Writing

Stoicism treats harm as a judgment before it becomes a wound. Marcus Aurelius argues that our interpretation of events, not the events alone, determines whether pain hardens into suffering.

• Philosophy & Habits

Newton's first law doubles as a useful model for habit formation: people tend to continue in rest or motion until acted on by outside force. The practical aim is to initiate momentum, then protect the direction of that momentum.

• Philosophy & Habits

Near-zero rates do not just make safe assets unattractive; they push capital toward riskier instruments. Investors with fixed obligations end up taking credit and liquidity risk because remaining risk-free guarantees weak real returns.

• Finance & Markets

Markets built mostly on resale expectations are structurally fragile because liquidity depends on the next buyer appearing. Once confidence weakens, leverage and forced selling turn that fragility into a rapid collapse.

• Finance & Markets

Aurelius frames events as prescriptions from Nature, given for our development even when they are difficult. The disciplined response is to accept what arrives as material for growth and alignment with the world.

• Philosophy & Habits

The 2013 taper tantrum was less about actual tightening than a violent reset in expectations around Fed asset purchases. Once markets priced in more QE than the Fed intended, even a cautious taper signal forced a broad repricing.

• Finance & Markets

Making humanity multiplanetary is a redundancy strategy against extinction, not a luxury project. Mars is the nearest realistic way to reduce civilization's dependence on a single fragile environment.

• Systems & Engineering
• Philosophy & Habits