Over/Under #12 with Amin

This week, let’s welcome Mr Benjamin Hollon also known as Amin - the man who can juggle multiple projects!

Below are the topics I picked up for him.

Libraries

Underrated, for sure! Honestly, I haven’t made enough use of libraries myself. But having a good library is such a valuable resource; I can’t afford to buy books on every topic that tickles my fancy, but I can usually find something good at the library.

If you’re having trouble focusing on reading, I recommend exercising what I call your “reading stamina”. Start with a simple exercise of ten minutes of focused reading per day, for at least a few days. You don’t have to be super-focused or making a lot of progress, but make sure above all you don’t abandon the effort or pick up your phone until those ten minutes are over.

Once you’re able to read for ten minutes consistently, up it to thirty per day and repeat (it can be anything—fiction or nonfiction). Once you’ve got thirty down, read for an hour per day. I’d say a comfortable end target is to be able to have two-hour, uninterrupted reading sessions. You don’t have to be doing those sessions every day, but I think it’s a crucial skill to be able to, that will teach you to focus and to extract meaningful information from long-form texts. And again, you don’t have to be totally focused during the whole time, but be sure not to pick up your phone or an external source of distractions.

I used to run online reading challenges that helped a lot of people, until I burned out on that effort. I’m considering launching something new in that vein again, in the future. I’ve got too much on my plate already, at the moment, though.

So yes, use your local library! I’m thinking I’ll head over there today to check out some books by Marshall McLuhan; they keep getting cited in my classes and I should read the originals at some point.

Mass surveillance

Not much to say here; I don’t find mass surveillance ethical or a good idea in any capacity. “Overrated”, I suppose, though I don’t know anyone personally who would rate it highly in the first place.

Search engines

Believe it or not, I actually think that search engines are overrated, at least in their current form. Yes, this is a weird statement coming from the developer of a search engine, but I suppose I’ve had the time to become opinionated about them, too.

The thing is, all my web crawler really does is codify and organize and interpret links and discovery methods (such as blogrolls and web feeds) that already exist on the web. If you look at Google’s famous PageRank algorithm that made them successful, the concept behind it is that it ranks highly pages that normal web surfers would be most likely to come across without a search engine.

With search engines on the scene, I think people have forgotten how to browse the web without them, which puts people in a dangerous over reliance on them, especially with there being so few truly independent options to use. If your only way of gathering information is a search engine, that search engine now has total control over your ability to find truth.

Search engines definitely have a valuable place, and I’m trying to make the most of that place with Clew, but I don’t think they should play as central a role in our web browsing as they do today.

Severance

I’ve never seen it, I don’t really watch shows, or watch anything when not with my family or on a long international flight. (Part of it is that I don’t use any streaming services.)

I’ve only heard positive things, though, and my Digital Authorship professor seems to like it, so it’s probably alright.

Curry

I use Garam Masala (which, as I understand it, is the Indian spice mix that inspired the “curry powder” they sold to westerners) in almost every dish I make. I love the stuff, can’t get enough of it.

Food in the US is so bland… especially in comparison to Thai and Indian cuisines, which are so amazing at mixing flavors and spices for the perfect effect. I mean, and when I eat spicy food in the US (when I recognize it as actually being spicy, which is rare), nine times out of ten it’s just hot for the sake of being hot, without any delicious flavors to back it up. Compare that to some good Tom Yam soup, which is often really spicy, but is also a delicious mix of flavors such as galangal and lemongrass.

So if you’re someone who enjoys what I would consider bland food, branch out a bit! My favorite foods are the ones that use a lot of flavors and spices and reconcile them well. Indian spice mixes like Garam Masala or curry powder, and the dishes that use them, are an excellent place to start.

And, here are my replies!

Libraries

I no longer visit them, but I probably should. Moving abroad, I’m not also sure that I can find all the books I want in English.

Amin gave good reading tips, and that’s something I started doing with my Pomodoro sessions to include some reading.

I should probably book a 2 hours session per week focused on reading.

Mass surveillance

We agree on this. But, to me it’s underrated because we don’t talk enough about it. It’s everywhere. Your phone, your TV, streaming platforms, cameras in the streets. It’s something that the Stasi would have loved to have.

Search engines

Overrated! I got annoyed every time I see someone typing in Google for any website. Sometimes even to get to a three or four letters domain name, they use Google.

I love the initiative Amin took with his own search engine, even if I’m wondering how small independent ones can survive against those giants.

It is clear that more and more people are using AI tools to get quicker answers instead of using a search engine. These tools scrape the internet for biased, predominantly white opinions on various topics, but how reliable are they?

Severance

Overrated. I watched three or four episodes of the first season. I don’t know why I stopped watching it. It may be because everyone was talking about it. I may give it another try this year, because feedbacks about the second season are excellent.

Curry

Underrated. I like a good spiced dish. I enjoy a good chicken curry with rice. But what I really appreciate is a good spicy meal. I’m not fussy about where it comes from, whether it’s India, the West Indies or Thailand, I love spicy food.

I have been eating spicy food since I was a teenager. My father always says it’s good for our immunity. He eats “spicy” food, or at least that’s what he thinks. His meals include harissa and small chilli peppers. I’ve shown him some of the Caribbean’s hottest peppers and he wasn’t ready for them. 😅