Once, Picasso was asked what his paintings meant. He said, “Do you ever know what the birds are singing? You don’t. But you listen to them anyway.” So, sometimes with art, it is important just to look.

“The hardest thing is to do something which is close to nothing because it is demanding all of you.”

“Because in the end you are really alone, whatever you do.”

“What you’re doing is not important. What is really important is the state of mind from which you do it. Performance”

“It is incredible how fear is built into you, by your parents and others surrounding you. You’re so innocent in the beginning; you don’t know.”

“If you’re a woman, it’s almost impossible to establish a relationship. You’re too much for everybody. It’s too much. The woman always has to play this role of being fragile and dependent. And if you’re not, they’are fascinated by you, but only for a little while. And then they want to change you and crush you. And then they leave. So, lots of lonely hotel rooms, my dear.”

“If you experiment, you have to fail. By definition, experimenting means going to territory where you’ve never been, where failure is very possible. How can you know you’re going to succeed? Having the courage to face the unknown is so important.

“To control the breathing is to control the mind. With different patterns of breathing, you can fall in love, you can hate someone, you can feel the whole spectrum of feelings by changing your breathing.”

“People have so much pain inside them that they’re not even aware of.”

“When I was young it was impossible for me to talk to people. Now I can stand in front of three thousand people without any notes, any preconception of what I’m going to say, even without visual material, and I can look at everyone in the audience and talk for two hours easily. What happened? Art happened.”

“Some couples buy pots and pans when they move in together. Ulay and I began planning how to make art together.”

“The hardest thing to do is something that is close to nothing.”

“Human beings are afraid of very simple things: we fear suffering, we fear mortality. What I was doing in Rhythm 0—as in all my other performances—was staging these fears for the audience: using their energy to push my body as far as possible. In the process, I liberated myself from my fears. And as this happened, I became a mirror for the audience—if I could do it, they could do it, too.”

“Sometimes people are ashamed to talk about these things, but I know so many people who would never throw away their old shitty T-shirts or pullovers that are falling apart because of the comfort they get from those clothes. Everybody is vulnerable.”

“Then I woke up and the reality of the dream was stronger than the reality of the day.”

“... you can tell the most terrible truths if you first open the human heart with humor.”

“I realized that this is the theme I return to constantly - I'm always trying to prove to everyone that I can go it alone, that I can survive, that I don't need anybody.”

“Travelling makes a person young because he doesn't get time to get old.”

“I had experienced absolute freedom—I had felt that my body was without boundaries, limitless; that pain didn’t matter, that nothing mattered at all—and it intoxicated me.” In 2010, more than 750,000 people stood in line at Marina Abramović’s MoMA retrospective for the chance to sit across from her and communicate with her nonverbally in an unprecedented durational performance that lasted more than 700 hours. This celebration of nearly fifty years of groundbreaking performance art demonstrated once again that Marina Abramović is truly a force of nature. The child of Communist war-hero parents under Tito’s regime in postwar Yugoslavia, she was raised with a relentless work ethic. Even as she was beginning to build an international artistic career, Marina lived at home under her mother’s abusive control, strictly obeying a 10 p.m. curfew. But nothing could quell her insatiable curiosity, her desire to connect with people, or her distinctly Balkan sense of humor—all of which informs her art and her life. The beating heart of Walk Through Walls is an operatic love story—a twelve-year collaboration with fellow performance artist Ulay, much of which was spent penniless in a van traveling across Europe—a relationship that began to unravel and came to a dramatic end atop the Great Wall of China. Marina’s story, by turns moving, epic, and dryly funny, informs an incomparable artistic career that involves pushing her body past the limits of fear, pain, exhaustion, and danger in an uncompromising quest for emotional and spiritual transformation. A remarkable work of performance in its own right, Walk Through Walls is a vivid and powerful rendering of the unparalleled life of an extraordinary artist.

books

Books

artsandculture

Society, Arts & Culture

“I had experienced absolute freedom—I had felt that my body was without boundaries, limitless; that pain didn’t matter, that nothing mattered at all—and it intoxicated me.” In 2010, more than 750,000 people stood in line at Marina Abramović’s MoMA retrospective for the chance to sit across from her and communicate with her nonverbally in an unprecedented durational performance that lasted more than 700 hours. This celebration of nearly fifty years of groundbreaking performance art demonstrated once again that Marina Abramović is truly a force of nature. The child of Communist war-hero parents under Tito’s regime in postwar Yugoslavia, she was raised with a relentless work ethic. Even as she was beginning to build an international artistic career, Marina lived at home under her mother’s abusive control, strictly obeying a 10 p.m. curfew. But nothing could quell her insatiable curiosity, her desire to connect with people, or her distinctly Balkan sense of humor—all of which informs her art and her life. The beating heart of Walk Through Walls is an operatic love story—a twelve-year collaboration with fellow performance artist Ulay, much of which was spent penniless in a van traveling across Europe—a relationship that began to unravel and came to a dramatic end atop the Great Wall of China. Marina’s story, by turns moving, epic, and dryly funny, informs an incomparable artistic career that involves pushing her body past the limits of fear, pain, exhaustion, and danger in an uncompromising quest for emotional and spiritual transformation. A remarkable work of performance in its own right, Walk Through Walls is a vivid and powerful rendering of the unparalleled life of an extraordinary artist.

Marina Abramovic

Walk Through Walls

Da Vinci is often described as being a true Renaissance polymath: that is, a person who wishes to understand all branches of knowledge. 
His scientific method consisted of a mix of observation of the world around him and the physical experimentation with, and construction of, new inventions, aided by preliminary sketches.

The Scientist Named Da Vinci

A lack of a formal structure to his education is precisely what enabled Da Vinci to be such a free thinker and such a good scientist. Da Vinci's scientific interests, inventions and experiments spread out vastly into numerous different areas of science. Not only was he interested in chemistry and geology but also in astronomy, pyrotechnics, biology (or zoology), human and animal anatomy and mechanical engineering.
Da Vinci's scientific endeavours were so ahead of his time that he has anticipated many devices that we consider to be 'modern'.

Lack Of Structure Fuels Multi-Dimensional Knowledge

Da Vinci made many detailed drawings of both human and animal anatomy. His famous drawing of the Vitruvian Man is an example of his interest in the proportions of the human body. This drawingis a good example of how several of Da Vinci's scientific works could also be considered works of art. 
There is no doubt that Da Vinci's in depth knowledge of the human anatomy beneath the skin enabled him to create such dynamic and realistic portraits of human beings in his paintings.

Da Vinci's Studies in Anatomy

Da Vinci traced his interest in geology back to a powerful childhood memory that he had of entering a cave near where he was living and seeing, by torchlight, bands of different fossils in the rock. This suggested to him that at one time the cave - which was high up in the Apennine Mountains - was once below sea level. 
Leonardo studied the way in which sedimentary rock was formed and this led him to dismiss the notion that it was Noah's Great Flood that caused the sea shells to be thrown up into the mountains.

Da Vinci's Relationship with Geology

As a young man, Da Vinci used to construct numerous different objects thanks to an uncle who taught him how. Da Vinci thus made a very good self taught civil engineer. He constructed several inventions that were deemed to be very useful by the state of the time, including bridges and several catapults. One significant aspect of his studies in civil engineering involved hydrodynamics.
Da Vinci created several machines that were designed to control the flow of water, including a corkscrew-shaped contraption that was able to move water in a vertically upward direction.

Hydrodynamic Studies

From his perpetual motion machine to his theories about the relationship between light and opaque bodies, Da Vinci's scientific discoveries are all totally fascinating. 
He used his geometrical investigations to understand more about perspective (and subsequently applied this knowledge in his works of art), for instance, whilst his love of flowers and plants led him to study and sketch the makeup of trees and flowers with as much skill and dedication as he devoted to the inner workings of the human body.

Da Vinci's Other Scientific Discoveries

<ul>
<li>Da Vinci's plethora of sketchbooks and journals is a window onto his scientific mind. </li>
<li>Usually, Da Vinci wrote in his journals and annotated his scientific diagrams with mirror writing (i.e. writing that could be read by placing a mirror up against the page).</li>
<li>He also published one scientific work. This was a mathematical treatise on the proportion which was published in 1509.</li>
</ul>

The Sketchbooks Of Da Vinci

Inside the mind of the original Renaissance man, who continues to fascinate us even today

history

History

motivationandinspiration

Motivation & Inspiration

communication

Communication

personaldevelopment

Personal Development

The Mind of Leonardo da Vinci

Read about Leonardo da Vinci's contribution to science. This website features all major works from the Italian Renaissance master.

Leonardo da Vinci: The Scientist

The reality is no less exciting. He was trained in Florence in the 1470s. During that time, workshops of the major artists included art in every kind of medium and tasks we would now consider engineering. These artist-engineers were employed to produce a wide range of practical machines such as Leonardo's ingenious designs for the sluices of lock gates.

Leonardo the inventor is subject to legends

Leading engineers of that time were more focused on visionary designs. The "visual boasting" was aimed to make an impression on prospective or actual employers. Many of Leonardo's most famous designs fall into this category, such as the "tank", designed to shoot across the battlefield. Other famous designs have been misread. The "helicopter" or airscrew is a device of technological entertainment. The same applies to the spring-driven "car".

Visionary designs

Leonardo's genius as an engineer rests on three foundations.<ol><li>He saw how the design of machines must rest on mathematical laws of physics, and not rely on practice. For instance, he realised that the power of an unwinding spring diminished according to a mathematical ratio.</li><li>He was the first to design separate components that could be used in several devices such as gears for barrel springs and ring bearings for axles.</li><li>He drew machines with more attention to reality. His efforts to devise various kinds of flying machines were directed by applying the principles of a bird in flight.</li></ol>

Locating genius

He may not have invented the helicopter, but the real man is more than worthy of the myth.

Leonardo da Vinci the inventor

To talk about paintings, you need to be familiar with the vocabulary to describe, analyse and interpret what you're seeing. The more art terms you know, the easier it becomes to think of the right word.

Art vocabulary

Think about your overall impression of the colours used in the painting. Consider how they look and feel, work together, and fit with the subject of the painting. <ul><li>Natural, clear, compatible, distinctive, lively, stimulating, subtle, sympathetic</li><li>Artificial, clashing, depressing, gaudy, jarring, unfriendly, violent</li><li>Bright, deep, earthy, harmonious, intense, rich, strong, vibrant, vivid</li><li>Dull, flat, bland, pale, subdued, quiet</li><li>Cool, cold, warm, hot, light, dark</li><li>Blended, broken, muddied, pure</li><li>Complementary, contrasting, harmonious</li></ul>

Colour

Consider the shade of the colours and the way tone is used in the whole painting. <ul><li>Dark, light, middle</li><li>Flat, uniform, unvarying, smooth, plain</li><li>Varied, broken</li><li>Constant, changing</li><li>Graduated, contrasting</li><li>Monochromatic</li></ul>

Tone or shade

Look at how the painting is arranged, the underlying shapes (structure), the relationships between the different parts, and how your eye moves around. <ul><li>Arrangement, layout, structure, position</li><li>Landscape, portrait, square, circular, triangular</li><li>Horizontal, vertical, diagonal, angled</li><li>Foreground, background, middle ground</li><li>Centred, asymmetrical, symmetrical, balanced, unbalanced, lopsided, off-centre</li><li>Overlapping, cluttered, chaotic</li><li>Separate, spacious, empty</li><li>Free, flowing, fragmented</li><li>Formal, rigid, upright, confined</li></ul>

Composition

It's often hard or impossible to see texture in a photo of a painting, so try not to talk about it if you don't see any texture. <ul><li>Flat, polished, smooth</li><li>Raised, rough, coarse</li><li>Cut, incised, pitted, scratched, uneven</li><li>Hairy, sticky</li><li>Soft, hard</li><li>Shiny, glossy, reflective</li><li>Semigloss, satin, silk, frosted, matte</li></ul>

Texture

In some painting styles, all brush marks are eliminated by the artist. In others, the marks are clearly visible. <ul><li>Visible, blended, smooth</li><li>Thick, thin</li><li>Bold, timid</li><li>Heavy, light</li><li>Edgy, smooth</li><li>Exhibiting glazes, washes, dry brushing, stippling, hatching, splatters</li><li>Layered, flat</li><li>Precise, refined, regular, straight, systematic</li><li>Quick, sketchy, uneven, irregular, vigorous</li><li>Regular, patterned</li><li>Showing marks made with a knife, brush</li></ul>

Mark Making

Consider the mood or atmosphere of the painting. What emotions do you experience? <ul><li>Calm, content, peaceful, relaxed, tranquil</li><li>Cheerful, happy, joyful, romantic</li><li>Depressed, gloomy, miserable, sad, sombre, tearful, unhappy</li><li>Aggressive, angry, chilling, dark, frightening, violent</li><li>Energetic, exciting, stimulating, thought-provoking</li><li>Boring, dull, lifeless, insipid</li></ul>

Mood or Atmosphere

Does the painting seem to be a particular style? There are many terms for different styles throughout the history of art, and knowing these descriptors can leave instant impressions. <ul><li>Realism, photorealism</li><li>Cubism, surrealism</li><li>Impressionism</li><li>Modernism, expressionism</li><li>Chinese, Japanese, or Indian style</li><li>Plein air</li></ul>

Style

Knowing which medium the work of art was created in can be useful to include in your description. <ul><li>Oil, tempera</li><li>Acrylics</li><li>Pastel, chalk, charcoal</li><li>Mixed media, collage</li><li>Watercolour, gouache</li><li>Ink</li><li>Fresco</li><li>Spray paint</li><li>Wood panels, canvas, glass</li></ul>

Media

When a work is particularly large or small, it may be necessary to include the size and descriptive words, such as mural, miniature, or triptych.

Size

Consider the sense of depth and volume of the artwork. <ul><li>2-D, flat, abstracted, simplified, stylized</li><li>3-D, realistic, natural sense of depth and space</li><li>Sharp, detailed</li><li>Blurred, obscured, overlapping, indistinct</li><li>Distorted, exaggerated, geometric</li><li>Linear, long, narrow</li><li>Hard-edged, soft-edged</li></ul>

Form and Shape

The lighting of the painting is shown in terms of direction, how it creates shadows, its colour, intensity, the mood it creates, and whether the light is from the sun (natural) or a fire (artificial.) Describe the shadows and highlights as well. <ul><li>Backlit, front-lit, side-lit, top-lit</li><li>Indirect, reflected or no directional light</li><li>Natural</li><li>Artificial</li><li>Cool, blue, grey</li><li>Warm, yellow, red</li><li>Dim, faint, gentle, gloomy, low, minimal, muted, soft</li><li>Clear, brilliant, bright, glowing, fiery, harsh, intense, sharp</li></ul>

Lighting

Consider the angle or position of the subject of the artwork. How has the artist decided to present it? <ul><li>Front, side, three-quarters, profile, rear (behind)</li><li>Close up, far away, life-size, bird's eye view</li><li>Upward, downward, sideways</li><li>Standing, sitting, lying down, bending</li><li>Gesturing, moving, resting, static</li></ul>

Viewpoint and Pose

It can seem like you're stating the obvious, but if you consider how to describe an artwork to someone who has never seen it, you would probably tell them the subject of the painting. <ul><li>Abstract</li><li>Cityscape, buildings, man-made, urban, industrial</li><li>Fantasy, imaginary, invented, mythological</li><li>Figures, portraits</li><li>Interiors, domestic</li><li>Landscape, seascape</li><li>Still life</li></ul>

Subject Matter

First, describe the overall aspect before you describe the individual objects. <ul><li>Antique, battered, damaged, dusty, old, worn</li><li>New, clean, shiny</li><li>Functional, decorative, fancy</li><li>Domestic, humble</li><li>Commercial, industrial</li></ul>

Still Life

To talk about paintings, and art in general, you need the right words to describe, analyze, and interpret what you're seeing.

Words for Talking About Art and Critiquing Paintings

Arts and humanities are fundamental pillars of any education system and more important than ever. While education in Science, Technology, Engineering and math (STEM) is important, it is not enough. Tomorrow's generations need to become versed in empathy, imagination, and creativity. Integrating the arts into STEM education is a necessary strategy to reduce the skills gap of the next generation. But empathy, imagination and creativity are required to ensure that science and technology are developed in a human-centred way.

Reducing the skills gap

Art is necessary to build an emotional framework to make sense of the dialogues at the core of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Art and culture build the trust needed to bridge conflicting views and interests, overcome obstacles with dynamic and innovative approaches and understand the value embedded in any process of technological innovation.

Trust in technology

Art and design enable us to deep dive into the consequences of futuristic “what if” scenarios. A series of artworks can express and critique values before they are embodied in technology. Art provides cognitive and emotional tools to design the future and make creative breakthroughs in unexpected and emotional ways.

Embedding art and design into prototyping

The Fourth Industrial Revolution is transforming health. It has the potential to make it more patient-centric, affordable and accessible. Agi Haines designed a series of speculative designs that imagine which parts of various animals could be used in combination with human tissue to solve common health problems. Circumventive Organs show the messy reality behind commoditizing biological material, and its potential to help people in need.

Shaping the future of health

We need the arts to stimulate debate over the impact of technological breakthroughs on society

technologyandthefuture

Technology & The Future

Here’s how art is inspiring the Fourth Industrial Revolution

In reinforcement learning (RL), a software agent learns through trial and error. When it takes the desired action, the model receives a reward.Over time, the agent works out how to execute the task to optimize its reward.The technique can be applied to a vast array of tasks, from controlling autonomous vehicles to improving energy efficiency. But its most celebrated achievements have come in the world of games.

Reinforcement Learning

In March 2016, the Reinforcement Learning technique had a landmark moment. A DeepMind system called AlphaGo became the first computer program to defeat a world champion in Go, a famously complex board game.The victory was reportedly watched by over 200 million people.AlphaGo learns the game from scratch by playing against different versions of itself thousands of times, incrementally learning through a process of trial and error, known as reinforcement learning. This means it is free to learn the game for itself, unconstrained by orthodox thinking.

The AlphaGo Milestone

In AI systems, the rewards and punishments are calculated mathematically. A self-driving system could receive a -1 when the model hits a wall, and a +1 if it safely passes another car. These signals allow the agent to evaluate its performance.The algorithm then learns through trial and error to maximize the reward — and ultimately, complete the task in the most desirable manner.

How a Reward Function Works

There are still major challenges to overcome. RL agents struggle to maximize rewards in complex environments and assess the long-term repercussions of their actions. Nonetheless, the reward-is-enough proponents believe the algorithms’ adaptability could pave a path to AGI.

The Bottom Line

The "reward-is-enough" hypothesis suggests that reinforcement learning alone could lead to AGI.

artificialintelligence

Artificial Intelligence

How rewards teach reinforcement learning agents to behave

Blockchains are about creating new innovative ways to organize societies. NFTs are giving new business models to artists. He’s also stoked to see the increase of DAOsLayer 2 solutions are going from theory to practice.The Beacon chain proved itself and had its first hard fork. Testnets for “The Merge” is now available.Maximalism is something that is unhealthy. It’s important to check out other ecosystems.

Vitalik’s Thoughts on 2021

The Merge is the transition from Proof of Work to Proof of Stake (POS). No more miners.The test nets have been running and solutions have been found for foreseeable edge cases.The most important feature is enabling withdrawals for beacon chain validators after the post-merge hardfork. There will be a queue for withdrawal.The typical user will need to update their Metamask

The Merge

Scalability increases for rollups through sharding. Rollups – computation and storage are off-chain, but data stays on-chain. This allows for cheaper transactions.Bandwidth will increase from 15-40 transactions per second (tps). Rollups will increase tps to 1500-4000 tps, rollups with sharding will increase to 100,000 tpsEventually, all activity will transition to Layer 2.If only the Merge and the Surge happen, Eth can last generations

The Surge

The implementation of Merkle trees that enable stateless clients.Stateless clients – don’t need the entire history of the blockchain to verify blocks. There will be proofs that verify the data. This allows validators to be much lighter, which is great for decentralization.It democratizes access to everybody to be able to verify the validity of the chain.

The Verge

In theory, this eliminates the need to store the dead weight of Ethereums history.History vs state. State is like the countries record of who the citizens are. History is the citizen’s birth and death records.There will be a state expiry implementation.The core Idea is to simplify the past and remove the complexities of the code. Make it easier to run a node and debug.Removes gas stipends, precompiles, simplifies logs, removes RLP, and finds solutions for dust accounts.One may need to provide Merkle proofs to recover old data through more centralized services that have the historical data.

The Purge

ZKsnark everything! The EVM, beacon chain transition, signature verification. This makes it extremely easy for everyone to run a node.Make smart contract wallets more like a first-class citizenProposer Builder Separation. (PBS)Account Abstraction

The Splurge

The entire space is based on decentralization and it’s Ethereum’s core value. . Ethereum started by compromising on scale, not decentralization. Other Layer 1s are trying the opposite.The roadmaps are not completely final, but if everything on this roadmap is done, Vitalik would be happy.Blockchains need to be cheap in order to foster main adoption

The Endgame

Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin returns to the podcast to discuss his recent article Endgame, as well as the massive year we observed in 2021. From the future of Ethereum to the rise of alternative Layer 1 platforms, it only makes sense to kick off 2022 by exploring how far we’ve come and figuring out where we’re headed. How far are we along on Ethereum’s roadmap? What challenges lie ahead? In a recent tweet, Vitalik posted a graphic of the updated progress of the Ethereum roadmap, and there are five throughlines that are progressing in parallel: • The Merge • The Surge • The Verge • The Purge • The Splurge We dive into what each of these means, as well as discuss what Ethereum will look like as these milestones are met. Holding this up against conversations of maximalism and alternative L1s, now is the time to start asking the big questions. ✨ WATCH THE DEBRIEF ✨ https://youtu.be/v__0GOC-XYE  ------ 📣 ONJUNO | Crypto from your Checking Account! https://bankless.cc/OnJuno  ------ 🚀 SUBSCRIBE TO NEWSLETTER: https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/   🎙️ SUBSCRIBE TO PODCAST: http://podcast.banklesshq.com/  ------ BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: ⚖️ ARBITRUM | SCALING ETHEREUM https://bankless.cc/Arbitrum  🍵 MATCHA | SMART ORDER ROUTING https://bankless.cc/Matcha  🚀 SLINGSHOT | LAYER 2 SOCIAL TRADING https://bankless.cc/Slingshot  🏦 GEMINI | TURN FIAT INTO CRYPTO https://bankless.cc/Gemini  🦁 BRAVE | THE BROWSER NATIVE WALLET https://bankless.cc/Brave  🦄 UNISWAP | DECENTRALIZED FUNDING https://bankless.cc/UniGrants  ------ Topics Covered: 0:00 Intro 4:09 Debrief 7:27 Vitalik Returns after 2021 11:40 2021 Ethereum Milestones 16:33 Roadmap Progress 19:35 The Merge (Proof of Stake) 24:20 The Surge (Rollups & Sharding) 32:59 Life after Sharding 42:40 The Verge (Verkle Trees) 49:35 The Purge (History Expiry) 57:03 State Expiry & Snake 1:03:40 Snakes & States 1:08:20 The Splurge (Everything Else) 1:15:20 What Makes Vitalik Happy 1:20:17 Rise of Alt Layer 1s 1:26:03 Gas Costs & Decentralization 1:29:11 Maximalism 1:34:03 Endgame 1:40:16 Alt L1s and Rollups 1:44:02 Multi-Rollup World 1:49:21 The Ground Floor 1:53:56 Solving the World’s Problems 1:58:33 Closing & Disclaimers ------ Resources: VITALIK'S ARTICLES Endgame https://vitalik.ca/general/2021/12/06/endgame.html   The Limits to Blockchain Scalability https://vitalik.ca/general/2021/05/23/scaling.html   Verkle Trees https://vitalik.ca/general/2021/06/18/verkle.html   Pragmatic Destruction of Self-Destruct https://hackmd.io/@vbuterin/selfdestruct   Crypto Cities https://vitalik.ca/general/2021/10/31/cities.html   Legitimacy https://vitalik.ca/general/2021/03/23/legitimacy.html   Moving beyond coin voting governance https://vitalik.ca/general/2021/08/16/voting3.html  VITALIK ON BANKLESS Legitimacy https://shows.banklesshq.com/p/-legitimacy-vitalik-buterin Beyond Coin Voting https://shows.banklesshq.com/p/beyond-coin-voting-vitalik-buterin  Vitalik Speaks (Playlist) https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmkdAgtxf3agqnA5IieA7OkKBjlhx9mn- MISC. Roadmap Tweet  https://twitter.com/VitalikButerin/status/1466411377107558402?s=20   Merge Testnet https://kintsugi.themerge.dev/   ETH TPS https://ethtps.info/  ----- Not financial or tax advice. This channel is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. This video is not tax advice. Talk to your accountant. Do your own research. Disclosure. From time-to-time I may add links in this newsletter to products I use. I may receive commission if you make a purchase through one of these links. Additionally, the Bankless writers hold crypto assets. See our investment disclosures here: https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/p/bankless-disclosures

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Podcasts

Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin returns to the podcast to discuss his recent article Endgame, as well as the massive year we observed in 2021. From the future of Ethereum to the rise of alternative Layer 1 platforms, it only makes sense to kick off 2022 by exploring how far we’ve come and figuring out where we’re headed. How far are we along on Ethereum’s roadmap? What challenges lie ahead? In a recent tweet, Vitalik posted a graphic of the updated progress of the Ethereum roadmap, and there are five throughlines that are progressing in parallel: • The Merge • The Surge • The Verge • The Purge • The Splurge We dive into what each of these means, as well as discuss what Ethereum will look like as these milestones are met. Holding this up against conversations of maximalism and alternative L1s, now is the time to start asking the big questions. ✨ WATCH THE DEBRIEF ✨ https://youtu.be/v__0GOC-XYE  ------ 📣 ONJUNO | Crypto from your Checking Account! https://bankless.cc/OnJuno  ------ 🚀 SUBSCRIBE TO NEWSLETTER: https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/   🎙️ SUBSCRIBE TO PODCAST: http://podcast.banklesshq.com/  ------ BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: ⚖️ ARBITRUM | SCALING ETHEREUM https://bankless.cc/Arbitrum  🍵 MATCHA | SMART ORDER ROUTING https://bankless.cc/Matcha  🚀 SLINGSHOT | LAYER 2 SOCIAL TRADING https://bankless.cc/Slingshot  🏦 GEMINI | TURN FIAT INTO CRYPTO https://bankless.cc/Gemini  🦁 BRAVE | THE BROWSER NATIVE WALLET https://bankless.cc/Brave  🦄 UNISWAP | DECENTRALIZED FUNDING https://bankless.cc/UniGrants  ------ Topics Covered: 0:00 Intro 4:09 Debrief 7:27 Vitalik Returns after 2021 11:40 2021 Ethereum Milestones 16:33 Roadmap Progress 19:35 The Merge (Proof of Stake) 24:20 The Surge (Rollups & Sharding) 32:59 Life after Sharding 42:40 The Verge (Verkle Trees) 49:35 The Purge (History Expiry) 57:03 State Expiry & Snake 1:03:40 Snakes & States 1:08:20 The Splurge (Everything Else) 1:15:20 What Makes Vitalik Happy 1:20:17 Rise of Alt Layer 1s 1:26:03 Gas Costs & Decentralization 1:29:11 Maximalism 1:34:03 Endgame 1:40:16 Alt L1s and Rollups 1:44:02 Multi-Rollup World 1:49:21 The Ground Floor 1:53:56 Solving the World’s Problems 1:58:33 Closing & Disclaimers ------ Resources: VITALIK'S ARTICLES Endgame https://vitalik.ca/general/2021/12/06/endgame.html   The Limits to Blockchain Scalability https://vitalik.ca/general/2021/05/23/scaling.html   Verkle Trees https://vitalik.ca/general/2021/06/18/verkle.html   Pragmatic Destruction of Self-Destruct https://hackmd.io/@vbuterin/selfdestruct   Crypto Cities https://vitalik.ca/general/2021/10/31/cities.html   Legitimacy https://vitalik.ca/general/2021/03/23/legitimac

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99 - Endgame | Vitalik Buterin

In our course on discoveries at our UX Conference, we talk about the importance of solving the right problem. Discovery research commonly results in learning about the problem space. This knowledge should be used to generate solutions that solve real user problems.
Ideally, the team should come together, agree on the top things it found out, and use this knowledge to frame design challenges. To prevent individuals from suggesting their pet solutions, which might have little resemblance to the problems found, construct How might we questions that frame the problem(s) for ideation.

Solving The Right Problem

A How might we (HMW) question can generate lots of creative ideas. Here are some examples of How might we questions:
<ul>
<li>How might we ensure more people pay their taxes before the deadline?</li>
<li>How might we help employees stay productive and healthy when working from home?</li>
<li>How might we make customers feel that their information is safe and secure when creating an account?</li>
</ul>
The How might we template was first introduced by Procter & Gamble in the 1970s and adopted by IDEO. The technique has become popular in design thinking and is used by design teams worldwide.

The HMV (How Might We) Question

Some teams generate HMWs that are not specific to what they’ve learned. For example, How might we improve the user experience of the product? is not specific to what you might have uncovered in your discovery research. This question can result in ideas that don’t address the root problems and the insights you uncovered. Once you and your team have carried out your discovery research, agree on what the top findings were. Use these to craft HMW questions

Tips on Writing Good HMWs: Start with the Problems

It can be easy to limit your thinking and embed solutions in your HMW questions. But doing so restricts the pool of possibilities, and fewer ideas are generated. In the example below, the first HMW suggests a particular type of solution, whereas the second is agnostic about any particular solution.
<ul>
<li>Insight: Users are often unsure about which form to complete when they file their taxes.</li>
<li>HMW (poor): How might we tell users which form to complete to file their taxes?</li>
<li>HMW (good): How might we make users feel confident they are filing their taxes correctly?</li>
</ul>

Tips on Writing Good HMWs: Avoid Suggesting a Solution in Your HMW Question

When writing HMW questions, ask yourself if you could rewrite them in a broader way? The broader the HMW, the more ideas can be generated.
<ul>
<li>Insight: Users often spend a long time checking their submission for mistakes.</li>
<li>HMW (good): How might we make it quick and easy for users to check their work for mistakes?</li>
<li>HMW (better): How might we support users to efficiently draft submissions that they’re happy with?</li>
</ul>

Tips on Writing Good HMWs: Keep Your HMWs Broad

To avoid solving symptoms of the problems rather than the root problems themselves, ask yourself whether your HMW question focuses on the desired outcome. In the example below, the first HMW question loses sight of what we really want to achieve.
<ul>
<li>Problem: Users often call us because they’re unsure about the application process.</li>
<li>HMW (poor): How might we stop users from calling us?</li>
<li>HMW (good): How might we make users feel confident they have all the information they need?</li>
</ul>

Tips on Writing Good HMWs: Focus Your HMWs on the Desired Outcome

Stating your HMW questions positively can generate more ideas and also encourage creativity.
If you find yourself using negative verbs like ‘reduce,’ ‘remove,’ ‘prevent,’ ask yourself if you can frame things more positively by using positive action verbs, like ‘increase,’ ‘create,’ ‘enhance,’ ‘promote’ and so on.
<ul>
<li>Problem: Users find the return process difficult.</li>
<li>HMW (poor): How might we make the return process less difficult?</li>
<li>HMW (good): How might we make the return process quick and intuitive?</li>
</ul>

Tips on Writing Good HMWs: Phrase Your HMW Questions Positively

Spend time with your team writing and selecting your HMWs before you begin ideating. You can have everyone contribute an HMW; then go through the following checklist to select or improve the best version:
<ul>
<li>Is it based on an existing problem or insight?</li>
<li>Does it track the desired outcome?</li>
<li>Is it written positively?</li>
<li>Is it broad enough to ensure many creative ideas?</li>
<li>Does it suggest a solution?</li>
</ul>

Write and Choose HMWs with Your Team

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Constructing how-might-we questions generates creative solutions while keeping teams focused on the right problems to solve.

productivity

Productivity

Using “How Might We” Questions to Ideate on the Right Problems

In order to make any change in one’s life—whether it’s to get out of debt, become fit enough to run a marathon, or get on better with your family, start with a single change. It should be small; not a goal, but a tiny first step. It could be to run for ten minutes; to spend two minutes drawing; to prepare a healthy work lunch for one day a week. It could be to stay in hard conversations for a moment after you want to leave and spend that moment trying to listen.

Taking small steps

<ol><li>Start very small.</li><li>Do only one change at a time.</li><li>Be present and enjoy the activity (don’t focus on results).</li><li>Be grateful for every step you take.</li></ol>

Steps that you can apply to make any change

habits

Habits

The Zen rule for becoming happier: Change one thing

It is characterised by continuous rushing and a sense of urgency, even if there is no need for it. You may be racing to cross items off your to-do list, multi-tasking, or feeling agitated if you are slowed down.
Hurry sickness is part of the broader Type A personality complex, according to professor John Schaubroeck. If you are always in a hurry, you're also likely to be driven to achieve small outcomes, be competitive, and impatient.

Hurry sickness is a behaviour pattern

<ol>
<li>Everything is a race for you. You treat everyday tasks such as shopping, eating or driving like a race, and slowing down cause you anxiety.</li>
<li>Focusing on just one task at a time feels intolerable. You want to know what else you can squeeze in.</li>
<li>You get highly irritable when you are delayed. You'll do anything to avoid wasting time.</li>
<li>You always feel like you are behind schedule. A day is not long enough for you.</li>
<li>Your impatience causes you to interrupt or talk over people.</li>
<li>You feel satisfied if you can check things off your to-do list.</li>
</ol>

What hurry sickness looks like

A perpetually rushed state can cause chronic stress, which can weaken your immune system, and interfere with your sleep and energy levels. It can also make it challenging to stay focused, which may affect your work performance.
The constant feeling of urgency can draw us away from meaningful relationships. We lose patience with those who move slower and struggle to stay connected and empathetic, ultimately leading to conflict and fallouts.

Living in a hurry can be damaging

<ul>
<li>Place tasks in a proper perspective. Consider what is really time-sensitive and what is not.</li>
<li>Carve out small windows of time for self-care, then increase them over time. Use the time to do things you enjoy, such as reading, talking, walking and meditation.</li>
<li>Create an evening routine to help you wind down.</li>
<li>Give yourself time to think. Constantly moving from task to task prevents you from seeing the bigger picture.</li>
<li>Get support from loved ones. Ask them to point out when you're falling back into your old habits.</li>
</ul>

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