years apart in age – when my father left for college in China, my Younger Uncle was only five or six years old. They hardly knew each other.
When they first started out, they had nothing. My Younger Uncle had to drink excessive amounts of alcohol and put his pride on the mat to find someone who would lease them a factory. They rode long distances on shitty bicycles to get to work, and they often worked days in a row without sleeping. Mice crawled up their pant legs.
My paternal grandparents were long ming – farmers from the countryside. It pained them to see their sons, whom they had sacrificed so much for to raise and send to college, struggle for what seemed like an illusory dream.
In a culture that values pride and honor above all else, my Younger Uncle had none to speak of. When he walked by his old college classmates on the street, none would acknowledge him.
Now that he is successful, they take him out for drinks, and ask him to pay for their health insurance.
When I was in China, and my Younger Uncle took me in as “a second son,” he told me that one can never have any friends. There’s no such thing as a true friend, he said, and he tried repeatedly to drill this into my head.
Still, I insisted he was wrong, not because I have faith in most people – I do not – but because I believed I could count Toly as a real friend.
Toly, you proved me right. Thank you for everything you’ve done for me – I’ll never forget it.
See you today at Princeton Junction.
-Dave
[nsn_quick_feedback]
One person stands clear above the rest – my good friend Anatoly Rinberg.
I’m going to keep this short, because this will be irrelevant for most of you, and because he should already know most of this. I admit – this post will be more for myself than for anyone else.
***
When I fell off the radar during the depths of my depression, Toly reached out to me.
When I thought I was going insane, and loathed myself for mistakes I’d made in my past, Toly expressed his strong belief in me.
When I isolated myself in China, and each day looked forward to nothing but drink, Toly visited me.
When I survived rock bottom, Toly stayed in touch.
When I dropped out of school, and my father cut ties, Toly opened up his world to me and gave me a place to stay.
***
While I hold unorthodox views on many issues, I am very old fashioned when it comes to my views on friendship. I value loyalty above almost all else – to an extent beyond reason.
Toly surpasses my standards.
One thing I have learned from these past two years is that there are few people in this world you can count on. This is not a matter of my being cynical – it is fact. There are many good people who will treat you with kindness, and many who will generously offer help when it does not greatly inconvenience them, but when shit goes down, it is incredibly rare to find someone who will sacrifice for you. It is nearly impossible.
Let me briefly recount a story about my Younger Uncle in China.
When my Younger Uncle, at my father’s request, quit college to start working on my father’s chemical business, they were the poorest of the poor. This was blind faith between blood brothers. My father was a scientist, with no experience doing business, and they were ten years apart in age – when my father left for college in China, my Younger Uncle was only five or six years old. They hardly knew each other.
When they first started out, they had nothing. My Younger Uncle had to drink excessive amounts of alcohol and put his pride on the mat to find someone who would lease them a factory. They rode long distances on shitty bicycles to get to work, and they often worked days in a row without sleeping. Mice crawled up their pant legs.
My paternal grandparents were long ming – farmers from the countryside. It pained them to see their sons, whom they had sacrificed so much for to raise and send to college, struggle for what seemed like an illusory dream.
In a culture that values pride and honor above all else, my Younger Uncle had none to speak of. When he walked by his old college classmates on the street, none would acknowledge him.
Now that he is successful, they take him out for drinks, and ask him to pay for their health insurance.
When I was in China, and my Younger Uncle took me in as “a second son,” he told me that one can never have any friends. There’s no such thing as a true friend, he said, and he tried repeatedly to drill this into my head.
Still, I insisted he was wrong, not because I have faith in most people – I do not – but because I believed I could count Toly as a real friend.
Toly, you proved me right. Thank you for everything you’ve done for me – I’ll never forget it.
See you today at Princeton Junction.
-Dave
[nsn_quick_feedback]
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Reader Responses – Justin and “Avid Reader” (Core beliefs)
For those of you who haven’t done so already, please check out Justin’s and Avid Reader’s responses to my post “On Our Social Venture – Core beliefs.”
Given the overlap b/w their replies, I will respond to that overlap in this post. For your convenience, I will recap their thoughts (and hopefully I will do them justice):
Justin said (in part 6 of his reply),
“Science shows that we are a product of chemical processes and biological structures that exist in a physical world.” Given that fact, depression very well may be, to some degree, “a problem of chemistry, biology, or physics.” He then posited, “If we can document brain patterns for when we think, why can’t we track the chemistry behind depression and perhaps understand alterations based on drugs?”
He then advocated reconciling my emphasis on human agency in overcoming depression with an acceptance for “the agency of chemical alterations in changing the way our minds work.”
Avid Reader drew the analogy (from his/her high school physics class) of trying to find an approximation for physical phenomena via an equation, to trying to find an approximate solution for depression, viewing “each human being as a problem that does have a solution.”
He said, “Though our initial equation may be an approximation, in fact, that serves to generally describe many of the problems (or most people) that we observe, and we can begin to make better and better approximations, adding more specific terms, so that our equation only describes the single problem we began with.”
He continued to say that “Psychiatry, given this analogy, is about trying to figure out how to write an equation that represents most people, and perhaps provides further approximations that can be made for given specific characteristics of the person being observed.”
He acknowledged the human limitations of time and energy in dealing with the complexity and variety of human beings (who suffer from depression), but concluded that “though psychiatry, and thus medication, may be an impractical way to help everyone, it is probably a very effective way of helping most people” and “every person can be logically figured out to a very close approximation.”
Lastly, he advocated that people try to do just that – try to “figure themselves out, so that they can logically help themselves through hard times.”
Here is my response:
Justin, I absolutely agree that depression is to some (probably large) degree a problem of chemistry, biology, physics, etc. I’m fully ready to accept the scientific literature that speaks of chemical imbalances.
I just believe that medication is not the best way to address the chemical imbalance. I believe it can better be done through life changes and adopting a good and strongly hopeful outlook on life.
The somewhat applicable analogy I would draw here is that building muscle is also about chemical changes (hormones and whatnot), and while we certainly can use steroids/HGH to accomplish this, it is better in the long run for most people to develop the will and discipline to exercise.
In short, I agree with your reconciliation of agencies (chemical and human), but would add that they may not even need to be reconciled at all if you look at it in a certain way – human agency drives chemical agency, and everything you do (even merely existing and maintaining homeostasis) involves chemical changes in your body.
Avid Reader, your post is the strongest argument for therapy/medication I’ve ever come across. I suppose (I would hope) that was the original intention of therapy and medication in the first place, though my intuitive sense (based on very limited reading of articles and listening to a few speakers) tells me that they’ve sold out and gone commercial. For instance, you hear these days about how pharmaceutical companies make minor irrelevant changes - and disguise those changes as “innovation” – all for the sake of upping the prices of newer medications.
In short, I entirely agree with you that therapy and medication have enormous potential to help people out, at least in theory. However (and you have already pointed all of this out), it is a matter of time and feasibility. To adequately approximate the “equation” would take an enormous amount of time, and I’m not so sure the powers-that-be are quite willing to devote their lives and energies to it (sure, psychiatry is young, but it seems it’s going in an awful direction).
I would add also the caveat that I still believe that therapy and medication are fundamentally too passive, and that the same chemical changes (solutions to the problem, solutions that exist for each and every individual, as you say) can be accomplished through taking action to embrace your passions and develop your sense of self-worth.
Lastly, while I personally greatly value logic and introspection, and try to understand and even analyze myself as much as possible (go “meta” on myself), I’m not so sure everyone else has the time/willingness/ability to do that.
I believe that sometimes it’s not so important to be able to articulate exactly how you are changing, and that you can act your way into new ways of thinking in enormously healthy ways without even being completely aware of or articulate about what exactly that new way of thinking is. I believe that it’s more important to change and overcome your difficulties than it is to be able to logically explain the process of how you’ve done so, though a thorough logical understanding certainly would help in future similar (and not-so-similar) situations.
In short, I’d say that a thorough logical understanding of oneself is just icing on the cake.
So there it is. Thank you so much for your replies, Justin and Avid Reader. I can hardly believe I have such legit people reading my blog, and look forward to hearing more from you!
-David
[nsn_quick_feedback]
Given the overlap b/w their replies, I will respond to that overlap in this post. For your convenience, I will recap their thoughts (and hopefully I will do them justice):
Justin said (in part 6 of his reply),
“Science shows that we are a product of chemical processes and biological structures that exist in a physical world.” Given that fact, depression very well may be, to some degree, “a problem of chemistry, biology, or physics.” He then posited, “If we can document brain patterns for when we think, why can’t we track the chemistry behind depression and perhaps understand alterations based on drugs?”
He then advocated reconciling my emphasis on human agency in overcoming depression with an acceptance for “the agency of chemical alterations in changing the way our minds work.”
Avid Reader drew the analogy (from his/her high school physics class) of trying to find an approximation for physical phenomena via an equation, to trying to find an approximate solution for depression, viewing “each human being as a problem that does have a solution.”
He said, “Though our initial equation may be an approximation, in fact, that serves to generally describe many of the problems (or most people) that we observe, and we can begin to make better and better approximations, adding more specific terms, so that our equation only describes the single problem we began with.”
He continued to say that “Psychiatry, given this analogy, is about trying to figure out how to write an equation that represents most people, and perhaps provides further approximations that can be made for given specific characteristics of the person being observed.”
He acknowledged the human limitations of time and energy in dealing with the complexity and variety of human beings (who suffer from depression), but concluded that “though psychiatry, and thus medication, may be an impractical way to help everyone, it is probably a very effective way of helping most people” and “every person can be logically figured out to a very close approximation.”
Lastly, he advocated that people try to do just that – try to “figure themselves out, so that they can logically help themselves through hard times.”
Here is my response:
Justin, I absolutely agree that depression is to some (probably large) degree a problem of chemistry, biology, physics, etc. I’m fully ready to accept the scientific literature that speaks of chemical imbalances.
I just believe that medication is not the best way to address the chemical imbalance. I believe it can better be done through life changes and adopting a good and strongly hopeful outlook on life.
The somewhat applicable analogy I would draw here is that building muscle is also about chemical changes (hormones and whatnot), and while we certainly can use steroids/HGH to accomplish this, it is better in the long run for most people to develop the will and discipline to exercise.
In short, I agree with your reconciliation of agencies (chemical and human), but would add that they may not even need to be reconciled at all if you look at it in a certain way – human agency drives chemical agency, and everything you do (even merely existing and maintaining homeostasis) involves chemical changes in your body.
Avid Reader, your post is the strongest argument for therapy/medication I’ve ever come across. I suppose (I would hope) that was the original intention of therapy and medication in the first place, though my intuitive sense (based on very limited reading of articles and listening to a few speakers) tells me that they’ve sold out and gone commercial. For instance, you hear these days about how pharmaceutical companies make minor irrelevant changes - and disguise those changes as “innovation” – all for the sake of upping the prices of newer medications.
In short, I entirely agree with you that therapy and medication have enormous potential to help people out, at least in theory. However (and you have already pointed all of this out), it is a matter of time and feasibility. To adequately approximate the “equation” would take an enormous amount of time, and I’m not so sure the powers-that-be are quite willing to devote their lives and energies to it (sure, psychiatry is young, but it seems it’s going in an awful direction).
I would add also the caveat that I still believe that therapy and medication are fundamentally too passive, and that the same chemical changes (solutions to the problem, solutions that exist for each and every individual, as you say) can be accomplished through taking action to embrace your passions and develop your sense of self-worth.
Lastly, while I personally greatly value logic and introspection, and try to understand and even analyze myself as much as possible (go “meta” on myself), I’m not so sure everyone else has the time/willingness/ability to do that.
I believe that sometimes it’s not so important to be able to articulate exactly how you are changing, and that you can act your way into new ways of thinking in enormously healthy ways without even being completely aware of or articulate about what exactly that new way of thinking is. I believe that it’s more important to change and overcome your difficulties than it is to be able to logically explain the process of how you’ve done so, though a thorough logical understanding certainly would help in future similar (and not-so-similar) situations.
In short, I’d say that a thorough logical understanding of oneself is just icing on the cake.
So there it is. Thank you so much for your replies, Justin and Avid Reader. I can hardly believe I have such legit people reading my blog, and look forward to hearing more from you!
-David
[nsn_quick_feedback]
Update - Unreasonable Institute decision
Hey all,
Just found out we didn't make it to the next round for Unreasonable.
This is sort of a huge hit, but I'm moving forward w/our venture anyway - not sure about the rest of my team.
I want to thank everyone who petitioned for me - it really means everything to me. Some of you actually let me read the letters you wrote, and you should know that getting to hear such kind words from close friends means infinitely more to me than getting into any Institute could ever mean (and I'm not gonna lie, I wanted Unreasonable pretty bad).
Alright, gotta run for an interview now, but check back in for more updates.
-David
[nsn_quick_feedback]
Just found out we didn't make it to the next round for Unreasonable.
This is sort of a huge hit, but I'm moving forward w/our venture anyway - not sure about the rest of my team.
I want to thank everyone who petitioned for me - it really means everything to me. Some of you actually let me read the letters you wrote, and you should know that getting to hear such kind words from close friends means infinitely more to me than getting into any Institute could ever mean (and I'm not gonna lie, I wanted Unreasonable pretty bad).
Alright, gotta run for an interview now, but check back in for more updates.
-David
[nsn_quick_feedback]
Monday, December 28, 2009
On Art – Intro (The Met in NYC)
Yesterday I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC (shoutout to the Bergmans in Jersey for taking me along).
I’d never been to the Met before, and I guess I’d never really been to any art museums other than any ones they might have taken us to throughout the K-12 school years (don’t remember), and I definitely didn’t appreciate that kind of stuff back then.
You need some life experience before you can “get” art, I think. Sort of like how you need to have some base level of fitness before you can “get” weight lifting. (and even then the sheer ridiculousness of jerking around hunks of metal is pretty incomprehensible to me sometimes)
It’d be pretty absurd for me to try to tell you all the thoughts that raced through my mind as my senses were bombarded by the Met. To keep it simple: it was a hell of an experience.
ART + PEOPLE (NYC melting pot) + BUILDING (gorgeous) = INSPIRE
I’m not sure I can properly describe to you how much I learned about art, and about life.
If you were to ask me an open-ended question like “What do you know about African art?” or something technical like “Which Impressionist painters enjoyed using broad rectangular brush strokes and heavily contrasting colors in creating the reflection off the surface of a body of water?” I’d probably be inclined to tell you to shut it.
Because that’s not what art is about, at it’s heart.
At the Met, they have guided tours at scheduled intervals during the day. Normally I’d skip this kind of thing, but we figured it wouldn’t be that long and that we’d be able to pick up a few insights if we checked it out.
It absolutely was worth it.
The tour-guide was upper-middle-aged, squat and stocky, and dressed impeccably in blue blazer, face framed in very round glasses. He looked sharp. And his pitch was sharpened to perfection. (30 years of experience can do that)
I’d never witnessed such outstanding salesmanship. He was in-your-face salesy, but he sold genuinely valuable content. I’m not sure everybody appreciated his mastery as much as I did, but I fully recognized that he was just as much a part of the museum as any of the actual art was.
To get back on track, though.
The real reason I liked him so much was because of the way he defined art – he said that art isn’t just passive observation – it’s active recreation.
At each exhibit, he’d brief us on the art at hand, but more importantly he’d find a way to remind us that we (the museum goers) were just as important a part of the museum as the art itself.
He elevated us to the level of the artist.
And he was absolutely right. The finest art in the world is worthless if it doesn’t have a “receiving consciousness.”
Art is the interplay between art and audience.
It’s what happens to you when you see it. It’s your reaction to it.
That’s what art is all about, whether it be painting, photography, poetry, music, theatre, or literature.
Or the less deliberate, more “unspectacular” art of everyday life.
That’s what art is all about. And that’s what life is all about.
There’s a lot of stuff going on in this world right now. Mindblowingly smart people are creating mindblowingly complex gadgets that can do mindblowingly ridiculous things. Business tycoons are commanding our economies with pixels sent out on their BlackBerry’s. Leaders of countries are making monumental decisions with immortal (and mortal) consequences.
And so on.
All this stuff only matters at all because of the way we respond to it, because of the way our consciences receive it – the collective conscience of humanity.
The fact that I can look at a painting created by a random person in a random place at a random time (random from my perspective) and react to it and sometimes resonate with it – that’s beautiful.
It shows that genius is universal.
And it celebrates the individual. Every individual, not just the talented individual.
This serves as a strong call to reduce inequality in this world. In the most basic of senses, we really all are equal. If you don’t trust me on this, try the business mind angle:
“Whether through democracy, strong public education, quality health care, or broad economic opportunity—reducing inequality is the highest human achievement.”
-Bill Gates, rich guy
That’s right, all human achievements – art, science, business, what have you – can serve no higher purpose than to reduce inequality.
Now try the theatre mind:
“The primary function of theater is to uplift humanity.”
-Philosophy of the Stella Adler Studio of Acting in NYC
Uplifting humanity starts with uplifting yourself.
Recognize that you have enormous potential as a human being, and that you can and should and even must unleash this potential upon the world.
Recognize that in the process of lifting yourself up, you are free to (and encouraged to, by me at at least) break rules in the name of expressing yourself.
“You are remembered for the rules you break.”
-Douglas MacArthur, American general who commanded the Southwest Pacific Theatre in WWII
Do you see how much you can get out of a single visit to an art museum?
As I walked around, trying not to lose myself amidst the sensory overload, the dots started to connect for me. One dot that stood out was a bumper sticker I once saw on a crummy white sedan:
Art saves lives.
-David
[nsn_quick_feedback]
I’d never been to the Met before, and I guess I’d never really been to any art museums other than any ones they might have taken us to throughout the K-12 school years (don’t remember), and I definitely didn’t appreciate that kind of stuff back then.
You need some life experience before you can “get” art, I think. Sort of like how you need to have some base level of fitness before you can “get” weight lifting. (and even then the sheer ridiculousness of jerking around hunks of metal is pretty incomprehensible to me sometimes)
It’d be pretty absurd for me to try to tell you all the thoughts that raced through my mind as my senses were bombarded by the Met. To keep it simple: it was a hell of an experience.
ART + PEOPLE (NYC melting pot) + BUILDING (gorgeous) = INSPIRE
I’m not sure I can properly describe to you how much I learned about art, and about life.
If you were to ask me an open-ended question like “What do you know about African art?” or something technical like “Which Impressionist painters enjoyed using broad rectangular brush strokes and heavily contrasting colors in creating the reflection off the surface of a body of water?” I’d probably be inclined to tell you to shut it.
Because that’s not what art is about, at it’s heart.
At the Met, they have guided tours at scheduled intervals during the day. Normally I’d skip this kind of thing, but we figured it wouldn’t be that long and that we’d be able to pick up a few insights if we checked it out.
It absolutely was worth it.
The tour-guide was upper-middle-aged, squat and stocky, and dressed impeccably in blue blazer, face framed in very round glasses. He looked sharp. And his pitch was sharpened to perfection. (30 years of experience can do that)
I’d never witnessed such outstanding salesmanship. He was in-your-face salesy, but he sold genuinely valuable content. I’m not sure everybody appreciated his mastery as much as I did, but I fully recognized that he was just as much a part of the museum as any of the actual art was.
To get back on track, though.
The real reason I liked him so much was because of the way he defined art – he said that art isn’t just passive observation – it’s active recreation.
At each exhibit, he’d brief us on the art at hand, but more importantly he’d find a way to remind us that we (the museum goers) were just as important a part of the museum as the art itself.
He elevated us to the level of the artist.
And he was absolutely right. The finest art in the world is worthless if it doesn’t have a “receiving consciousness.”
Art is the interplay between art and audience.
It’s what happens to you when you see it. It’s your reaction to it.
That’s what art is all about, whether it be painting, photography, poetry, music, theatre, or literature.
Or the less deliberate, more “unspectacular” art of everyday life.
That’s what art is all about. And that’s what life is all about.
There’s a lot of stuff going on in this world right now. Mindblowingly smart people are creating mindblowingly complex gadgets that can do mindblowingly ridiculous things. Business tycoons are commanding our economies with pixels sent out on their BlackBerry’s. Leaders of countries are making monumental decisions with immortal (and mortal) consequences.
And so on.
All this stuff only matters at all because of the way we respond to it, because of the way our consciences receive it – the collective conscience of humanity.
The fact that I can look at a painting created by a random person in a random place at a random time (random from my perspective) and react to it and sometimes resonate with it – that’s beautiful.
It shows that genius is universal.
And it celebrates the individual. Every individual, not just the talented individual.
This serves as a strong call to reduce inequality in this world. In the most basic of senses, we really all are equal. If you don’t trust me on this, try the business mind angle:
“Whether through democracy, strong public education, quality health care, or broad economic opportunity—reducing inequality is the highest human achievement.”
-Bill Gates, rich guy
That’s right, all human achievements – art, science, business, what have you – can serve no higher purpose than to reduce inequality.
Now try the theatre mind:
“The primary function of theater is to uplift humanity.”
-Philosophy of the Stella Adler Studio of Acting in NYC
Uplifting humanity starts with uplifting yourself.
Recognize that you have enormous potential as a human being, and that you can and should and even must unleash this potential upon the world.
Recognize that in the process of lifting yourself up, you are free to (and encouraged to, by me at at least) break rules in the name of expressing yourself.
“You are remembered for the rules you break.”
-Douglas MacArthur, American general who commanded the Southwest Pacific Theatre in WWII
Do you see how much you can get out of a single visit to an art museum?
As I walked around, trying not to lose myself amidst the sensory overload, the dots started to connect for me. One dot that stood out was a bumper sticker I once saw on a crummy white sedan:
Art saves lives.
-David
[nsn_quick_feedback]
Saturday, December 26, 2009
On Our Social Venture – Our idea
BASICALLY
We’re going to create a program that will make people addicted to doing things they can be proud of.
THIS WILL
Help people build an emotional resume that people can draw strength from in times of difficulty.
We hope a fundamental realization will hit them – you have enormous potential.
And through hard work, persistence, and the opportunities to pursue your passions in an environment that encourages constructive failure and embraces imperfection, you can unleash that potential.
HOW IT WILL WORK
Each participant will work with a mentor to design a “program” based on his/her interests and passions. Starting from simple concrete active baby steps, and eventually moving towards the miraculous, participants will develop real skills and gradually build a sense of self-worth by actively engaging in their passions.
WE WILL PROVIDE
The Opportunities: We’ll show you what’s out there. We’ll help you (re)discover your passions and help you design your “program” around those passions.
The Connections: We’ll bring in the talented cool people who will teach you what you want to know and help you do what you want to do.
The Community: We’ll give you the environment you need to succeed. We’ll push you to achieve, and encourage you to fail and learn from that failure (and each others’ failures) in the process. We won’t claim to have all the answers. We won’t do dogma.
FOR EXAMPLE
All your life, you (and three of your fellow participants), have wanted to try playwriting.
For whatever reason, you never got around to trying it. Maybe you didn’t feel you had the time. Maybe you didn’t have the money. Maybe you didn’t have the sand to ante up – you were intimidated and afraid to fail. Who knows.
Now we give you your shot. (And it’s just one among many – if you find you don’t like it, you can try something else, or try multiple things concurrently)
We bring in a local playwright (someone legit), and they work with you. You start simple – just a character sketch. Then you write your first line. Then you move on and write a scene – just one scene. Then you write another…and another…and another. And then you rewrite each scene over and over until it fits your standards (your new standards after you’ve worked with the playwright). Etc.
Until you realize you’ve finished your first short play.
Then you get together with your fellow participants – those who have the shared interest in playwriting – and together you write another short play, using what you’ve learned. Again, the playwright(s) guides you.
At a certain point, you guys find you’ve written a cool play. It’s not necessarily brilliant (maybe it is), but it’s not half bad either. Hell, it’s pretty damn decent, if you do say so yourself.
Then we bring in a group of local actors (legit people). They perform a show for you – maybe their own play. And then they perform your play. For you.
You could not be more thrilled to see this happen. You could not be more proud. You never in your life imagined you were capable of this. No one ever knew. You never knew.
But now you do.
And there’s no turning back.
Do you see where I’m going with this? The possibilities are endless. As exciting as they are to me, I won’t risk boring you with them.
I firmly believe that if you do enough things outside of your comfort zone – things you are passionate about, but perhaps never got to try – and you persist (w/guidance) through the stages where you inevitably will suck a little, eventually you will succeed a little at some of them. That fuels your confidence more and more, until you realize the immense potential that exists w/in you. In the right environment, this blossoming sense of self-worth can propel you to accomplish miraculous things, whether miraculous on a personal scale, or on society’s scale.
It’s a long gradual process, but it’s real.
Yes, we have kinks to work out. There’s a hell of a lot of stuff we have to work out.
Yes, we are young, and inexperienced, and lack “credibility.”
Yes, the stakes are high. Potentially life or death.
Will we move forward with our venture?
Absolutely.
I believe our venture will revolutionize the way depression is treated. If it doesn’t, oh well. We’ll learn so much from having tried it. And we’ll try something else, using what we’ve learned.
While I am rather fervently against therapy and medication as long-term solutions to depression, I recognize that they are useful to some people. In fact, my team often berates me for being so aggressive in my critiques of traditional interventions.
Let me make it clear once and for all – if therapy and medication work for you, stick with it. And to all the psychiatrists and psychotherapists who also are sympathetic human beings, and who devote themselves to helping their patients - I have the utmost respect for you.
But there is no reason whatsoever not to have another option available.
Fundamentally, that is what we are – just another option.
You should know: This iteration of our idea is only ten or so days old. I only met my team 2 months ago. We’ve only been brainstorming for that long. We have so much to learn.
We would love nothing more than to hear your feedback. Be as harsh as you will, or as generous as you will. Above all, be genuine – that will be most useful of all.
You should also know:
If you’re gonna hate on me w/o providing constructive criticism…
Well, I listen to Chamillionaire (car radio) and very much identify:
-Chamillionaire in "Good Morning"
So there it is - our gift to the world. It's pretty simple, really, but elegant in its simplicity, I think.
Let us know what you think! And I wish you all the best for the coming new year!
-David
[nsn_quick_feedback]
We’re going to create a program that will make people addicted to doing things they can be proud of.
THIS WILL
Help people build an emotional resume that people can draw strength from in times of difficulty.
We hope a fundamental realization will hit them – you have enormous potential.
And through hard work, persistence, and the opportunities to pursue your passions in an environment that encourages constructive failure and embraces imperfection, you can unleash that potential.
HOW IT WILL WORK
Each participant will work with a mentor to design a “program” based on his/her interests and passions. Starting from simple concrete active baby steps, and eventually moving towards the miraculous, participants will develop real skills and gradually build a sense of self-worth by actively engaging in their passions.
WE WILL PROVIDE
The Opportunities: We’ll show you what’s out there. We’ll help you (re)discover your passions and help you design your “program” around those passions.
The Connections: We’ll bring in the talented cool people who will teach you what you want to know and help you do what you want to do.
The Community: We’ll give you the environment you need to succeed. We’ll push you to achieve, and encourage you to fail and learn from that failure (and each others’ failures) in the process. We won’t claim to have all the answers. We won’t do dogma.
FOR EXAMPLE
All your life, you (and three of your fellow participants), have wanted to try playwriting.
For whatever reason, you never got around to trying it. Maybe you didn’t feel you had the time. Maybe you didn’t have the money. Maybe you didn’t have the sand to ante up – you were intimidated and afraid to fail. Who knows.
Now we give you your shot. (And it’s just one among many – if you find you don’t like it, you can try something else, or try multiple things concurrently)
We bring in a local playwright (someone legit), and they work with you. You start simple – just a character sketch. Then you write your first line. Then you move on and write a scene – just one scene. Then you write another…and another…and another. And then you rewrite each scene over and over until it fits your standards (your new standards after you’ve worked with the playwright). Etc.
Until you realize you’ve finished your first short play.
Then you get together with your fellow participants – those who have the shared interest in playwriting – and together you write another short play, using what you’ve learned. Again, the playwright(s) guides you.
At a certain point, you guys find you’ve written a cool play. It’s not necessarily brilliant (maybe it is), but it’s not half bad either. Hell, it’s pretty damn decent, if you do say so yourself.
Then we bring in a group of local actors (legit people). They perform a show for you – maybe their own play. And then they perform your play. For you.
You could not be more thrilled to see this happen. You could not be more proud. You never in your life imagined you were capable of this. No one ever knew. You never knew.
But now you do.
And there’s no turning back.
***
Do you see where I’m going with this? The possibilities are endless. As exciting as they are to me, I won’t risk boring you with them.
I firmly believe that if you do enough things outside of your comfort zone – things you are passionate about, but perhaps never got to try – and you persist (w/guidance) through the stages where you inevitably will suck a little, eventually you will succeed a little at some of them. That fuels your confidence more and more, until you realize the immense potential that exists w/in you. In the right environment, this blossoming sense of self-worth can propel you to accomplish miraculous things, whether miraculous on a personal scale, or on society’s scale.
It’s a long gradual process, but it’s real.
Yes, we have kinks to work out. There’s a hell of a lot of stuff we have to work out.
Yes, we are young, and inexperienced, and lack “credibility.”
Yes, the stakes are high. Potentially life or death.
Will we move forward with our venture?
Absolutely.
I believe our venture will revolutionize the way depression is treated. If it doesn’t, oh well. We’ll learn so much from having tried it. And we’ll try something else, using what we’ve learned.
While I am rather fervently against therapy and medication as long-term solutions to depression, I recognize that they are useful to some people. In fact, my team often berates me for being so aggressive in my critiques of traditional interventions.
Let me make it clear once and for all – if therapy and medication work for you, stick with it. And to all the psychiatrists and psychotherapists who also are sympathetic human beings, and who devote themselves to helping their patients - I have the utmost respect for you.
But there is no reason whatsoever not to have another option available.
Fundamentally, that is what we are – just another option.
You should know: This iteration of our idea is only ten or so days old. I only met my team 2 months ago. We’ve only been brainstorming for that long. We have so much to learn.
We would love nothing more than to hear your feedback. Be as harsh as you will, or as generous as you will. Above all, be genuine – that will be most useful of all.
You should also know:
If you’re gonna hate on me w/o providing constructive criticism…
Well, I listen to Chamillionaire (car radio) and very much identify:
"I admit it, I'm really 'bout to show you how I do
If you know that you a hater, this dedicated to you
You hatin' my last move, I'm way on my next move
See they hate to see you be successful"
-Chamillionaire in "Good Morning"
So there it is - our gift to the world. It's pretty simple, really, but elegant in its simplicity, I think.
Let us know what you think! And I wish you all the best for the coming new year!
-David
[nsn_quick_feedback]
Friday, December 25, 2009
On Our Social Venture – Core beliefs
Before I tell you our idea, I’d like to get down a few fundamental beliefs I hold in the arena of depression/depression treatment.
And just to be clear: Although every member of my team (Dan, Hari, Colin, myself) played a crucial role in creatively synthesizing our idea (I didn’t even come up with the core of our idea – Dan did), and although lines fuse and blur when it comes to who came up w/what (we’ve talked over so much and I’ve read so much there’s no way I can hold all the sources in my head), the views I put down here are mine alone to be responsible for – only I can be held accountable for them. In general, this goes for anything on this blog, of course.
What I’m trying to say is that I’m giving all due credit to my team and to anyone else who may have influenced me, but if you have a problem with anything on this blog, you have a problem with me. Don’t judge my team by my writing.
CORE BELIEFS (in no particular order)
1 Depression should only be thought of as an illness if it helps you to think about it that way. Given that depression operates on a spectrum, and that nearly everybody has experienced aspects of it at one point or another, things are already very imprecise.
Do NOT let a doctor’s (or your own) diagnosis trap you in a box. Do NOT rely on and cling to an identity as a “depressed person” unless it helps you to frame it as a struggle where you will ultimately win.
2 The human spirit is stronger than you know, stronger than any medical expert knows, stronger than anyone ever to have existed knew, and stronger than anyone who ever will exist will ever know.
You can (sometimes) thwart death through sheer will. There are medical annals that attest to this.
3 The medical industry and all medical/health professionals serve as means to an end, not as ends themselves. The same goes for medical (and all types of) credentials. Credentials are only useful in terms of the experience it took to acquire them.
I said experience – not time, not running through administrative hoops, not going through motions.
If the time it took to get your credentials proved useless, or you failed to learn from your experiences, or the world changed such that what you did learn became obsolete (this happens), then those credentials become entirely useless.
Even (and especially) the established professionals should hear out new ideas. After they hear them out, they’re free to dismiss them. I hold myself to this exact same standard. It may sound harsh, but we cannot afford stale egos amidst the crisis of now.
4 There should be a separation between person and idea. When I critique people, I try to focus on the merits/flaws of their ideas, or at least of their actions and how those actions represent them. I try not to attack them personally or make assumptions about them. Please do the same for me.
5 Root causes of depression (and the inability to defeat depression) must be addressed, not symptoms. I believe root causes include, but are not limited to:
-Lack of opportunity to express one’s unique self – to develop one’s innate genius (see my earlier post “In Defense of Individuality”)
-Stigma (more on this later)
-Lack of a sense of self-worth
-Hopelessness/sense of futility
-Perfectionism
-Fear of failure (goes along w/perfectionism)
-Inability to find and connect with “your kind of people,” whether because of physical/geographic barriers or mental/psychic barriers. “Your kind of people” meaning people who are passionate about similar things, who support you, who challenge you, etc. Think Robin Williams’ definition of “soulmate” in the movie Good Will Hunting: Someone who challenges you.
Etc.
6 The idea that chemical-imbalance-correcting miracle drugs or passive therapy will provide a long-term antidote to depression is pure horseshit. It mocks human agency.
And this is true even for the best psychotherapists and psychiatrists. Yes, talking and learning about yourself can be life-changing, and talking to wise intelligent people can provide eureka moments of clairvoyance for us (so the old saying goes, “10 minutes w/a wise man is worth 10 years of books"), and medication may help some people to some degree, but at a certain point you need to take action to change your life.
7 People have a fundamental desire to embrace their passions (Hari’s words, shared idea).
8 There is a disastrous stigma associated with traditional interventions, especially for young people (or at least some of them…or at least me). I know there is a distinction b/w stigmas w/identifying yourself as depressed, and stigmas w/seeking help – I’m going to focus on the second one here. So, aspects of this stigma/things that contribute to this stigma include, but are not limited to:
-I personally have felt condescended against by many psychotherapists and psychiatrists (and even by MD's who generally have very little training on the matter yet had the nerve to impose "help" on me in a definitive tone of voice), and in general I believe intellectual snobbery is a huge barrier to treatment.
-Many medical professionals seem to believe they have the solution to depression sitting right in their minds, extrapolated from piles and piles of textbooks and years and years of study and observation. Bad news for you guys: you’re wrong. We’re humans, not math riddles. There’s no one solution (nor one set of solutions, nor combination of pills/exercise/talking) for all people – there’s no panacea.
-When I go to a therapist, there’s just this horrible stuffy and lame and passive feel to the whole thing. I just get the wrong vibe.
-I don’t particularly like carrying around therapists' cards and appointment reminders in my wallet.
-If you’re going to set aside time during your day to fight depression, why not spend it doing something you like, rather than sitting in a therapist’s office? Yes, it’s still hard work, but you can focus your efforts where you want them to be, rather than where someone else tells you they should be.
Etc.
9 Traditional interventions were designed top-down. For example (and I know this is an extreme and outdated one), professionals used to diagnose people with mental health illnesses based on how they responded to medication…what a strange reversal…
Why not have college students design solutions for college problems?
Alright, that’s enough for now. I’m sort of hesitant to put down core beliefs as I’ve done here, because it seems to imply that they're the only core beliefs I have, and that they’re unchangeable – NOT the case.
Still, that should give you a primer and some understanding of where we’re coming from when we talk about our solution.
Read the next post for the (current version of the) idea itself.
-David
[nsn_quick_feedback]
And just to be clear: Although every member of my team (Dan, Hari, Colin, myself) played a crucial role in creatively synthesizing our idea (I didn’t even come up with the core of our idea – Dan did), and although lines fuse and blur when it comes to who came up w/what (we’ve talked over so much and I’ve read so much there’s no way I can hold all the sources in my head), the views I put down here are mine alone to be responsible for – only I can be held accountable for them. In general, this goes for anything on this blog, of course.
What I’m trying to say is that I’m giving all due credit to my team and to anyone else who may have influenced me, but if you have a problem with anything on this blog, you have a problem with me. Don’t judge my team by my writing.
CORE BELIEFS (in no particular order)
1 Depression should only be thought of as an illness if it helps you to think about it that way. Given that depression operates on a spectrum, and that nearly everybody has experienced aspects of it at one point or another, things are already very imprecise.
Do NOT let a doctor’s (or your own) diagnosis trap you in a box. Do NOT rely on and cling to an identity as a “depressed person” unless it helps you to frame it as a struggle where you will ultimately win.
2 The human spirit is stronger than you know, stronger than any medical expert knows, stronger than anyone ever to have existed knew, and stronger than anyone who ever will exist will ever know.
You can (sometimes) thwart death through sheer will. There are medical annals that attest to this.
3 The medical industry and all medical/health professionals serve as means to an end, not as ends themselves. The same goes for medical (and all types of) credentials. Credentials are only useful in terms of the experience it took to acquire them.
I said experience – not time, not running through administrative hoops, not going through motions.
If the time it took to get your credentials proved useless, or you failed to learn from your experiences, or the world changed such that what you did learn became obsolete (this happens), then those credentials become entirely useless.
Even (and especially) the established professionals should hear out new ideas. After they hear them out, they’re free to dismiss them. I hold myself to this exact same standard. It may sound harsh, but we cannot afford stale egos amidst the crisis of now.
4 There should be a separation between person and idea. When I critique people, I try to focus on the merits/flaws of their ideas, or at least of their actions and how those actions represent them. I try not to attack them personally or make assumptions about them. Please do the same for me.
5 Root causes of depression (and the inability to defeat depression) must be addressed, not symptoms. I believe root causes include, but are not limited to:
-Lack of opportunity to express one’s unique self – to develop one’s innate genius (see my earlier post “In Defense of Individuality”)
-Stigma (more on this later)
-Lack of a sense of self-worth
-Hopelessness/sense of futility
-Perfectionism
-Fear of failure (goes along w/perfectionism)
-Inability to find and connect with “your kind of people,” whether because of physical/geographic barriers or mental/psychic barriers. “Your kind of people” meaning people who are passionate about similar things, who support you, who challenge you, etc. Think Robin Williams’ definition of “soulmate” in the movie Good Will Hunting: Someone who challenges you.
Etc.
6 The idea that chemical-imbalance-correcting miracle drugs or passive therapy will provide a long-term antidote to depression is pure horseshit. It mocks human agency.
And this is true even for the best psychotherapists and psychiatrists. Yes, talking and learning about yourself can be life-changing, and talking to wise intelligent people can provide eureka moments of clairvoyance for us (so the old saying goes, “10 minutes w/a wise man is worth 10 years of books"), and medication may help some people to some degree, but at a certain point you need to take action to change your life.
7 People have a fundamental desire to embrace their passions (Hari’s words, shared idea).
8 There is a disastrous stigma associated with traditional interventions, especially for young people (or at least some of them…or at least me). I know there is a distinction b/w stigmas w/identifying yourself as depressed, and stigmas w/seeking help – I’m going to focus on the second one here. So, aspects of this stigma/things that contribute to this stigma include, but are not limited to:
-I personally have felt condescended against by many psychotherapists and psychiatrists (and even by MD's who generally have very little training on the matter yet had the nerve to impose "help" on me in a definitive tone of voice), and in general I believe intellectual snobbery is a huge barrier to treatment.
-Many medical professionals seem to believe they have the solution to depression sitting right in their minds, extrapolated from piles and piles of textbooks and years and years of study and observation. Bad news for you guys: you’re wrong. We’re humans, not math riddles. There’s no one solution (nor one set of solutions, nor combination of pills/exercise/talking) for all people – there’s no panacea.
-When I go to a therapist, there’s just this horrible stuffy and lame and passive feel to the whole thing. I just get the wrong vibe.
-I don’t particularly like carrying around therapists' cards and appointment reminders in my wallet.
-If you’re going to set aside time during your day to fight depression, why not spend it doing something you like, rather than sitting in a therapist’s office? Yes, it’s still hard work, but you can focus your efforts where you want them to be, rather than where someone else tells you they should be.
Etc.
9 Traditional interventions were designed top-down. For example (and I know this is an extreme and outdated one), professionals used to diagnose people with mental health illnesses based on how they responded to medication…what a strange reversal…
Why not have college students design solutions for college problems?
Alright, that’s enough for now. I’m sort of hesitant to put down core beliefs as I’ve done here, because it seems to imply that they're the only core beliefs I have, and that they’re unchangeable – NOT the case.
Still, that should give you a primer and some understanding of where we’re coming from when we talk about our solution.
Read the next post for the (current version of the) idea itself.
-David
[nsn_quick_feedback]
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