303: Leave the Top

This is the Monday Medley, a newsletter that goes out, you guessed it, every Monday. I republish it here for sharing and referencing, but if you'd like to sign up you can do so right here:

Happy Monday!

Last week, we published a surprisingly timely Made You Think on "The Dictator's Handbook." I also published a new DeFi article on JonesDAO, a platform for automated options trading.

Alright, on to the Medley

Leave the Top

I rewatched Inception a couple weeks ago. It's still fantastic, Christopher Nolan's mind-bendy films all are.

"An idea is like a virus. Resilient. Highly contagious. And even the smallest seed of an idea can grow. It can grow to define or destroy you."

When I first watched the movie I remember being enthralled by the question at the end: is Cobb still dreaming? Now I'm not sure that question matters. Cobb walks away from the totem at the end. He's happy. He's with his family. His quest is over. He doesn't care if he's dreaming or awake. We shouldn't care if he is either.

But we DO care. We care a lot! Probably because we're desperate for that certainty in our own lives. The certainty that we're living in The Real World and not some fabrication.

We like our version of reality, and we generally don't want anymore messing with it. We enjoy hanging out with people who agree with us, reading things that reaffirm our existing beliefs, and laughing about how dumb all those people who believe in a false reality are. And when one of those idiots tries to tell us that our reality is false, we sick our little subconscious demons on them and throw them out.

This midwit just said seed oils are good, get 'em!

But no one's reality is real. We're all dreaming to various extents on various topics. We just aren't very good at dealing with it because, again, we gotta know The Truth.

Cobb doesn't end the movie staring at the top. He ends it playing with his kids. How much time have you spent trying to figure out The Truth instead of playing with your kids, having dinner with friends, or going to the gym? Was it worth it?

If we've learned anything the last few years from Trump, Covid, and the whole news & social media ecosystem surrounding them, it's that none of us have any idea what's real, and everyone is wrong to some extent. Don't worry though, this time they got it right. What? You don't trust them? You must be an -ist. Time to go through your old tweets.

Put the top down and play with your kids. Go for a run. Pick up a hobby. There are so many incredible, fascinating things to explore besides the narrative of the day. Does it affect your day-to-day decision-making? No? Then it's trivia. And there are much more enjoyable forms of trivia than whatever people are fighting over online.

I promise if things get nuclear you'll hear the sirens.

Have a great week,
Nat