Ordinary Abundance. This is the greatest thing I've read in weeks. No kidding. This should win a Pulitzer in a category not yet invented.
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Jordan created it.
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Jordan Dworkin
@jddwor
In 1843, Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote to a friend after seeing her first daguerreotype: “The very shadow of the person lying there fixed for ever! … I would rather have such a memorial of one I dearly loved, than the noblest artist’s work ever produced.”
Our lives and homes
Now you need to picture the pile of junk concepts and theories that scientists and engineers had to put to the garbage to arrive at this "ordinary".
And say "thank you".
I'm reminded of John Adams' quote at the end of the War for Independence: "Posterity! You will never know, how much it cost the present Generation, to preserve your Freedom! I hope you will make a good Use of it. If you do not, I shall repent in Heaven, that I ever took half the
Okay so here's an idea: all children are raised with basically bronze age material wealth (but with great education and medical) until the age of 18 and then we do the big reveal.
A fascinating read on this is “The Victorian Internet” by - the telegraph made global communication near instantaneous when travel by horse was still dominate. And caused the same panic over privacy and info overload that we see with AI now
a pulitizer for a blog post that is mostly quotes by actual wrtiers, mined by LLMs, arranged around a vague thesis of unseen material prosperity seen in econ 101 classes for 30 years. pesca would be impressed i guess.
Do you not already have this perspective from just gratitude journaling?
Thank you for sharing this. I'm savoring this. I'm saving this. The perspective --more appreciation of everything I sometimes (mostly?) take for granted. And those who came for us, and how astonished they might be at what we have easily. The grand scope of time & human endeavor
Bellamy thought music on demand was the ceiling. Give it twenty years and we'll be shrugging at AGI curating our playlists.
“It is to humanity’s credit that we remain restless in the midst of all of this progress.“ - you can thank capitalism for this folks. And you should understand that communism or socialism will halt this innovation train.
This is fantastic, but ironically a more appropriate title is “Extraordinary Abundance!”
We need to be reminded of the extraordinary nature of things we consider “ordinary.”
One bad example:
“It’s a playlist your friend made for you years ago”
aka “linkrot”
Even just the image is great.
Anyhow, a perspective of human history and gratitude are sharp arrows to tuck in one's quiver. They can pierce the heart of most negativity that comes your way.
We stand on the shoulders of giants. None of us got where we are by our own efforts.
Fun fact: I went to school with a great great granddaughter of Edward Bellamy, who is quoted in this piece!
File under: stop your yapping everyone and take a minute to enjoy life for once
A worthwhile read and an elegant use of the image.
People will always complain about ordinary abundance if they feel an extra delay in their path to it.
Getting in line at the grocery and having to wait for 5 more minutes because it was busier than avg.
Captured the essence of why I love America so much. Especially after traveling anywhere and realizing that no country offers the comforts that we have. Fill those rooms with family, have a room to escape to, and there's no better place to be.
Which magazine would you rather find in your mailbox?
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I wonder if the girls at the elementary school we blew up realized how lucky they were.
Sales was always a people job. The software turned it into a data entry job. Attio is the agentic CRM that turns it back.
