I have not been appreciative enough of impossible goals, like autonomous time-telling networks. I have pursued achievable goals at the expense of interesting ones. Paradoxical goals are especially powerful.
A long time ago I was in love with the problem of decentralized but ordered claims. How can you put things in a definite order without any authority? I filled a notebook with ideas.
After a year or so I decided there was no definite win for me personally. How would this problem help make me a living? I am not an academic. I am not a writer. I am a developer, and the problem I was in love with was not a good idea for a product.
So I stopped.
15 years later I realize how inspiring that paradoxical problem was. If I had kept going it might well have - paradoxically - earned me a better living than the tactical projects I switched over to.
This is an emphemeral blog entry: I always rewrite the same one. It is a long-lasting mount point for writing that comes and goes.
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