The world is waking to the fact that talk therapy is neither the only nor the best way to cure a garden-variety petite depression. Something many people will encounter at some point in their lives. Studies haveshown that exercise, for example, is a more effective treatment than talk therapy (and pharmaceuticals!) when dealing with such episodes. But I'm just as interested in the role building competence can have in warding off the demons.
And partly because of this meme:
I've talked about it before, but I keep coming back to the fact that it's exactly backwards. That signing up for an educational quest into Linux, history, or motorcycle repair actually is an incredibly effective alternative to therapy! At least for men who'd prefer to feel useful over being listened to, which, in my experience, is most of them.
This is why I find it so misguided when people who undertake those quests sell their journey short with self-effacing jibes about how much an unattractive nerd it makes them to care about their hobby. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi detailed back in 1990 how peak human happiness arrives exactly in these moments of flow when your competence is stretched by a difficult-but-doable challenge. Don't tell me those endorphins don't also help counter the darkness.
But it's just as much about the fact that these pursuits of competence usually offer a great opportunity for community as well that seals the deal. I've found time and again that people are starved for the kind of topic-based connections that, say, learning about Linux offers in spades. You're not just learning, you're learning with others.
That is a time-tested antidote to depression: Forming and cultivating meaningful human connections. Yes, doing so over the internet isn't as powerful as doing it in person, but it's still powerful. It still offers community, involvement, and plenty of invitation to carry a meaningful burden.
Open source nails this trifecta of motivations to a T. There are endless paths of discovery and mastery available. There are tons of fellow travelers with whom to connect and collaborate. And you'll find an unlimited number of meaningful burdens in maintainerships open for the taking.
So next time you see that meme, you should cheer that the talk therapy table is empty. Leave it available for the severe, pathological cases that exercise and the pursuit of competence can't cure. Most people just don't need therapy, they need purpose, they need competence, they need exercise, and they need community.
一位定居德国的中国妈妈，准备为自己的女儿申请德国就读幼儿园的资格。但德国的申请非常困难，一旦错过就会耽误孩子上学的情况。所以为了方便申请，这位妈妈生活在 A 城时，考虑搬迁至 B 城，并在 B 城申请了幼儿园资格。他们顺利获得资格后，幼儿园向 B 城所在的预留地址投送了信件，但由于他们还没有搬至 B 城，导致信件未投妥被退回。幼儿园与这位妈妈取得联系，才被告知他们全家考虑 8 月中旬搬迁至 B 城（因为幼儿园就读时间为 9 月），因为这个信息，幼儿园决定收回他们已发出的申请，以他们未实际生活在 B 城为由拒绝了申请。
事实 A 引发的认知 B 在发生偏差后，导致了偏差行为结果 C，外归因就是将 A 和 B 混为一谈，将他们认为的外部环境当成了引导结果 C 的根本原因。一些外归因是用来逃避责任的，例如职场里常常遇到的那些一到关键时候会认为一切错误都源自于别人的人；而另一些外归因是用来逃避自我审视的，例如将原生家庭作为自己不幸的最终解释权，用原生家庭掩盖了自己应该做出改变和「长大」的责任，用来作为伤害他人甚至自己的借口和依据。
People seem to be continuously disappointed by the fact that public companies are run by professional managers who don't operate from deep principles. But they shouldn't be. It's in everyone's interest that corporations set their sails to the wind and whims of the prevailing culture. It's the essence of capitalism: Give people what they want (especially when they change their minds)!
Now, as an owner-operator, I can afford to have unpopular principles from time to time. I can afford to earn less than the theoretical maximum from the market as a consequence of these principles. That's because I'm playing with my own money. That's the privilege of being privately held.
But even the most powerful professional CEO is on a short leash from the company's real owners, the shareholders. This is often maligned as the root of all evil in modern capitalism. That we've divorced the owner and the operator. And I think there's a worthy critique of that arrangement to be had, like Burnham in The Managerial Society. But I also think not enough appreciation is afforded this arrangement.
Shareholders, in their Platonic ideal, only care about maximizing profits. That can occasionally be an incentive for amoral behavior, but more often, it's simply a driver towards making stuff that people want. Not what they say they want, but what they actually buy.
That's why libertarians love to talk about the free-market economy as an information system. Supply-side economics notwithstanding, demand directs production and judges the contestants. If you don't make something people want, they won't buy it, and you'll soon be out of business.
I thought about this today because of two popular marketing campaigns currently running in America. The one by Nike celebrating family, the other by American Eagle celebrating "good jeans". Here's a comparison someone made online using these companies' campaigns from the early 2020s and now:
Quite the contrast! Almost looks like hypocrisy, doesn't it? How can you celebrate obesity one moment, then hour-glass ideals the next? How can you embrace undirected individualism before, then exalt family values at the height of excellence now?
Easy: The vibe changed. Demand changed. Selling 2020 woke platitudes into a 2025 market is a clear way to lose your job as a professional manager. Because it's no longer what people want.
Hell, it's most likely not even the same managers making these diametrically-opposed value judgments. Perhaps not even managers at all, but marketing agencies in tune with said prevailing culture. The big information system of commerce is sending a billion packets of intent all day long and the current message is now crystal clear: Blond babies and boobs are back in business!
This was the original killer insight by the architects of the short-lived woke theocracy: If you can capture culture, you can capture capitalism. But it's one thing to capture culture, it's quite another to hold it.
So now much of mainstream American culture has simply reverted to the roots of capitalism: Making things that most people want. By course-correcting the culture, we've course-corrected commerce. No corporate principles required.
It's only been two months since I discovered the power and joy of this new generation of mini PCs. My journey started out with a Minisforum UM870, which is a lovely machine, but since then, I've come to really appreciate the work of Beelink.
In a crowdedmarketforminiPCs, Beelink stands out with their superior build quality, their class-leading cooling and silent operation, and their use of fully Linux-compatible components (the UM870 shipped with a MediaTek bluetooth/wifi card that doesn't work with Linux!). It's the complete package at three super compelling price points.
For $289, you can get the EQR5, which runs an 8-core AMD Zen3 5825U that puts out 1723/6419 in Geekbench, and comes with 16GB RAM and 500GB NVMe. I've run Omarchy on it, and it flies. For me, the main drawback was the lack of a DisplayPort, which kept me from using it with an Apple display, and the fact that the SER8 exists. But if you're on a budget, and you're fine with HDMI only, it's a wild bargain.
For $499, you can get the SER8. That's the price-to-performance sweet spot in the range. It uses the excellent 8-core AMD Zen4 8745HS that puts out 2595/12985 in Geekbench (~M4 multi-core numbers!), and runs our HEY test suite with 30,000 assertions almost as fast as an M4 Max! At that price, you get 32GB RAM + 1TB NVMe, as well as a DisplayPort, so it works with both the Apple 5K Studio Display and the Apple 6K XDR Display (you just need the right cable). Main drawback is limited wifi/bluetooth range, but Beelink tells me there's a fix on the way for that.
For $929, you can get the SER9 HX370. This is the top dog in this form factor. It uses the incredible 12-core AMD Zen5 HX370 that hits 2990/15611 in Geekbench, and runs our HEY test suite faster than any Apple M chip I've ever tested. The built-in graphics are also very capable. Enough to play a ton of games at 1080p. It also sorted the SER8's current wifi/bluetooth range issue.
I ran the SER8 as my main computer for a while, but now I'm using the SER9, and I just about never feel like I need anything more. Yes, the Framework Desktop, with its insane AMD Max 395+ chip, is even more bonkers. It almost cuts the HEY test suite time in half(!), but it's also $1,795, and not yet generally available. (But preorders are open for the ballers!).
Whichever machine fits your budget, it's frankly incredible that we have this kind of performance and efficiency available at these prices with all of these Beelinks drawing less than 10 watt at idle and no more than 100 watt at peak!
So it's no wonder that Beelink has been sellingtheseunitslikehotcakes since I startedtalking about them on X as the ideal, cheap Omarchy desktop computers. It's such a symbiotic relationship. There are a ton of programmers who have become Linux curious, and Beelink offers no-brainer options to give that a try at a bargain.
I just love when that happens. The perfect intersection of hardware, software, and timing. That's what we got here. It's a Beelink, baby!
(And no, before you ask, I don't get any royalties, there's no affiliate link, and I don't own any shares in Beelink. I just love discovering great technology and seeing people start their Linux journey with an awesome, affordable computer!)
如果将人类作为「生物」，一种会使用工具、拥有语言、能抽象思考的高智力灵长类动物。AI 介入将人类的繁育和教育重新优化，培育出全新的「绝对理性人类」，确实能够高效地避免再次发生战争与灭亡。这个时候，我们跟 AI 一样，将人类视为了一个生物群体，用这样的方式管辖人类的生存，跟水族箱里被养殖和保护的生物有何区别？
There's no country on earth that does hype better than America. It's one of the most appealing aspects about being here. People are genuinely excited about the future and never stop searching for better ways to work, live, entertain, and profit. There's a unique critical mass in the US accelerating and celebrating tomorrow.
The contrast to Europe couldn't be greater. Most Europeans are allergic to anything that even smells like a commercial promise of a better tomorrow. "Hype" is universally used as a term to ridicule anyone who dares to be excited about something new, something different. Only a fool would believe that real progress is possible!
This is cultural bedrock. The fault lines have been settling for generations. It'll take an earthquake to move them.
You see this in AI, you saw it in the Internet. Europeans are just as smart, just as inventive as their American brethren, but they don't do hype, so they're rarely the ones able to sell the sizzle that public opinion requires to shift its vision for tomorrow.
I must admit that the excesses of venture capital are integral to this uniquely American advantage on hype. The lavish overspending during the dot-com boom led directly to a spectacular bust, but it also built the foundation of the internet we all enjoy today. Pets.com and Webvan flamed out such that Amazon and Shopify could transform ecommerce out of the ashes.
We're in the thick of peak hype on AI right now. Fantastical sums are chasing AGI along with every dumb derivative mirage along the way. The most outrageous claims are being put forth on the daily. It's easy to look at that spectacle with European eyes and roll them. Some of it is pretty cringe!
But I think that would be a mistake. You don't have to throw away your critical reasoning to accept that in the face of unknown potential, optimism beats pessimism. We all have to believe in something, and you're much better off believing that things can get better than not.
Americans fundamentally believe this. They believe the hype, so they make it come to fruition. Not every time, not all of them, but more of them, more of the time than any other country in the world.
Windows is still dominant at 63%, and Apple sit at 26%. But for the latter, it's quite a drop from their peak of 33% in June 2023.
These are just browser stats, though (even if it's backed up by directionally-similar numbers from Cloudflare). There's undoubtedly some variability in the numbers, by the season, and by what lives in the relatively large 4% mystery box of "other". But there's no denying that Linux is trending in the right direction in the US.
As a Dane, though, I find it sad that Denmark is once again a laggard when it comes to adoption. Windows is even more dominant there at almost 70% (with Apple at 15%). Linux is just under 2%. Interestingly, though, ChromeOS, which is basically a locked-down Linux distribution, is at almost 5%.
I guess I really shouldn't be disappointed because this is how it always was. It was a big reason why I moved to the US back in 2005. When Ruby on Rails was taking off, it was in America first and foremost. Danish companies were too conservative, too complacent, too married to Microsoft to really pay attention.
There are early indications that a willingness to change this laggard mentality might be sprouting, but we've yet to see any evidence that a shift has actually taken hold yet. It's hard to change culture!
So while the Danes continue to fiddle, the Americans continue to push forward. Linux is on the up and up!
When I drive the 24 Hours of Le Mans, I spend a total of about 6-9 hours in the car, divided into stints of roughly two hours at a time. It's intense. But talking with Lex Fridman in Austin on his podcast? Over six hours straight! We only interrupted the session for five minutes total to take three bathroom breaks. All that endurance training has clearly paid off!
But the magic of a good conversation, like the magic of driving at Le Mans, is that time flies by. Those six hours felt more like sixty minutes. This is what flow does: it compresses the moment.
Besides, we had plenty to talk about. Lex prepares like no other podcast I've ever been on. Pages and pages of notes. Deep questions, endless attention for tangents. We covered the beauty of Ruby for half an hour alone! But also the future of AI, small teams, why we left the cloud, Elon Musk, fatherhood, money and happiness, and a million other topics (which Lex mercifully timestamps, so listeners without six hours to spare can hop around).
之所以会提出这个问题，是因为随着信息爆炸与注意力稀缺，我们作为这个时代的一份子，也明显察觉到文字论述的门槛越来越高，并不是所有人都能耐着性子看完一篇文章，甚至还会借用 AI 的功能用概括式的方式阅读文章甚至书籍；与之对应的，情绪表达的门槛开始越来越低，而图像+幽默+刻板偏见的方式，例如 meme，就变成了一种低认知成本高传播效率的语言表达方式。
