"You can­not fight dark­ness by resolv­ing to erad­i­cate dark­ness. Instead you must com­mit to gen­er­at­ing light. You can­not fight the cold by resolv­ing to erad­i­cate the cold. Instead you must com­mit to gen­er­at­ing heat. Sim­i­larly, con­sump­tion can­not be fought by resolv­ing to erad­i­cate con­sump­tion (as I had), but only by com­mit­ting to cre­ation, to the cre­ative act (which I hadn’t)."

"If the “social” web can only rep­re­sent arbi­trary facts about people’s beliefs and inter­ests, then it’s not social."

"For the next thirty days, I am exclu­sively com­mit­ting to what I call “pro­duc­tive con­sump­tion.” That is to say, the only things I will con­sume will result directly in the com­ple­tion of goals and the acqui­si­tion of valu­able knowledge."

"In addition to refocusing on my own path of growth in 2012 and closing the door on daily social networking, I’d like to reorient my social life to spend more time connecting with others who have similar priorities when it comes to pursuing growth experiences. I had hoped I might meet such people through the social networks surrounding my work, but that didn’t happen. One reason is that such people would rather engage in growth experiences than in discussions about growth. They’d rather travel than talk about travel… would rather speak than discuss speaking… and would rather start a business than talk about starting one."

All products have a philosophy. When we use them we are subject to it. The only sure fire solution to having products perfectly aligned with your philosophy is to opt out and build your own.

Roll your own Dropbox with rsync and ssh.

"Mark Pilgrim’s work was inspiring. His departure should be equally inspiring."