Fire & Motion #4

What I've read

📄太史公自序

凡百三十篇，五十二萬六千五百字，為太史公書。序略，以拾遺補闕，成一家之言，厥協六經異傳，整齊百家雜語，藏之名山，副在京師，俟後世聖人君子。第七十。

我並沒有全文讀完，而是聽呂世浩老師講解其意旨與重要性。文末的這段讓我佩服：太史公深怕史記亡佚，因此刻了一個副本「藏之名山，副在京師」，且特地標明了字數與篇數，使後人有 metadata 得以讓考據更完整。史記傳了兩千年能甚為完整就靠太史公這一遠略吧！

📄Interview: Vitalik Buterin, creator of Ethereum

Normally crypto bubbles last around 6-9 months after surpassing the previous top, after which the rapid drop comes pretty quickly. This time, the bull market lasted nearly one and a half years. People seemed to adjust into the mentality that the higher prices are a new normal. The whole time, I knew that eventually the bull market will end and we’re going to get the drop, but I just did not know when.

Perhaps everything related to money get its own cycle, and nor does crypto. Keeping this kind of mindset may help me better adapt the bear and be humbler when it comes to bull market.

I don't claim to have a cure for these dynamics, except my usual advice that people should remember the history of the space and take the long view of things.

The greatness of Elizabeth II is, in my opinion, that she has experienced so much during her tenure, including World War II. History repeats itself, and those who can learn from the past may be better at encountering the future.

I would say what excites me most isn't any single project, but the way that a whole ecosystem of many interesting ideas is coming together. This is true on the technological level, where Ethereum is approaching its merge, and large improvements in blockchain scalability, usability and privacy are all soon to come after that. It's also true on the level of social and political ideas, where a lot of thought around decentralized organizations, radical economic and democratic mechanisms, internet communities, and much more is all maturing at around the same time.

And the merge is DONE!!!!

📄報任少卿書

假令僕伏法受誅，若九牛亡一毛，與螻蟻何以異？而世又不與能死節者比，特以爲智窮罪極，不能自免，卒就死耳。何也？素所自樹立使然。人固有一死，或重於泰山，或輕於鴻毛，用之所趨異也。

同樣是跟著呂世浩老師讀史記。很多字詞用法源自太史公，因其精妙幽微而流傳了兩千年，例如「至聖」，也例如「人固然有一死」。閱讀經典的必要，在於能真正理解字詞的上下文，與其出現的時空背景，除了能更理解其意趣之外，也避免亂解情勢之誤用。

What I've watched

🎥悲情城市

終於有空看這部經典。很平靜地看完了，而感情上的共感是少之又少。片尾曲使我印象深刻，送葬般地緩慢著訴說悲劇，毋忘昔日，警惕今日。

🎥Eat, Pray, Love

Another "finally got time to watch" film. Really love the quote "To lose balance sometimes for love is part of living a balanced life." at the final part of the movie. It doesn't always have to be love, but it re-emphasizes the power of being anti-fragile, of diving into the wrongness until we know how to be right.

and what else?

🎙️Ethereum Uncensored with Justin Drake on Bankless

🏫周易哲學 on NTU Open Course

🎙️喜劇媽媽桑的家常話PUNCH S3EP75 客人來訪：馬力歐來囉，聊得太嗨，錄成三集。第一集比較嚴肅的部分，十年前怎麼會想創業，創立關鍵評論網 on 黃小胖之家常話Punch第三季