Hey aphit, fixed that! Was too lazy to get this done (haha), but I finally crossed it off my simpler to-do list. Check it out: usesimpler.com
91 karma · joined September 10, 2016
Many people get overwhelmed by all the things they have to do in life. In reality, we only ever have to do one thing at a time. That’s how anything — and everything — gets done.
I invented a new a method to help you organize, prioritize, and filter your to-dos. That way, you’ll only see the to-dos that need to get done, and in the order in which you need to do them. simpler helps you clear away distractions by only showing you what you need to do in this moment.
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The idea for simpler came to me way back in 2009 — during a vision quest in New Mexico while I was literally fasting on a mountain :) In the years since this idea never quite left me, and so finally it was time to make it happen. It reminds me of what the eminent Swiss psychologist Dr. Carl Jung said when was asked what the fastest way to accomplishing one’s goals was. Supposedly, he replied without a moment’s hesitation: “the detour”. The journey to having made simpler happen feels a bit that way.
Still, I chose to exit the crypto-sphere specifically because of Tether. Consider the following:
Bernie Madoff’s fraud began in the 90’s (according to Madoff). If you’d known back then what you know today about Madoff’s fund, but if for some reason you didn’t know the timing of its ending, would you still have invested in Madoff’s fund back then?
Solution: redistribute rents
How: land-value taxation or municipal land trusts + basic income
I was thinking the same when I read PG’s essay. Unfortunately, I sensed arrogance and entitlement rather than humility and reasoned thinking behind his words.
It’s a shame, really. This world needs not only more successful people, it also needs more compassionate people, too.
“In Lying, bestselling author and neuroscientist Sam Harris argues that we can radically simplify our lives and improve society by merely telling the truth in situations where others often lie. He focuses on “white” lies—those lies we tell for the purpose of sparing people discomfort—for these are the lies that most often tempt us. And they tend to be the only lies that good people tell while imagining that they are being good in the process.”
Ecstatic brings people together by building tools to authentically connect people in the real world.
We’re a startup with seed funding and looking for our first employee here in Canada, eh! We offer a full salary but on the lower end; however, you’ll get startup equity after the trial period, and that might end up making you much, much better off. If you:
• love to have fun while building something awesome • think outside the box • love to code • value quality over quantity (we don’t move fast and break things) • appreciate a sense of humour • love humanity
...then we might be the right fit. Our stack:
• JavaScript, Preact • Prisma • NextJS • Webflow
If interested (note: you MUST be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident), please send an email with your CV as well as a brief personal introduction to dev@ecstatic.com.
Have been in touch with one of Doppler’s co-founders and he’s been extremely helpful in integrating Doppler for us to use with NextJS (hosted on Vercel). Way to go on giving attention to your customers. We’ll be using Doppler for life, that’s for sure.
Here, in summary, my Twitter thread. https://twitter.com/heyMartinAdams/status/125166810880624230...
1/ Naturally, many entrepreneurs tend to believe that the insufficient supply of housing is either due to lack of willpower, insufficient belief in progress (see article below), high building costs, or due to restrictive zoning regulations.
2/ I hurt a little every time I read an article like that coming from well-meaning and intelligent people since these analyses are based on a core assumption: that if only those aforementioned constraints were removed, the supply of housing would increase in proportion to demand.
3/ This assumption, though, is incorrect, even though it’s wide-spread and relatable, especially with entrepreneurs, who solve problems by building new things! (I love solving problems by building new things too!) However, the housing market works differently.
4/ Notice the open-air parking lots in most urban areas: they’re hardly developed, used only for a few cars — even though (and this is crucial) there is an exceptional demand for housing in those areas.
5/ It’s not that these lots are not zoned for housing, or that it’s too expensive to build any kind of housing on those open-air parking lots. None of these things are true. The reason these parking lots exist is because property ownership incentives are flawed.
6/ A person who owns an open-air parking lot often makes more money over time through property appreciation (even minus property taxes), and is therefore not incentivized to put this property to its optimal use, i.e. to use it to provide more housing.
7/ The core problem is that the land market (and therefore the real estate market) is, in actuality, an entry monopoly; an entry monopoly occurs whenever a market is closed to new participants because supply (i.e. land in prime locations) can’t be increased.
8/ See, the market for automobiles (or software, etc.) is different: if there is a greater demand for cars, more cars can, and will, be created.
9/ New land in good locations, however, cannot be made; so if property developers want to build more housing in a good location, they have to buy land from someone who already owns land in that location (if they choose to sell, that is!).
10/ This artificially increases cost, artificially diminishes supply, and drastically limits the supply of affordable housing across the board. Unlike software, the housing market is not a free market. It is a monopoly. Like the game.
11/ There’s a lot more to this topic, but I’ve done my best to summarize a small part of it here in this thread. As you can tell, it’s a topic of great concern to me (to the extent that I wrote a book on it: http://unitism.com).
12/ I hope that what I was able to share has given you some pause; I feel a bit of a pang every time I read an entrepreneur saying “we can solve the affordable housing crisis by simply building more things with more effort.” This hurts. And it’s also uninformed in my view.
First of, I’m so, so sorry to hear. What you’ve gone through (sexual assault, twice) is something nobody should have to go through; and the loss of your mother and your breakup as well (I’ve experienced the death of a parent and a significant breakup, too).
Your courage in sharing what’s happened to you touches me. Carl Jung, the Swiss psychologist, famously said that “if you can feel it, you can heal it.” And I think part of what you might be doing, by publicly sharing where you’re at, could perhaps be to give yourself permission to feel things more deeply, and letting yourself be witnessed doing so.
In case you’d like to consider joining our startup — we’d be honoured in considering you for a position. We’re a different kind of startup: work/life balance and authenticity is key. We’re basically starting a life-long family of people who resonate with each other :) Our product is still in development, but we’ve got an exciting brand: We are Ecstatic (accessible at ecstatic.com).
Oh! And we’re based in Vancouver, beautiful British Columbia.
Reason I’m mentioning this is because we don’t think of what we’re doing as work, but as play (in all seriousness). We call it “plorking”. Perhaps you need to find a company (such as ours) that let’s you be you throughout — no stress, just creative play.
Be well, and best wishes on your path. Whatever happens, I wish you so much happiness and peace. You deserve it. We each do.
Housing itself is cheap to build. Location, however, is expensive. And that’s also what makes people win or lose in Monopoly.
I’ve written about it extensively: a book (https://www.unitism.com), articles (https://www.progress.org/authors/martin-adams), etc.
Facebook’s active complicity in spreading falsehoods is appalling.