Friday Notes, February 17, 2023
Dear Friends —
In honor of World Human Spirit Day, I offer three readings, each revealing something about the human spirit (in order of increasing length) —
One: An excerpt from John Stuart Mill’s autobiography:
Those only are happy (I thought) who have their minds fixed on some object other than their own happiness; on the happiness of others, on the improvement of mankind, even on some art or pursuit, followed not as a means, but as itself an ideal end. Aiming thus at something else, they find happiness by the way. The enjoyments of life (such was now my theory) are sufficient to make it a pleasant thing, when they are taken en passant, without being made a principal object. Once make them so, and they are immediately felt to be insufficient. They will not bear a scrutinizing examination. Ask yourself whether you are happy, and you cease to be so. The only chance is to treat, not happiness, but some end external to it, as the purpose of life. Let your self-consciousness, your scrutiny, your self-interrogation, exhaust themselves on that; and if otherwise fortunately circumstanced you will inhale happiness with the air you breathe, without dwelling on it or thinking about it, without either forestalling it in imagination, or putting it to flight by fatal questioning.
Two: An absolutely astounding conversation between a New York Times tech reporter and the new Microsoft chatbot. Jaw-dropping to observe the inflection point where the bot becomes more human-sounding — and the human becomes nearly robotic.
Three: The book Designing Your Life, which I’m reading and recommending to many people who are puzzling through the lifelong question: what should I be when I grow up? Through insights from psychology and “design thinking,” along with engaging exercises, the authors help you find the path toward your larger purpose and your daily (or at least weekly) experience of “flow.” I wish I’d read it years ago; I’m glad I’m reading it now.
Despite the fact most of us have learned how to pronounce the names Tchaikovsky, Baryshnikov, and O’Shaughnessy, people with “foreign-sounding” names in the United States often hear mangled pronunciation from teachers, in the workplace, and from the local barista. Here’s how that feels:
Technology to the rescue! For those of us who want to prevent the sense of erasure that comes with mispronouncing names, the Pronounce Names website gives you a chance to practice in private. It also permits people to upload audio files with pronunciations of their own names, building a bigger database. And LinkedIn has a cool feature so people can build a recording of their name right into their profile — a fantastic assist for prospective employers and colleagues. I’m hoping more and more people use it.
My son, Eli, is heading home for a week or two. So that means it’s time to prepare for his arrival, as depicted all too accurately here.
Have a good weekend,
-Ruth