Hey there and welcome to ✨ CuratedCuriosity - a bi-weekly newsletter delivering inspiration from all over the internet to the notoriously curious.
This is not a standard newsletter issue but a bit of a special end/start of the year reflection. If you are not interested in this type of content, just skip today - the newsletter will be back with it’s regular setup upcoming Sunday.
It’s been exactly one year since I started this newsletter, so I thought it would be a good point in time to look back, reflect and evaluate a little bit.
Although it always makes me happy when someone new signs up to this newsletter, acquiring a long subscriber list was never my goal - therefore, # of readers also didn’t seem like an adequate success metric. Instead I have opted for a more qualitative review and tried to write down the most relevant opinion changes that I have gone through in 2021 due to reading and reflecting on articles listed in this newsletter.
However, none of these opinions are final and I expect them to change in the future.
Stuff I believed in 2021 which I don’t believe anymore
💫 VR is for nerds & the metaverse will never become mainstream
Prior to 2021 I honestly haven’t thought much about VR - it always seemed utterly weird to me that people would voluntarily spend their time wearing futuristic looking goggles and ‘beaming’ themselves into virtual worlds instead of prioritising ‘real’ experiences, relationships and sensory impressions. However, despite not being a fan, Mark Zuckerberg’s vision on how the metaverse will shape our future has definitely opened my eyes to all the possibilities VR brings about. Even more, after reading about how spending your work day in VR can actually look like, I am quite convinced that we will see a lot more people buying VR glasses and creating/building for the metaverse in 2022.
💉 Sucessfully shipping a vaccine will save us from further lockdowns
Well, nope.
📝 Writing a short article every week is easy
Also nope. While being fairly consistent and happy to sit down to write every week in the beginning of my newsletter adventure, at some point (after the lockdown end) I wasn’t willing anymore to spend so much of my time wrangling with my writing. It just wasn’t fun anymore. However, I am quite happy with the current bi-weekly format of sending out recommendations- afterall, this here is about curation. I am still planning to write more articles/essays from time to time and share them here, but only if there really is a thought/idea that I want to dig into and share. Also, I a have some other ideas where how this newsletter could evolve - stay tuned. And if you have any feedback or suggestions - you know where to find me!
🌟 Influencers aren’t creating any value for society
This one I somehow cannot really pin down to a couple of articles - I just know I always thought being an influencer is bullsh**t. However, at some point it ocurred to me, that all the influencers, content creators, gamers etc. are not not creating value at all but are instead catering towards high level human needs. You can find a more detailed & hopefully more conclusive write up of my thoughts on this topic here.
🥗 If you eat vegetrian & unprocessed food and exercise regularly you will be fit and healthy
Honestly, the more I read about exercise and nutrition the more I am getting confused. By now I am pretty sceptical when it comes to taking nutrition studies at face value. Also, despite being unsure what the ture underlying cause is, by now I believe that there is more to weight control and body shapes than just ‘calories in, calories out’ sprinkled with a bit of genetics. All in all, I have the impression that we as humanity know stunningly little about nutrition and whats good for our body if we compare to all the scientific evidence we have accumulated in other natural sciences. On the upside, there is still a lot to discover when it comes to the health benefits of certain diets.
🚀 We are in a tech/startup bubble
If one seriously considers the possibility that we are living in a world of compounding knowledge and accelerating returns, even record high VC investments are not an indicator that we will soon witness another bubble bursting. At least one of the biggest hedge funds, Tiger Global, is betting everything on this card.
🧠 Struggling with mental health issues is a sign of weakness
While the above statement is a bit exaggerated and I am slightly ashamed of writing this, I have to admit that there has always been a part in me that conformed with the way mental illnesses are often portrayed and stigmatized in public. In 2021 I listened to multiple personal stories - both in real life and articles/podcasts - of people struggling with mental health issues and the experience made me abandon this mindset once and for all. On a side note, I still think that there exist people who use mental health issues as false pretences to make themselves better off, access monetary benefits etc., but I am pretty confident that these cases are the minority.
What is one thing you changed your mind about in 2021? I’d love to know 🤍
And of course, if you think I am missing some crucial points with respect to some of these opinions - let me know. I believe one can only benefit from learning, failing and changing one’s mind in public.
And last but certainly not least - thank you for following this newsletter. While I am mainly writing this newsletter for myself, it certainly makes it more enjoyable to know that others reading along and (hopefully) get something useful out of it. Thus, if you enjoy reading this newsletter and know anyone who might like it as well - feel free to share :)