I want to say one more thing about politics.

One of the legacies of the counterculture, particularly on the left, is the idea that expression is action. This idea has haunted those of us on the left for a long time.

But one of the reasons that the Tea Party came to power was that they organized—they built institutions. So the challenge for those of us who want a different world is not to simply trust that the expressive variety that the internet permits is the key to freedom. Rather, we need to seek a kind of freedom that involves people not like us, that builds institutions that support people not like us—not just ones that help gratify our desires to find new partners or build better micro-worlds.

The New Communalists believed that the micro-world was where politics happened. If we could just build a better micro-world, we could live by example to create a better world for the whole. I think that's wrong. Our challenge is to build a world that takes responsibility for people not like ourselves. And it's a challenge we won't meet by enhancing our expressive abilities, or improving the technologies of expressive connection.

I have a theory, and I offer it to you as a pocket theory. I have a category of theories that I call pocket theories. Because there is no evidence, no research behind them.

The engineering world doesn’t have a conception of how to intervene in debate that isn’t infrastructural.

In one famous passage, he asks why Shakespeare’s villains killed only a few people, while Lenin and Stalin murdered millions. The reason is that Macbeth and Iago “had no ideology.” Real people do not resemble the evildoers of mass culture, who delight in cruelty and destruction. No, to do mass evil you have to believe it is good, and it is ideology that supplies this conviction.

A good percentage of Humans are prone to mass delusions which lead to irrational behavior. This is a known bug in our operating system, and we have designed some parts of our society to protect us against it.

A pattern that occurs in many other sectors: as systems fail, people fall back on innate communal logic. Politics and the media are obvious current examples.

There is a moral imperative to help those in need—and conservatives should recognize this—while at the same time friction is inevitable when two cultures exist side by side—and liberals should recognize this. One would hope for a reasoned discussion of how to balance the two. But that won’t happen as long as those whose are insulated from the consequences of policy—need I point out that Los Angeles is not located in Houston?—use multiculturalism as a weapon to enforce class.

We do not have the power to make our lives monumentally better, only monumentally worse.

Art is compressed communication.

Benjamin Franklin sought to cultivate his character by a plan of 13 virtues, which he developed at age 20 (in 1726) and continued to practice in some form for the rest of his life. His autobiography lists his 13 virtues as:

• Temperance. Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.
• Silence. Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.
• Order. Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.
• Resolution. Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.
• Frugality. Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing.
• Industry. Lose no time; be always employ'd in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.
• Sincerity. Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly.
• Justice. Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty.
• Moderation. Avoid extremes; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.
• Cleanliness. Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, cloaths, or habitation.
• Tranquility. Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.
• Chastity. Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dullness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another's peace or reputation.
• Humility. Imitate Jesus and Socrates.

Barlow’s 25 Principles of Adult Behavior:

• Be patient. No matter what.
• Don’t badmouth: Assign responsibility, not blame. Say nothing of another you wouldn’t say to him.
• Never assume the motives of others are, to them, less noble than yours are to you.
• Expand your sense of the possible.
• Don’t trouble yourself with matters you truly cannot change.
• Expect no more of anyone than you can deliver yourself.
• Tolerate ambiguity.
• Laugh at yourself frequently.
• Concern yourself with what is right rather than who is right.
• Never forget that, no matter how certain, you might be wrong.
• Give up blood sports.
• Remember that your life belongs to others as well. Don’t risk it frivolously.
• Never lie to anyone for any reason. (Lies of omission are sometimes exempt.)
• Learn the needs of those around you and respect them.
• Avoid the pursuit of happiness. Seek to define your mission and pursue that.
• Reduce your use of the first personal pronoun.
• Praise at least as often as you disparage.
• Admit your errors freely and soon.
• Become less suspicious of joy.
• Understand humility.
• Remember that love forgives everything.
• Foster dignity.
• Live memorably.
• Love yourself.
• Endure.

Make mistakes, just don't make them permanent.

Doing nothing vs making a small effort

1.0 ^ 365 = 1.0

1.01 ^ 365 = 37.8

If you went back and fixed all the mistakes you've made, you'd erase yourself.

The 25 most popular icebreaker questions

1. What was your first job?
2. Have you ever met anyone famous?
3. What are you reading right now?
4. If you could pick up a new skill in an instant what would it be?
5. Who’s someone you really admire?
6. Seen any good movies lately you’d recommend?
7. Got any favorite quotes?
8. Been pleasantly surprised by anything lately?
9. What was your favorite band 10 years ago?
10. What’s your earliest memory?
11. Been anywhere recently for the first time?
12. What’s your favorite family tradition?
13. Who had the most influence on you growing up?
14. What was the first thing you bought with your own money?
15. What’s something you want to do in the next year that you’ve never done before?
16. Seen anything lately that made you smile?
17. What’s your favorite place you’ve ever visited?
18. Have you had your 15 minutes of fame yet?
19. What’s the best advice you’ve ever heard?
20. How do you like your eggs?
21. Do you have a favorite charity you wish more people knew about?
22. Got any phobias you’d like to break?
23. Have you returned anything you’ve purchased recently? Why?
24. Do you collect anything?
25. What’s your favorite breakfast cereal?

This place is like the Army: the shark ethic prevails, eat the wounded. In a closed society where everybody's guilty, the only crime is getting caught.

The delicate illusions that get us through life can only stand so much strain.

There is a saying that wisdom comes with age, but sometimes, age comes alone.

“Can you imagine a smart guy with a bad memory?” he asks. “When you can’t remember somebody’s name, you look stupid. Memory and smartness are integrated.”

When you start a new company, you build a shining goal, and after that, you can scale it back to something more realistic. I always use the same approach. To create an impossible vision.