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Okay, today I’m going to write a bit more from my geeky side of things, because it’s been a while. One of the most fascinating pieces of lore I’ve come across is D&D. I’ve never played the tabletop RPG itself, but I’ve played Neverwinter Nights and Baldur’s Gate 3. After a few playthroughs of BG3, I went down the rabbit hole and listened to dozens of hours of D&D lore videos—and my god. It’s really unlike any other fantasy setting I’ve encountered. Most fantasy world-building gives you a relatively simple heaven-and-hell setup. Even the Abrahamic religions in our own world tend to work with some version of that dynamic. D&D takes the idea further by giving morality itself two independent axes. One is the familiar moral axis of good and evil—concern for others versus selfishness and cruelty. The other is an ethical axis of order and chaos: how much a being values rules, hierarchy, and structure versus freedom, individuality, and change. Because the two axes can combine in di...

Don’t assume people are dumb. Once we get to a certain stage in life, it’s tempting to say, “I’m surrounded by idiots!” While Thomas Erikson explores this topic in a different way, I’ll leave it to you to read his book. I myself want to talk about how much of a handicap we place on ourselves if we hold this worldview. I am somewhat of an optimist when it comes to people. I subscribe to a Kantian view: I believe being kind to humans should be an end in itself. I try to avoid situations where “the ends justify the means,” especially when it comes to decisions like the trolley dilemma. Once we adopt that kind of mindset, we simplify the world into something mathematical. While this can be helpful in certain situations, I believe it is more often detrimental. When we think this way, we jump to conclusions too quickly, fixate on measurable numbers, and stop thinking outside the box. When presented with a problem like the trolley dilemma, I will challenge the questioner: Where is the train c...

Sometimes we are the limits of our own. I see this at work: we give opportunity to those who deserve it, and they reject it. That’s how they’ve lived their lives.

What is a friend to me? Someone who cares? Someone I communicate with often? Then, is family friends? Family is blood-bound, so there’s a clear line there. Whether a family member is also a friend can happen — because a family member who is not a friend is not uncommon. You don’t have to ask too many people before realising that not all family members actually care about you. Some may even hate you, due to jealousy, envy, or some complicated past. So why have friends when family should be enough? Well, it helps that a relationship isn’t defined by something out of my control. I can’t choose family, but I can definitely choose friends. And I choose a friend when I call that person a friend.

Many people do not understand the importance of streamlining communications. Firstly, without a designated PIC (Person-in-Charge), tough decisions cannot be made effectively. This is because the key person does not have all the relevant information at hand and must consult multiple parties to consolidate the various conversations on the topic. Without the ability to make tough decisions, situations fail to improve and the team remains stuck in perpetual “fire-fighting” mode. Constant fire-fighting prevents us from addressing root causes or preventing future problems. Existing issues worsen over time, overall team stress levels rise, and people lose the capacity to look beyond immediate daily tasks. Most individuals cannot sustain this kind of environment for long and will eventually leave the company. It is therefore management’s responsibility to prevent such issues from accumulating. Secondly, when someone asks “Who needs to do what?”, the answer must name specific individuals. Assig...

Today, I got someone kicked out of a group chat. It doesn’t feel great. I know what it’s like to be ostracised, so this sits uncomfortably with me. That said, I wasn’t the one who dished out the punishment. Yes, I added fuel to the conversation, but I genuinely believed it was a worthwhile discussion. In the past, I have shut down a sensitive topic before. This one, however, didn’t seem that bad. It was simply a photo of an alleged unhygienic practice in a hospital — something I found insightful. So I engaged. That exchange ultimately led to the OP being removed from the group, and the administrator deleted the entire thread. I remain uncertain how I feel about it, hence I write. 

Recently, I’ve been reading about populism and its effects on communities. As a social psychology enthusiast, it always amazes me how the crowd can bring out either the best or the worst in people. And when you’re in that crowd, it’s not easy to maintain the awareness to realise what the crowd is doing to you. Its effects in politics can generate a momentum that pushes opinions toward the extreme. Most academics agree that this is not healthy in the long term and can distract from what is actually important. A recent video by Joeri Schasfoort, the YouTuber behind Money & Macro, listed four mainstream explanations for this trend: Social media polarisation Economic disenchantment Cultural disconnect and representation gap Rise in racism Interestingly, he quickly dismissed the fourth reason—racism. It’s a relief to think we’re not heading toward total societal collapse simply because we’ve started hating one another so intensely. But the other three factors offer very real lessons for...

Do we seek the best driving advice from a 60-year-old who has been driving for 40 years? Or from an F1 champion who has won multiple championships? Or from a driving instructor who has spent 10 years deliberately helping others improve? Casual experience — simply racking up decades behind the wheel — doesn’t mean much. Even expert performance, by itself, doesn’t automatically translate into wisdom worth following. What truly counts is instructional experience: the refined ability to diagnose errors, break down tacit knowledge, and guide others through deliberate practice. Most of what a long-time driver “knows” is tacit — intuitive, embodied, and hard to articulate (as Michael Polanyi described). An F1 champion has elite pattern recognition and deliberate practice under pressure, but that doesn’t guarantee they can unpack their skill for a beginner. The instructor who has spent years reflecting on how people actually learn, adjusting their methods, and producing measurable improvement ...

Honesty. It isn’t just about telling the truth. The recipient of that truth also has agency in the matter. Few of us think about it this way, but I’m here to remind myself that I have a role to play in building an honest society. I’m going to assume most of us here understand the importance of honesty. But for the sake of building the case, I’ll go through it briefly. It is my belief that honesty is the best policy—not because it is some intangible virtue that somehow earns us karma points in the distant future or the next life. I’d rather be very specific and practical about why honesty is the best policy. There were countless times in my youth when I thought I could cover something up, that enough time would pass, and I would get away with it. Of course, there were also countless times I got away with saying, “I’ve forgotten my homework book at home”—but that’s a story for a different day. As we get older, people start depending on us, and we have to do our part. For example, at work...

It's strange to reach this point in my life, where friends no longer reach out to me because they think I'm busy.  And if I don't reach out to them, we'll surely drift apart. So, should I?