Shaving with Hanlon’s razor about once a week helps me stay generous and avoid cynicism. No, Hanlon isn’t a brand of blade, and it’s certainly not for shaving my beard. It’s a super helpful principle for thinking about why people do what they do. You might say it’s for “shaving” human motivation. I like to …
Category archives: Human nature
Sing the song of your life
There’s a world of difference in how we see ourselves and how others see us. I’ve often been described as intense. I’m the kind of person who tends to come on too strong and speak (or write) too forcefully. Sometimes it’s considered a good thing, and I’m perceived as confident. Other times and with other …
Behind every joke, there’s smoke
There are few things more tedious than someone acting in bad faith. You see it all the time on social media. Person A posts and then some other Person B shows up in the replies attacking said tweet. Person A (or some other Person C) then points out how the attack is unfair, only for …
How uniformity kills unity
We tend to mistake uniformity for unity. Uniformity is about looking the same, while unity is about actually being one.This means that unity is internal: it begins with agreeing on some fundamentals as being most important and then working together to build in alignment with those fundamentals. Uniformity, on the other hand, is external: looking …
Dancing at work
One of the favourite parts of my job is when I get to dance with patients and their loved ones. Not literally of course. Read more…
Technology is a double-edged sword
Technology makes a lot possible, but at what cost? At the cost of introducing abstraction, which in turn impacts on serendipity and accessibility.
How CS Lewis wrote POP
One of the biggest compliments anyone has ever paid me was to say my writing reminded them of CS Lewis. I’ve written before about he’s influenced me more than any other single writer, and I’d like to explore why through one of his most insightful essays: The Inner Ring
I’m trilingual in English: here’s what that’s like
I speak 3 different kinds of English. That’s in addition to Yoruba, which is the language of my ancestors. Let’s talk about it.
Do you speak with precision or power?
The more important the idea, the more we should prioritise power over precision: aim to be as minimally precise as necessary to convey your point, but as maximally powerful as possible. There are two reasons why.
Fiction can mean more than “real” stories
Every now and then I run into one of those misguided people who think fiction is not serious reading. But even those of us who like fiction can take it for granted.