The optimism issue

Postcard #14

Fortepan / Győző József

Hello and welcome back to another edition of THE POSTCARD, Unregistered’s fortnightly roundup of recommendations.

Thoughts, tools, and treats

This week, the glass is half full.

• You don’t have to be defined by age

  „The secret is not to be frightened,“ the 88-year-old Frederic Tuten says in this wonderful interview series. „I wake up in the morning, have coffee and write. After that I go to my easel and paint. It’s a rhythm that keeps me feeling alive. It eliminates any notion of age. You’re not old, you’re not young, you’re in the moment.“

• There’s a market for beautiful things

  Roger Tredre reports on „the joys of making beautiful clothing with care.“

• Literary culture thrives

  A new books and culture magazine titled The Metropolitan Review is dedicated to “ambitious, unapologetically high-brow essays and book reviews.“ Check it out!

• Deep optimism

  Kevin Kelly makes a compelling yet nuanced case for human progress in this classic article.

• Culture becomes archipelagoic

  On a platform like Substack, Sam Kahn argues, „the people writing posts are the same people who are commenting on others’ posts, it becomes almost impossible to identify where the center is.“ As far as I am concerned, that’s correct. Lately, I have participated in discussions about the tech right, credentials, teaching, and blogging.

Noteworthy

“Pessimismo dell'intelligenza, ottimismo della volontà”

—Antonio Gramsci, 1920, who attributed the motto to Romain Rolland

A mystery link leading into the unknown

Steven Pinker pays attention to the data:

• Surprise!

As always,

Dirk

P.S.: Feel free to send me pointers to articles, books, sites, pods, tools, and treats that could be interesting for this roundup. While I cannot promise to link them, I read and appreciate every hint.