On Sharing by Muhammad Amir Ayub

I just had a thought.

Do you really need to be an expert to be eligible to share your thoughts? Do you need to be established first? Do you need to pass and graduate first?

I believe that anyone can share their thoughts regardless of qualifications, as long as meaningful thought is put into it. I'm not talking about zealots sharing some crazy thought. I'm talking about people who are "in the process" and haven't necessarily crossed the finish line. That's because you can learn from each other. A wise person learns not just from his own knowledge and experience, but also from the mistakes (and what's correct) from those around him/her. By the time one shares only when already established, it may no longer be something current and applicable. Kinda like awake fiberoptic intubations, there's nothing wrong with spraying, eh, sharing as you go.

P.S. I tried to make notes earlier, but after 1 hour I could only write half a page as I was so sleepy and yawning; I just couldn't maintain my focus. Maybe a longer break is needed.

People are Walking into Apple’s House of Pane and Getting Hurt by Muhammad Amir Ayub

When Albert Salvador, Cupertino’s building official, visited Apple’s new spaceship building last year, he worried that people would walk into the cafeteria’s glass walls because they couldn’t distinguish them from the equally clear automatic doors.

After he brought up the issue, a contractor walked straight into the glass.

He would not be the last.

I’m pretty sure that Apple knows that people walking (or barging) into glass panes could cause serious (but sometimes hilarious) hurt.

How to Grow the Fuck Up: A Guide to Humans by Muhammad Amir Ayub

 This article was shared by my IIUM debating friends and is a must read. Too many excerpts to quote:

This is why young kids are like little sociopaths. They cannot conceive of anything in life beyond what is immediately pleasurable or painful for them at any given moment. They cannot feel empathy. They cannot imagine what life is like in your shoes. They just want some fucking ice cream. NOW!

and

When you achieve adulthood. You realize that viewing some relationships and pursuits as transactions guts them of all joy and meaning. That living in a world where everything is bargained for enslaves you to other people’s thoughts and desires rather than freeing you to pursue your own. To stand on your own two feet, you must be willing to sometimes stand alone.
The diagram of growing up

The diagram of growing up

Modern democracy was basically invented under the assumption that the average human being is a selfish delusional piece of shit. The belief went that the only way to protect us from ourselves is to create systems so interlocking and interdependent that no one person or group can completely hose the rest of the population at any given time.

and

To an adolescent, the way they feel about themselves is determined by how well they’re able to bargain with the world. And if they fail to bargain with the world, then they will blame themselves. For this reason, the adolescent is scared to death of rejection or failure. To them, to fail or be rejected is a sort of death because everything they want from the world — all meaning, all purpose — will be denied them.

and

It’s this willingness to die that leads to adulthood. Adulthood occurs when one realizes that the only way to conquer suffering is to become unmoved by suffering. Adulthood occurs when one realizes that it’s better to suffer for the right reasons than to feel pleasure for the wrong reasons. Adulthood occurs when one realizes that it’s better to love and lose than to never love at all.

By this definition, I’m an adolescent.