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joem3.bsky.social
Joseph
@joem3.bsky.social
18 followers 33 following 35 posts
Exploring the art of play, purpose, and relational insight.
Innovator at Cards for Insight – tools for meaningful co-creation.
Navigating the crossroads of creativity, complexity & vocation.
Here to find the others. https://whtwnd.com/joem3.bsky.social
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joem3.bsky.social
October 18, 2025 at 3:59 PM
joem3.bsky.social
Should one take the most pragmatic path even if it violates some core personal principle?
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What if the pragmatic reasons are very strong and the principle might be rescued by what is gained at a later time?
September 3, 2025 at 7:34 PM
Reposted by Joseph
nicolecrust.bsky.social
My essay on what I realized while writing Elusive Cures that got me *so excited* I decided to redirect my entire research program (from studying memory to studying mood). Out today in IAI news.
Before writing Elusive Cures, I could not explain the “troubling disconnection” between what we researchers have been discovering and what society needs, despite my decades on the front lines of brain research. Moreover, I could not spell out what we plan to do about it. It took me years of surveying and contemplating brain and mind research at a high level to see the revolution that is happening, as well as understand why it’s happening now, and its implications. To date, brain and mind researchers have been limited by technology, but new breakthroughs have unlocked opportunities for a new type of progress. It begins by embracing the idea of the brain as a complex system. Now that I can see it, I’m unequivocally optimistic that the disconnections between discovery and societal needs will begin to dissolve. I am also excited to dive in and help make it happen, focusing on mood and depression.
August 12, 2025 at 2:20 PM
joem3.bsky.social
Origin stories.

Origin stories are important. They create arcs. They draw out the everything-all-at-once into a thread that weaves through mundane life to pull together what is ultimately an extraordinary mystery.
May 23, 2025 at 2:47 AM
Reposted by Joseph
levikornelsen.bsky.social
Here's an extended version of "An imaginary site for free and open games", after what people had to say about the prior post:

docs.google.com/document/d/1...
Imaginary site
Introduction to an imaginary site (that might one day be real, maybe). … What This Is First, this site is a repository for tabletop roleplaying game design projects and their files, both ongoing an...
docs.google.com
May 15, 2025 at 6:07 AM
joem3.bsky.social
Narrative strategies. To walk a path to a thriving future, we have to learn to craft our own stories. To overcome enormous challenges those stories must be resonant with each other and Gaia.
joebrewer.bsky.social Joe Brewer @joebrewer.bsky.social · Apr 16
Your friendly reminder that by helping people to organize their bioregions, it becomes possible to flow financial support to regenerative efforts on the ground -- all over the planet through a coherent web of relationships.

youtu.be/EO8K585QNiY
A Narrative Strategy for the Earth Regeneration Fund
YouTube video by Joe Brewer
youtu.be
April 16, 2025 at 12:17 PM
Reposted by Joseph
chazhutton.com
A little comic about desire paths.
Ok so… There’s a nice little park on a corner, and a path running directly to one edge of the park. That’s the first image, but there’s 12 other images here. In the second image, there is now a desire path running diagonally across the park. Next image, the path has been blocked by a park bench that the council has put in as a deterrent. Unfazed, in image 4 the path now deftly avoids the park bench. In images 5 and 6 the process is repeated, this time with a strategically placed bin which the desire path also avoids. Presumably in a fit of rage, the council plants an entire hedge to stop people creating new desire paths but eventually this too is defeated and a new path find a way. Finally, the council admits defeat and turns the desire path into a proper paved pathway. After a little while, a new desire path curving off this new paved pathway begins to emerge…
January 15, 2025 at 7:18 PM
Reposted by Joseph
rebeccasolnit.bsky.social
Hi that was a coup last night in case no one mentioned that to you. The executive branch seized the power of the purse the Constitution gave to Congress, which is a pretty authoritarian / illegal consolidation of powers move. Time to go yell at your reps, the media, etc.
Hey friends! We're seeing a lot of terrible things. We're not able to cover all of them, but we felt this latest one is a really big deal and needs much more awareness. Our summary is this: It's an administrative coup. Trump has ordered tens of billions (maybe up to $3 trillion) of budget halted indefinitely in a blatantly illegal move. He's claiming power to halt and potentially redirect funding that's already been authorized by Congress — a classic authoritarian move. Here's what we know. And we're doing our best to catch up with this story, because it's moving fast. There's a memo from Matthew Vaeth, the acting head of the Office of Management and Budget. (That's the same government entity who set-up the DEI "snitch" line, that's now been spammed by tens of thousands of our fellow residents.) In typical Trump-style, the memo gets its facts wrong. It claims in FY2024 the US government spent $10 trillion (actually it was $6.8 trillion). It says money should be used for the administration's priorities — "The use of Federal resources to advance Marxist equity, transgenderism, and green new deal social engineering policies is a waste of taxpayer dollars that does not improve the day-to-day lives of those we serve." (Again, it's very fact deficient.) The memo says a pause will begin at 5pm on January 28th where, "Federal agencies must temporarily pause all activities related to obligation or disbursement of all Federal financial assistance, and other relevant agency activities that may be implicated by the executive orders, including, but not limited to, financial assistance for foreign aid, nongovernmental organizations, DEI, woke gender ideology, and the green new deal." Anyone promised federal grants might have their money at risk, even states. This is Congressional directed spending and Trump is ordering people to not do it. This funding includes universities for education and research programs, nonprofits, local and tribal governments, disaster relief aid, e… So what can we do? It's been a lot. And the shock approach of this administration is to overwhelm us with nonsense and a state of paralysis. We continue to believe the best thing is to stay grounded and keep yourself sane amidst insanity. At this juncture, three actions we suggest that make sense to us: 1) Urge media to cover this story properly This is not "possibly illegal" — it's "patently illegal." You can read notes on that here. It's not "temporary" — it's "indefinite." There's no timetable for ending it. It's not just a memo — it's an administrative coup. 2) Urge your Representatives to act like this is a big deal If you know us, this isn't a knee-jerk action we suggest. We think this is a strategic because it's Congress that's being violated — their power is being directly undermined. 3) Continue to support ACLU and Democracy Forward These groups have been preparing litigation for some time. Unless Trump revokes this, this will certainly make its way through the courts. Our read is even the biased courts will have trouble swallowing this — so it may end up being shut down. Keep breathing. “Do not judge me by my successes, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again," Nelson Mandela. Warmly, - Choose Democracy
January 28, 2025 at 3:51 PM
joem3.bsky.social
This is the story of my entire professional life
rebeccasolnit.bsky.social Rebecca Solnit @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · Dec 5
Here is a somber truth of creative life. If it goes well, people will begin to ask you for things. Each of those things, no matter how kind or flattering or genuine or even beneficial to your own career and finances as well as someone else's, will pull you from your true purpose.
December 6, 2024 at 3:47 AM
joem3.bsky.social
Explore leverage points towards adjacent possible futures.

Card: Preferable Outcome
Envision a thriving, equitable, and
sustainable future where individuals
and groups flourish in harmony
with community and nature.

donellameadows.org/archives/lev....

cc @johnkellden.bsky.social
12. Constants, parameters, numbers (such as subsidies, taxes, standards). 11. The sizes of buffers and other stabilizing stocks, relative to their flows. 10. The structure of material stocks and flows (such as transport networks, population age structures). 9. The lengths of delays, relative to the rate of system change. 8. The strength of negative feedback loops, relative to the impacts they are trying to correct against. 7. The gain around driving positive feedback loops. 6. The structure of information flows (who does and does not have access to information). 5. The rules of the system (such as incentives, punishments, constraints). 4. The power to add, change, evolve, or self-organize system structure. 3. The goals of the system. 2. The mindset or paradigm out of which the system — its goals, structure, rules, delays, parameters — arises. 1. The power to transcend paradigms.
December 5, 2024 at 7:13 AM
joem3.bsky.social
"We must view individual attention as a societal good; and we should see society-wide “joint attention” as, in fact, a Commons, like fresh air or clean water. But unlike air or water, synchronous attention is a manufactured scarcity."

medium.com/@pwang/refra...
Reframing the “Social Media” Problem As an Attention Crisis
Every journalist has a “take” on Social Media. And most people are familiar with the battle lines now around “fake news”, “free speech”…
medium.com
December 4, 2024 at 2:56 PM
joem3.bsky.social
Did a search. Only one mention of againsttheinternet.com Fight Like An Animal podcast results returned. Tell me my search scope is somehow super limited otherwise, how?
Podcast | Fight Like An Animal
Fight Like An Animal is a podcast at the intersection of biology and politics.
againsttheinternet.com
December 3, 2024 at 8:03 PM
joem3.bsky.social
How about this moment?
Presidential cabinet appointee, DHH head talking on his _podcast_ to Joel Salatin about transitioning the food system to small scale farms.
youtu.be/edgQH7MRUGg?...
youtu.be
November 28, 2024 at 8:58 AM