Self-Improvement

2018 is my year of experiments (Why? TL;DR: New Year’s resolutions are over-rated and have a high failure rate. Anyone can run an experiment for a month.) My first experiment (No news for a month) is nearly done and I’ll declare it a success.

Background

The round-the-clock sensational news cycle exists in large part to create wealth for the already-too-wealthy. Little of it is actionable, leaving us at the same time both outraged and impotent. Mostly I decided to give up on the news because of Donald Trump, the demented psychopathic moron who managed to get elected president.^[I use these terms very carefully. Many have speculated that he suffers from some form of dementia owing to events where he slurs his words and perseverates. His sociopathic or psychopathic behaviours are well-documented; he is man devoid of empathy. And finally, his lack of reading is well-known. For all I can tell, the man is a functional illiterate. In contrast, his predecessor is a bibliophile and read widely and voraciously throughout his tenure.] Since Trump took office, like others, I’ve found myself cycling repeatedly through the stages of grief. But mostly I’ve been stuck on anger. There’s something about willful ignorance that does that to me.

New Year’s resolution time is at hand. But not for me; at least not in a traditional sense. I was inspired by David Cain’s experiments. In short, he conducts monthly experiments in self-improvement.

The idea of an experiment is appealing in ways that a resolution is not. A resolution presumes an outcome and relies only on the long application of will to see it through. An experiment on the other hand, makes only a conjecture about the outcome and can be conducted for a shorter period.