Success is becoming in middle adulthood what you dreamed to be in late childhood.

Globalization has created this interlocking fragility. At no time in the history of the universe has the cancellation of a Christmas order in New York meant layoffs in China.

You never win an argument until they attack your person.

For many people, commuting is the worst part of the day, and policies that can make commuting shorter and more convenient would be a straightforward way to reduce minor but widespread suffering.

Wit seduces by signaling intelligence without nerdiness.

Comfort makes you weaker. We need some variability, some stressors. Not too much, but just enough.

The best way to measure the loss of intellectual sophistication - this "nerdification," to put it bluntly - is in the growing disappearance of sarcasm, as mechanic minds take insults a bit too literally.