Ben Mann Monthly August: Burning Man, listening experiment results, solo idea sprints
Purpose
An index for my memory
An menu of topics for my next conversation with you
A faster way to share what I’m excited about without the barrier of writing a complete blog entry on it
Inspired by Gwern, a way to spread content I found valuable
It’s meant to be skimmable. If there’s anything you want to see more or less of, please let me know!
Experiments and experiences
Active listening experiment writeup
Breakfast shake iteration
peanuts (not peanut butter!), frozen peas, cocoa powder, chia seeds, banana, creatine → Breville Boss Go
Burning Man
I’d describe Burning Man as 80,000 people’s collective answer to the question, “If human life could be anything, what would you make it?” This year my intention was to listen to my own needs and express them. This meant more solo adventures, not waiting for people when they took too long, not scheduling with friends, not worrying when I lost the group, and asking for contact. I hope to bring the self I experimented with at Black Rock City back to the normal world. I learned chair massage, contact improv, aerial yoga, lyra, pole dancing, trapeze, “deep friending,” how to carpet an actual 747, some dance moves, and what others appreciate about me. Eight days in the dusty desert were totally worth it.
Graffiti
It turns out there’s a standard pattern to graffiti! I spent two days walking around the Mission and Little Mexico (~24th st area) researching styles. I interviewed a graffiti artist on the dynamics of who gets to put what where. I watched YouTube videos and am practicing accordingly. Post upcoming.
Body pillow
For a long time I’ve heard body pillows are great for comfort and spinal alignment, but I’d never tried one. I decided to get one and wrap it in an electric blanket for maximum effect. Currently evaluating; so far so good.
Kitchen Cloud Camera
I live in a 16 person house with one main kitchen. Since I moved in, people would often leave dishes in the sink, which caused broken window dynamics. I volunteered to buy a camera, put it up, and personally enforce it. The camera provides a rolling 24 hour history, so I can scrub backwards until I isolate the infraction. Since I put it up a few weeks ago, there’ve only been a tiny handful of infractions. Just the threat of surveillance has been sufficient to fix behavior!
General life updates
Dumped romantic leads
Dumped cofounder leads
Decided not to move forward with Fern, which provided care for seniors using a remotely operated robot. After a couple of in-home trials, we couldn’t find a path to product/market fit. Either seniors were capable of taking care of themselves, so didn’t have a need for check-ins, or they needed more help, which means a no-manipulator robot was insufficient.
Set up a series of 2-week solo sprints to evaluate my ideas
Current frontrunners are BreatheBot, Anki++, and CBT distortion labeler journal. More details forthcoming.
Mom visited from Boston
Climbed a V6 at Mission Cliffs (one of my long term goals!)
Content
3200 of 5000 pages in, considering abandoning due to diminishing returns and opportunity cost. A friend suggested committing “series suicide” by reading the Wikipedia summary.
It was pretty painful to watch. Themes: white privilege, white voice, corporate slavery, black coolness, lowest common denominator entertainment
How to Recover From Romantic Heartbreak
“Negative reappraisal”: correct for the mind’s tendency to focus only on the good things
Suffering comes from within. Don’t try to achieve all your goals. You’ll just move the goalpost. Learn to be happy with the journey.
Understand where people are coming from. What’s driving them? Ask 100 questions before you tell them anything.
Sometimes spouts pseudo-scientific crap like aligning ECG & EKG. WTF?
The IQ trap: how the study of genetics could transform education
Educational outcomes are often genetically determined, but that doesn’t mean education isn’t important.
"I'd rather be working for a paycheck/ Than waiting to win the lottery”: unlike many romantic songs, this suggests love is something we work at, not something that falls in our lap.