Dr Alex
@afedorov.bsky.social
Hong Kong & Asia | Religion, plurality & secularity
Sociology & education | Autoethnography & writing
Freedom, diversity, motivation
afedorov.com | #RaveAsMethod | jatb.nl
Sociology & education | Autoethnography & writing
Freedom, diversity, motivation
afedorov.com | #RaveAsMethod | jatb.nl
It’s unbelievable how time changes things. First time in New Orleans—9 years ago—True Detective S01, Texas–Louisiana–Georgia by Greyhound.
Now as Marriott Bonvoy Titanium, networked in academia, polishing my AAA paper & UNESCO report. Still IPA from a paper bag.
Same city—just a little rough.
Now as Marriott Bonvoy Titanium, networked in academia, polishing my AAA paper & UNESCO report. Still IPA from a paper bag.
Same city—just a little rough.
November 20, 2025 at 4:36 AM
It’s unbelievable how time changes things. First time in New Orleans—9 years ago—True Detective S01, Texas–Louisiana–Georgia by Greyhound.
Now as Marriott Bonvoy Titanium, networked in academia, polishing my AAA paper & UNESCO report. Still IPA from a paper bag.
Same city—just a little rough.
Now as Marriott Bonvoy Titanium, networked in academia, polishing my AAA paper & UNESCO report. Still IPA from a paper bag.
Same city—just a little rough.
New Orleans feels like it’s built around #AAA this week—my second time here (first was 9 years ago), but the whole city has that conference gravity.
It’s like Barcelona during MWC: the air changes.
On the airport bus yesterday, two girls from my flight suddenly realized they were both presenting.
It’s like Barcelona during MWC: the air changes.
On the airport bus yesterday, two girls from my flight suddenly realized they were both presenting.
November 19, 2025 at 11:40 AM
New Orleans feels like it’s built around #AAA this week—my second time here (first was 9 years ago), but the whole city has that conference gravity.
It’s like Barcelona during MWC: the air changes.
On the airport bus yesterday, two girls from my flight suddenly realized they were both presenting.
It’s like Barcelona during MWC: the air changes.
On the airport bus yesterday, two girls from my flight suddenly realized they were both presenting.
Landed in Seattle—zero (!) people in the non-US passport line.
Used the chance to pitch The Habitus of Staycations.
The poor officer:
“Do you live in HK?”
“Why are you flying to New Orleans?”
And suddenly—COVID, 49 hotels, my PhD, the accidental pet project turning into paper. Even googled #AAA.
Used the chance to pitch The Habitus of Staycations.
The poor officer:
“Do you live in HK?”
“Why are you flying to New Orleans?”
And suddenly—COVID, 49 hotels, my PhD, the accidental pet project turning into paper. Even googled #AAA.
November 18, 2025 at 8:56 AM
Landed in Seattle—zero (!) people in the non-US passport line.
Used the chance to pitch The Habitus of Staycations.
The poor officer:
“Do you live in HK?”
“Why are you flying to New Orleans?”
And suddenly—COVID, 49 hotels, my PhD, the accidental pet project turning into paper. Even googled #AAA.
Used the chance to pitch The Habitus of Staycations.
The poor officer:
“Do you live in HK?”
“Why are you flying to New Orleans?”
And suddenly—COVID, 49 hotels, my PhD, the accidental pet project turning into paper. Even googled #AAA.
Speaking of audiobooks—they’ve become my core consumption/method.
When I’m in walking through HK, Seoul, or Tokyo, I can finish a book a day. Movement clears space; language slips in.
Audible has limits (especially if you devour 10–15 books/month), but for writing-craft literature, it’s unmatched.
When I’m in walking through HK, Seoul, or Tokyo, I can finish a book a day. Movement clears space; language slips in.
Audible has limits (especially if you devour 10–15 books/month), but for writing-craft literature, it’s unmatched.
November 15, 2025 at 2:55 AM
Speaking of audiobooks—they’ve become my core consumption/method.
When I’m in walking through HK, Seoul, or Tokyo, I can finish a book a day. Movement clears space; language slips in.
Audible has limits (especially if you devour 10–15 books/month), but for writing-craft literature, it’s unmatched.
When I’m in walking through HK, Seoul, or Tokyo, I can finish a book a day. Movement clears space; language slips in.
Audible has limits (especially if you devour 10–15 books/month), but for writing-craft literature, it’s unmatched.
Ryan Van Cleave. Not a classic, but a perfect match with my current “autoethnography and memoir.”
Practical insight from structures and archetypes to “writers and substances”—Hemingway's “write drunk, edit sober.”
Glad I managed to finish it in HK: started listening to it on the bus when landed.
Practical insight from structures and archetypes to “writers and substances”—Hemingway's “write drunk, edit sober.”
Glad I managed to finish it in HK: started listening to it on the bus when landed.
November 14, 2025 at 11:21 AM
Ryan Van Cleave. Not a classic, but a perfect match with my current “autoethnography and memoir.”
Practical insight from structures and archetypes to “writers and substances”—Hemingway's “write drunk, edit sober.”
Glad I managed to finish it in HK: started listening to it on the bus when landed.
Practical insight from structures and archetypes to “writers and substances”—Hemingway's “write drunk, edit sober.”
Glad I managed to finish it in HK: started listening to it on the bus when landed.
After finishing Writing Down the Bones, I can’t stop reading and listening to Natalie Goldberg.
She speaks about mortality:
“I don’t have any great thing I want to accomplish.
I’d like to hang out more. Sit at the bus stop, on a bench, and just be there—breathing in and breathing out.”
Beautiful.
She speaks about mortality:
“I don’t have any great thing I want to accomplish.
I’d like to hang out more. Sit at the bus stop, on a bench, and just be there—breathing in and breathing out.”
Beautiful.
November 13, 2025 at 4:49 AM
After finishing Writing Down the Bones, I can’t stop reading and listening to Natalie Goldberg.
She speaks about mortality:
“I don’t have any great thing I want to accomplish.
I’d like to hang out more. Sit at the bus stop, on a bench, and just be there—breathing in and breathing out.”
Beautiful.
She speaks about mortality:
“I don’t have any great thing I want to accomplish.
I’d like to hang out more. Sit at the bus stop, on a bench, and just be there—breathing in and breathing out.”
Beautiful.
Hoping to launch afedorov.com, but spending time creating content than fixing #WordPress menus.
Wrote a new blog post: “A Minimalist, Autonomy-First OS Cocktail — 30% Secular Buddhism + 25% Moral Autonomy + 25% Fromm + 20% Late Tolstoy.”
My supervisors always say my upside is being provocative ;)
Wrote a new blog post: “A Minimalist, Autonomy-First OS Cocktail — 30% Secular Buddhism + 25% Moral Autonomy + 25% Fromm + 20% Late Tolstoy.”
My supervisors always say my upside is being provocative ;)
Alexander Fedorov - afedorov.com
afedorov.com
November 12, 2025 at 2:01 PM
Hoping to launch afedorov.com, but spending time creating content than fixing #WordPress menus.
Wrote a new blog post: “A Minimalist, Autonomy-First OS Cocktail — 30% Secular Buddhism + 25% Moral Autonomy + 25% Fromm + 20% Late Tolstoy.”
My supervisors always say my upside is being provocative ;)
Wrote a new blog post: “A Minimalist, Autonomy-First OS Cocktail — 30% Secular Buddhism + 25% Moral Autonomy + 25% Fromm + 20% Late Tolstoy.”
My supervisors always say my upside is being provocative ;)
The more I think about liminality, the less it feels like a threshold.
It’s not “between” states—it’s the state that stays.
It’s not “between” states—it’s the state that stays.
November 12, 2025 at 1:52 AM
The more I think about liminality, the less it feels like a threshold.
It’s not “between” states—it’s the state that stays.
It’s not “between” states—it’s the state that stays.
From noble silence to conference emails—same volume, different frequency.
Reentry is always the real meditation.
Heading to New Orleans / #AAA next week with The Habitus of Staycations on Hong Kong pandemic leisure.
The project that once felt bizarre feels bizarre again—full circle 😎
Reentry is always the real meditation.
Heading to New Orleans / #AAA next week with The Habitus of Staycations on Hong Kong pandemic leisure.
The project that once felt bizarre feels bizarre again—full circle 😎
November 11, 2025 at 5:37 AM
From noble silence to conference emails—same volume, different frequency.
Reentry is always the real meditation.
Heading to New Orleans / #AAA next week with The Habitus of Staycations on Hong Kong pandemic leisure.
The project that once felt bizarre feels bizarre again—full circle 😎
Reentry is always the real meditation.
Heading to New Orleans / #AAA next week with The Habitus of Staycations on Hong Kong pandemic leisure.
The project that once felt bizarre feels bizarre again—full circle 😎
While I was meditating, our #RaveAsMethod paper was accepted by #AERA Arts-Based SIG.
Euan and I are thrilled—it’s one of the few spaces to provoke about the blurring lines between epistemology and affect/emotions in academia. And in a liminal world.
Hoping to be in LA soon. Loved the reviews 🫠
Euan and I are thrilled—it’s one of the few spaces to provoke about the blurring lines between epistemology and affect/emotions in academia. And in a liminal world.
Hoping to be in LA soon. Loved the reviews 🫠
November 10, 2025 at 12:30 AM
While I was meditating, our #RaveAsMethod paper was accepted by #AERA Arts-Based SIG.
Euan and I are thrilled—it’s one of the few spaces to provoke about the blurring lines between epistemology and affect/emotions in academia. And in a liminal world.
Hoping to be in LA soon. Loved the reviews 🫠
Euan and I are thrilled—it’s one of the few spaces to provoke about the blurring lines between epistemology and affect/emotions in academia. And in a liminal world.
Hoping to be in LA soon. Loved the reviews 🫠
As much as meditation is ethical and experiential for me,
I find aesthetic criteria borrowed from the arts deeply relatable.
Someone once said that true art works when everything you can take from it—and hold—is yours.
Strangely accurate for #Vipassana, too.
I find aesthetic criteria borrowed from the arts deeply relatable.
Someone once said that true art works when everything you can take from it—and hold—is yours.
Strangely accurate for #Vipassana, too.
November 9, 2025 at 2:42 PM
As much as meditation is ethical and experiential for me,
I find aesthetic criteria borrowed from the arts deeply relatable.
Someone once said that true art works when everything you can take from it—and hold—is yours.
Strangely accurate for #Vipassana, too.
I find aesthetic criteria borrowed from the arts deeply relatable.
Someone once said that true art works when everything you can take from it—and hold—is yours.
Strangely accurate for #Vipassana, too.
7 years ago, I left my first 10-days Vipassana halfway through.
Went back to the same Lantau center. Full circle. The awareness was sharper, the silence louder.
The teacher laughed when I said I preferred my thoughts to the present moment. “Relax,” he said. He was right.
Went back to the same Lantau center. Full circle. The awareness was sharper, the silence louder.
The teacher laughed when I said I preferred my thoughts to the present moment. “Relax,” he said. He was right.
November 9, 2025 at 7:22 AM
7 years ago, I left my first 10-days Vipassana halfway through.
Went back to the same Lantau center. Full circle. The awareness was sharper, the silence louder.
The teacher laughed when I said I preferred my thoughts to the present moment. “Relax,” he said. He was right.
Went back to the same Lantau center. Full circle. The awareness was sharper, the silence louder.
The teacher laughed when I said I preferred my thoughts to the present moment. “Relax,” he said. He was right.
Had a chat why I picked #HK as home (if I have one). The most beautiful, layered place I know (I’ve been to 130+ countries). Partly true.
The bigger reason is its liminality—the theme I’ve been working on recently: Rave as Method, The Habitus of Staycations, Travel as Non-Method. Even my website.
The bigger reason is its liminality—the theme I’ve been working on recently: Rave as Method, The Habitus of Staycations, Travel as Non-Method. Even my website.
October 28, 2025 at 3:12 PM
Had a chat why I picked #HK as home (if I have one). The most beautiful, layered place I know (I’ve been to 130+ countries). Partly true.
The bigger reason is its liminality—the theme I’ve been working on recently: Rave as Method, The Habitus of Staycations, Travel as Non-Method. Even my website.
The bigger reason is its liminality—the theme I’ve been working on recently: Rave as Method, The Habitus of Staycations, Travel as Non-Method. Even my website.
I’ve used Google Cloud TTS daily for a year—could name half the US/UK voices by ear.
Vertex is an unbelievable downgrade. 500-char limit is just the cherry on top—worse UX.
Ruined the workflow. Pure pain.
If anyone knows a stable long-form TTS (desktop, downloads, Dropbox-friendly), I’m listening.
Vertex is an unbelievable downgrade. 500-char limit is just the cherry on top—worse UX.
Ruined the workflow. Pure pain.
If anyone knows a stable long-form TTS (desktop, downloads, Dropbox-friendly), I’m listening.
October 28, 2025 at 3:48 AM
I’ve used Google Cloud TTS daily for a year—could name half the US/UK voices by ear.
Vertex is an unbelievable downgrade. 500-char limit is just the cherry on top—worse UX.
Ruined the workflow. Pure pain.
If anyone knows a stable long-form TTS (desktop, downloads, Dropbox-friendly), I’m listening.
Vertex is an unbelievable downgrade. 500-char limit is just the cherry on top—worse UX.
Ruined the workflow. Pure pain.
If anyone knows a stable long-form TTS (desktop, downloads, Dropbox-friendly), I’m listening.
Sunday slipped by—I barely noticed. A few rules I set months ago:
1. Life=work=fun.
2. I write every day—except meditation or digital withdrawal (ideally in Nepal).
3. Everything runs through #Asana; batched.
Conference day: registered/submitted for #CIES, #CESHK, #HKSA.
Night walk. Well earned.
1. Life=work=fun.
2. I write every day—except meditation or digital withdrawal (ideally in Nepal).
3. Everything runs through #Asana; batched.
Conference day: registered/submitted for #CIES, #CESHK, #HKSA.
Night walk. Well earned.
October 26, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Met a friend/colleague yesterday and showed him the last photo.
— “You really posted that on an academic Bluesky?” Yes.
My brand here is authenticity; I don’t see a contradiction between beauty and its dark edge.
As Goldberg puts it, we write about what our attention and emotion are orbiting.
— “You really posted that on an academic Bluesky?” Yes.
My brand here is authenticity; I don’t see a contradiction between beauty and its dark edge.
As Goldberg puts it, we write about what our attention and emotion are orbiting.
October 25, 2025 at 9:22 AM
Met a friend/colleague yesterday and showed him the last photo.
— “You really posted that on an academic Bluesky?” Yes.
My brand here is authenticity; I don’t see a contradiction between beauty and its dark edge.
As Goldberg puts it, we write about what our attention and emotion are orbiting.
— “You really posted that on an academic Bluesky?” Yes.
My brand here is authenticity; I don’t see a contradiction between beauty and its dark edge.
As Goldberg puts it, we write about what our attention and emotion are orbiting.
Goldberg says she wrote her early books in cafes—each in different cafes.
Writing in cafes amazing in #Seoul: huge two-level zones with student vibes. In HK, it’s hard to get a shared (!) table for few hours.
The real writing spots in #HK are public parks on rainy nights. Or Chungking Mansions.
Writing in cafes amazing in #Seoul: huge two-level zones with student vibes. In HK, it’s hard to get a shared (!) table for few hours.
The real writing spots in #HK are public parks on rainy nights. Or Chungking Mansions.
October 24, 2025 at 1:42 AM
What separates a classic from a mediocre one isn’t just re-readability. It’s that a classic can be scaled up—its insights extend into epistemic practice.
“The War of Art,” Boice, Silvia, Belcher all circle the same:
The only sustainable way to feel good is to overcome resistance.
🥰😎🫦
“The War of Art,” Boice, Silvia, Belcher all circle the same:
The only sustainable way to feel good is to overcome resistance.
🥰😎🫦
October 23, 2025 at 1:36 AM
What separates a classic from a mediocre one isn’t just re-readability. It’s that a classic can be scaled up—its insights extend into epistemic practice.
“The War of Art,” Boice, Silvia, Belcher all circle the same:
The only sustainable way to feel good is to overcome resistance.
🥰😎🫦
“The War of Art,” Boice, Silvia, Belcher all circle the same:
The only sustainable way to feel good is to overcome resistance.
🥰😎🫦
These days, we’re flooded with AI-written pseudo-wisdom on Threads and Instagram:
“Six truths I wish I knew at 30.”
“Replace motivation with discipline.”
Etc.
Ironically, that’s anti-wisdom. Real wisdom is visionary—and often anti-viral.
If we can learn anything from #AI, it’s form, not insight.
“Six truths I wish I knew at 30.”
“Replace motivation with discipline.”
Etc.
Ironically, that’s anti-wisdom. Real wisdom is visionary—and often anti-viral.
If we can learn anything from #AI, it’s form, not insight.
October 22, 2025 at 3:23 AM
These days, we’re flooded with AI-written pseudo-wisdom on Threads and Instagram:
“Six truths I wish I knew at 30.”
“Replace motivation with discipline.”
Etc.
Ironically, that’s anti-wisdom. Real wisdom is visionary—and often anti-viral.
If we can learn anything from #AI, it’s form, not insight.
“Six truths I wish I knew at 30.”
“Replace motivation with discipline.”
Etc.
Ironically, that’s anti-wisdom. Real wisdom is visionary—and often anti-viral.
If we can learn anything from #AI, it’s form, not insight.
What fascinates me is how many wise people predicted #AI profoundly.
This one is from my beloved “spiritual entertainer” Alan Watts—whom I re-read entirely this summer:
Humanity will try to outsource thinking—to develop a second brain—and the price will be complete transparency.
Crazily accurate.
This one is from my beloved “spiritual entertainer” Alan Watts—whom I re-read entirely this summer:
Humanity will try to outsource thinking—to develop a second brain—and the price will be complete transparency.
Crazily accurate.
October 22, 2025 at 3:12 AM
What fascinates me is how many wise people predicted #AI profoundly.
This one is from my beloved “spiritual entertainer” Alan Watts—whom I re-read entirely this summer:
Humanity will try to outsource thinking—to develop a second brain—and the price will be complete transparency.
Crazily accurate.
This one is from my beloved “spiritual entertainer” Alan Watts—whom I re-read entirely this summer:
Humanity will try to outsource thinking—to develop a second brain—and the price will be complete transparency.
Crazily accurate.
Went to a seminar on writing at #HKU. Shared the mindset that works.
Typhoon 10, #HK, 6-7 years ago. The city was deserted. My own flat was shaking. An old man jogging along North Point.
- “Isn’t this scary?”
- “I don’t care. I have a marathon in a month.”
Everything in life comes with a price.
Typhoon 10, #HK, 6-7 years ago. The city was deserted. My own flat was shaking. An old man jogging along North Point.
- “Isn’t this scary?”
- “I don’t care. I have a marathon in a month.”
Everything in life comes with a price.
October 21, 2025 at 1:26 PM
What I love about Korea and Japan—where my language skills are zero—is that it feels like walking through woods, but with people instead of trees.
No one cares, as long as you don’t break the social scripts.
Complete privacy or seamless interactions in 7/11, Starbucks—my social heaven. Seriously.
No one cares, as long as you don’t break the social scripts.
Complete privacy or seamless interactions in 7/11, Starbucks—my social heaven. Seriously.
October 20, 2025 at 3:03 PM
What I love about Korea and Japan—where my language skills are zero—is that it feels like walking through woods, but with people instead of trees.
No one cares, as long as you don’t break the social scripts.
Complete privacy or seamless interactions in 7/11, Starbucks—my social heaven. Seriously.
No one cares, as long as you don’t break the social scripts.
Complete privacy or seamless interactions in 7/11, Starbucks—my social heaven. Seriously.
On Self by Susan Sontag—
“You can spend your whole life trying to be understood, or you can get on with becoming”—
reads as an epistemic inquiry.
2025: Where does knowledge come from with large-scale #AI?
How valid is Bruner’s social perception in an algorithmic world?
What is self for narrators? 🫠
“You can spend your whole life trying to be understood, or you can get on with becoming”—
reads as an epistemic inquiry.
2025: Where does knowledge come from with large-scale #AI?
How valid is Bruner’s social perception in an algorithmic world?
What is self for narrators? 🫠
On Self (Published 2006)
www.nytimes.com
October 19, 2025 at 4:12 PM
On Self by Susan Sontag—
“You can spend your whole life trying to be understood, or you can get on with becoming”—
reads as an epistemic inquiry.
2025: Where does knowledge come from with large-scale #AI?
How valid is Bruner’s social perception in an algorithmic world?
What is self for narrators? 🫠
“You can spend your whole life trying to be understood, or you can get on with becoming”—
reads as an epistemic inquiry.
2025: Where does knowledge come from with large-scale #AI?
How valid is Bruner’s social perception in an algorithmic world?
What is self for narrators? 🫠
If the PhD taught me anything: the hardest task usually has the highest ROI.
(yes, pairing ROI with Goenka is ironic; my format here is transparency + authenticity + complex insights).
Hoping to struggle well.
(yes, pairing ROI with Goenka is ironic; my format here is transparency + authenticity + complex insights).
Hoping to struggle well.
October 19, 2025 at 9:44 AM
If the PhD taught me anything: the hardest task usually has the highest ROI.
(yes, pairing ROI with Goenka is ironic; my format here is transparency + authenticity + complex insights).
Hoping to struggle well.
(yes, pairing ROI with Goenka is ironic; my format here is transparency + authenticity + complex insights).
Hoping to struggle well.