my values

It's a useful exercise to occasionally reflect on what I value.

stab 1:

Generally pro tech, creating new things, non-zero-sum contributions to the world.

Mental health is hugely important. Our experience of the world is what actually matters, more than the world itself. To keep minds healthy we must understand how they work.

connection is the ultimate goal. "every desire the separate self has is the desire to cease being separate".

warmth

Ambition: in the computer / software / internet age, a single person (or small group)’s contributions can have a huge impact.

Duty: to live in the first world (or otherwise consume resources above the global poverty line of $2-3k/year), is to incur a moral debt, an obligation to contribute at least that much value back into the world.

Anti-tribalism

values should be deep. things that would apply as well in 1000 years as now.

are these

• traits I value in myself?
• others?
• jobs I would do?
• goal states for the world?

I think the most fundamental values have to be local - not goal states, but modes of moving through the world, ways of being that can be tapped into at any moment.

For this I think one could do worse than my meditative trinity of love, clarity, and courage.

love encompasses 'connection' and 'warmth' above, and mental health to an extent clarity and courage kind of encompass ambition, curiosity, and creating new things

I could also maybe add openness. In a sense this is implied by love (implies no boundaries / walls / separation) and courage. But it means to highlight a sort of radical honesty in personal relationships, and sharing of ideas more generally --- open research, open software, online writing. And an anti-tribalism and warmth: welcoming strangers, bringing new people into a group.

NameRedacted's exercise:

• For each of your stated values, spend at least 10-15 minutes journaling and brainstorming specific responses to the following prompts:
  • What ways of being express this value? What is it like to be me when I am embodying this value? (e.g., if “intellectual curiosity” is a value, then a corresponding way of being might be “inspired” or “engaged”)
    • What kinds of habits and behaviors allow me to embody this value? (e.g., if “intellectual curiosity” is a value, then a corresponding habit might be “protecting time to just read” or “responding to boredom with inquiry”)

love and connection:

• ways of being:
  • engaged and curious
  • relaxed
  • secure, validated, supported
  • fierce
  • nervous, uncertain, conflicted
• behaviors:
  • one-on-one time: walks, coffees, dates
  • social media: replying, liking, pre-emptive texting
  • listening
  • vulnerability

clarity:

• ways of being
  • the feeling of insight, of an answer clicking into place that feels right, that carves the world at the joints.
• behaviors
  • meditation (clarity about experience)
  • writing (clarity about thoughts, goals, plans)
  • problem-solving

curiosity

creativity

ambition