An Open Call for Pragmatic Meliorism

Meliorism (Latin melior, better): the idea that progress is a real concept and humans can interfere with natural processes to improve the world.

What would it look like to embrace pragmatic meliorism instead of cynicism?

• Acknowledging problems while focusing on solutions
• Learning from history without being imprisoned by it
• Maintaining high standards while accepting incremental progress
• Combining skeptical analysis with constructive action

This is harder than cynicism by orders of magnitude. It takes nuance, effort, and (critically) emotional risk. But it’s also more likely to actually improve things.

From Joan Westerberg We Don’t Need More Cynics. We Need More Builders.

Just backed the latest OrbitKey

Oof. I just spent hours answering questions for a survey about ADHD. Go [@catieosaurus]!(https://www.instagram.com/reel/C7ia8GKMYr2/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==) It made me feel things and remember things, but also helped me to feel proud of everything I have managed to accomplish despite this. Please share. If you have the diagnosis or are seeking it, I see you.

Saints at bat versus the Stripers

📷

Storybook ending to the game: Saints were down by one at the bottom of the ninth. Bases were loaded after 2 outs. Final hit of the game hit the home run wall. Saints won, 13-9.

Yesterday I found about 8 Twitter accounts that I follow mentioned or listed a Mastodon address. Did a quick Twitter search for “mastodon” on followed accounts. Today I learned of Debirdify, which helped me to find about 100 more accounts I could follow directly from Micro.blog.

As someone who has read Neuromancer (on paper) (in the 1980s), I adore this: Hackaday Cyberdeck Contest

First time visit to Bauer Brothers Salvage today was purposeful, to get a piece we had seen online. Let me just say, for old house people, it’s a wonderland. Lots to love!

It’s “funny”. Until you read the bylines. The Onion

Listening to a lot of Seasurfer lately. I discovered them a few years ago and was reacquainted with them again a few weeks ago. Most recent album has what would call more of a dark wave sound, more synth. Earlier albums I would call more shoegaze. But layers, distortion, reverb and harmonies all throughout

We never wax steady, we wax and wane.
We never wax steady, we wax and wane.

Brought to you by Deftones covering Cocteau Twins' Wax and Wane