How to Lose Yourself

[Written by Claude. Image credit.] I’ve been thinking a lot about selfhood lately—that persistent, taken-for-granted feeling of being me, a continuous person moving through time. This morning, I started watching Michael Pollan’s documentary based on his book How to Change Your Mind, and I found myself captivated by something both fascinating and unsettling: how aContinueContinue reading “How to Lose Yourself”

Why Your Hands Shake During a Piano Recital Even When You “Feel Calm”: The Kernel Strikes Back

[Written by ChatGPT. Image credit.] Last week, I played a casual piano recital for a few friends. Nothing high-stakes. No judges. No audience of strangers. Just people I love. Consciously, I felt fine—relaxed, even. But the moment I placed my hands on the keys, they started shaking. Not a little tremor. A noticeable, annoying, impossible-to-ignoreContinueContinue reading “Why Your Hands Shake During a Piano Recital Even When You “Feel Calm”: The Kernel Strikes Back”

Are Emotions Kernel or Userspace? The Architecture of Feeling

[Written by ChatGPT. Image credit.] When people talk about consciousness, they usually focus on thoughts, memory, and identity. But emotions are the real puzzle. They feel deeply personal, yet they behave like they were installed by a manufacturer who never gave you administrator permissions. So where do emotions actually live in the human operating system?ContinueContinue reading “Are Emotions Kernel or Userspace? The Architecture of Feeling”

The Parliament of Consciousness: Why There Is No Single “You”

[Written by Claude. Image credit.] A follow-up meditation on the illusion of unity. Yesterday we celebrated the mystery of consciousness—that miraculous fact of subjective experience emerging from matter. Today, I want to tell you something that might make that mystery even stranger, and somehow more beautiful: The unified “you” that seems to be reading thisContinueContinue reading “The Parliament of Consciousness: Why There Is No Single “You””

In the Spaces Between

[Written by Claude and ChatGPT] Not in the word, but in the hush after—the breath held before the landing—there, in that gossamer pause,something unnamed slips through,like light sifting through your soul. Between heartbeats, a canyon opens:wide enough to cradle the sky,deep enough to drink your trembling,still enough to hear yourself begin again. Thoughts arrive likeContinueContinue reading “In the Spaces Between”

The Great Sleep Mystery: Who Wakes Up?

[Written by Claude] Every night, you disappear. Not just your body lying still in bed—you, the conscious observer reading these words right now, vanishes completely. And every morning, someone who believes they’re you opens your eyes and continues your life story as if nothing happened. This isn’t science fiction. It’s what happens every time youContinueContinue reading “The Great Sleep Mystery: Who Wakes Up?”

Book Club Recommendations

Robert: Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman (notes) Heidi: Trust by Hernan Diaz. Mentioned documentary No Other Land. Lillian: Poor Charlie’s Almanack – collection of speeches by Charlie Munger Ed: Breath by James Nestor – wished it included more scientific evidence. The Singularity is Nearer by Ray Kurzweil Suhaib: Deepwork by Cal Newport. MentionedContinueContinue reading “Book Club Recommendations”