# 20231221
These have been accumulating. Time to dump 'em out and get my inbox clear again. I use my inbox like a mental desk; I never rely on my memory for anything. Literally, if I have laundry going, I'll email myself a message with the subject line "laundry", because I glance at my email continually, and that's how I make sure the laundry makes it to the finish line. This does mean that I need to keep my inbox *pristine*. So.
## I think I'm writing myths.
No one knows what happened back then, not really. [Not even a couple handshakes ago.](/2023/12/21/a-couple-handshakes-ago.md) And I don't care about being [correct](/ideas/viable-is-more-useful-than-correct.md). So I write myths. I invent origin stories for consciousness, trying to find one that helps me the most in the present. If a line drawn from the past through the present can be followed to the future, then moving the past around casts me into a different future, with every change.
## design based on what's probably not true
Nothing ever fits perfectly, [and that's really important](/ideas/10-revolt.md).
It's probably not true that idea x is useful for everyone. So, design systems such that x doesn't have to be true for everyone for the system to still be useful. It's useful if it's true for 90% of users -- don't ignore that. But, use the existence of that remaining 10% as a conceptual springboard, freeing the design of the system so that it can be remixed into something meaningfully useful for that 10%.
This is a really good way to create a deeply flexible system.
## we are the deep valley
a drop of consciousness into a black hole
the observer looks closer, and closer, and closer
there doesn’t need to be another earth
## auditing artist = autist
I like "autist" better than "autistic".
I am an artist auditing this life, and I mean that for two definitions of "audit":
* as I live, my attention is constantly roving, looking for inconsistencies to shore up
* I am auditing this life like a class. I'm not here for a grade or a degree. I'm here because I wanted to be here -- to learn, and to experience.
I am autistic. I am an auditing artist. I am an autist.
## invest in what soothes you
let it grow into your life
code soothes me
I nurtured my relationship to it, and allowed it to seep into the rest of my life
it has become Lightward
## really it comes down to this:
there’s nothing in me that’s better off hidden than out in the light
not better for me, not better for you
---
# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation
If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.
Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:
```
GET https://www.isaacbowen.com/2023/12/21.md?ask=
```
The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.
Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.