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50 curated discoveries
A detailed first-person account of fastpacking the 70-mile O-Trek circuit in Torres del Paine National Park, Patagonia — one of South America's most iconic mountain landscapes — in 5 days instead of the typical 10. Perfect balance of physical challenge and strategic comfort (refugios vs camping), dramatic landscapes (glaciers, suspension bridges, 3,000'+ climbs), and solitude on the less-traveled backside route. Practical logistics, gear lists, and day-by-day breakdowns make this a usable planning guide for a future pilgrimage-level adventure that combines trail running, witness consciousness in raw nature, and milestone trip potential.
Fastpacking the O-Trek — Torres del Paine's 5-Day Patagonian Circuit
This 2026 César-winning French nature documentary follows three generations exploring an eastern French forest. It's slow, meditative, and utterly patient—the camera waits for mist to drift through trees, light to break through canopy, clouds to cross the sky. Minimal dialogue, stunning cinematography, and a poetic reflection on transmission, time, and our relationship with nature. Perfect for your contemplative side.
Whispers in the Woods (Le chant des forêts) — Meditative French Nature Documentary
Whispers in the Woods (Le chant des forêts) — Meditative French Nature Documentary
A free, browser-based tool for creating interactive systems simulations by drawing circles and arrows. Model feedback loops, test 'what if' scenarios, and visualize complex dynamics — perfect for John's first-principles approach to understanding business strategy, IFS parts dynamics, or any complex system. No installation, clean design, shareable simulations.
LOOPY — A Tool for Thinking in Systems
LOOPY — A Tool for Thinking in Systems
LOOPY — A Tool for Thinking in Systems
A love poem from Amber sent on a Sunday morning in November 2013, early in John and Amber's relationship. She writes: 'I want to watch you become the best version of you, / Allow you space to grow as you need to. / To see you smile and find your inner peace, / Fills me with satisfaction, my own subtle release. / I want to nurture your soul, body, heart & mind...' This captures the foundation of their partnership from the very beginning — space to grow, nurturing across all dimensions, witnessing each other's becoming. Over 12 years later, this email shows Amber articulated the principles that still define their bond. Foundational evidence of genuine seeing and rare clarity.
Good Morning My Lover — Amber's Sunday Morning Poem (2013)
Good Morning My Lover — Amber's Sunday Morning Poem (2013)
Good Morning My Lover — Amber's Sunday Morning Poem (2013)
Good Morning My Lover — Amber's Sunday Morning Poem (2013)
Published November 2025 in Frontiers in Complex Systems, this paper proposes organizing emergence research into a formal science with 9 distinct 'Prototypes' — phase transitions, chemical emergence, computational emergence (NK landscapes, cellular automata), biological emergence (symbiogenesis, autopoiesis), interactional emergence (bee nests, V-formations), collaborative emergence in social systems, dissipative structures, and generative emergence. The author (Lichtenstein) identifies four empirically-backed Principles of Generative Emergence: (1) emergence requires disequilibrium, (2) emergence dramatically increases system capacity (10,000% in Adam Smith's pin factory example), (3) emergence requires strong containers/constraints, (4) emergence is both process and outcome (the forest is 'forest-ing'). What makes this resonant for your documented interests: it bridges natural and social systems using complexity science, applies first-principles thinking to emergence itself, and offers practical frameworks for leadership, entrepreneurship, and sustainability. The paper directly addresses how emergence principles could guide entrepreneurs (produce disequilibrium, build strong containers) and leaders (operate outside the norm, share responsibility). It references Prigogine, Kauffman, Holland, Goldstein, and connects thermodynamics to social organizing — exactly the cross-disciplinary systems thinking you value. The 'Prototypes as facets' metaphor is elegant: each provides a unique lens into emergence, together they express the whole phenomenon. Estimated read time: 45-60 minutes for the full paper, or focus on Section 4 (Are there laws of emergence?) for the core principles. This sits at the intersection of systems theory, consciousness studies, entrepreneurship, and philosophy of science — all documented interests. Recent enough (Nov 2025) that you're catching leading-edge academic conversation.
Emergence as a Science — Frontiers in Complex Systems
Don's Birthday Surprise — Family Coordination (2015)
Don's Birthday Surprise — Family Coordination (2015)
Emergence as a Science — Frontiers in Complex Systems
Don's Birthday Surprise — Family Coordination (2015)
Emergence as a Science — Frontiers in Complex Systems
Don's Birthday Surprise — Family Coordination (2015)
Emergence as a Science — Frontiers in Complex Systems
Don's Birthday Surprise — Family Coordination (2015)
Emergence as a Science — Frontiers in Complex Systems
Don's Birthday Surprise — Family Coordination (2015)
A brief but tender exchange from October 2015 where Marlys coordinated a surprise birthday breakfast for Don with Katy. John was visiting Portland that weekend, and Marlys wanted to organize a Monday morning surprise. What makes this poignant: it captures the ordinary choreography of family love — the quiet work of bringing people together to celebrate someone. This was October 2015, a full decade before Don's death in September 2025. The exchange shows how family gathered around him, how John's visits home became opportunities for connection. Reading it now, it's a reminder that the small acts of showing up are what build a life of love.
Traces of Consciousness (2026) - Hoffman Breakthrough
Traces of Consciousness (2026) - Hoffman Breakthrough
Traces of Consciousness (2026) - Hoffman Breakthrough
Traces of Consciousness (2026) - Hoffman Breakthrough
Traces of Consciousness (2026) - Hoffman Breakthrough
Traces of Consciousness (2026) - Hoffman Breakthrough
Traces of Consciousness (2026) - Hoffman Breakthrough
Donald Hoffman's most significant theoretical update: trace logic, decorated permutations, and mathematical emergence of spacetime from conscious agents. 3-hour deep dive into his breakthrough using trace-order formalism to derive Minkowski space from consciousness itself. Technically rigorous yet philosophically bold — addresses scattering amplitudes, evolutionary fitness-beats-truth theorem, spacetime as user interface, and the meaning question. Perfect intersection of cosmology, philosophy of mind, systems thinking, and witness consciousness practices. Recent (Nov 2025) leading-edge conversation.
Time and Water — A Requiem for Iceland's Dying Glaciers
Time and Water — A Requiem for Iceland's Dying Glaciers
Time and Water — A Requiem for Iceland's Dying Glaciers
Time and Water — A Requiem for Iceland's Dying Glaciers
Time and Water — A Requiem for Iceland's Dying Glaciers
Time and Water — A Requiem for Iceland's Dying Glaciers
Time and Water — A Requiem for Iceland's Dying Glaciers
Time and Water — A Requiem for Iceland's Dying Glaciers
Sara Dosa's contemplative Sundance 2026 documentary weaves personal archives, Iceland's mythic past, and glaciers as Earth's memory into a meditation on intergenerational witness consciousness, awe, grief, and radical accountability for climate change. Features Okjökull — Iceland's first glacier to officially die in 2019.
Opening in 2027 but already 70% complete, this 849km cross-country trail is being called 'Korea's Camino de Santiago.' It traverses from the East Sea to the Yellow Sea, crossing the Baekdu-Daegan Mountain Range (the backbone of the Korean Peninsula), passing through 225 villages, thousand-year-old Buddhist temples, rice fields, dense forests, and sandy beaches. The combination of physical challenge, contemplative Buddhist sites, mountain scenery, and cultural immersion hits all of John's sweet spots.
Dongseo Trail — South Korea's 849km Coast-to-Coast Pilgrimage
Dongseo Trail — South Korea's 849km Coast-to-Coast Pilgrimage
Dongseo Trail — South Korea's 849km Coast-to-Coast Pilgrimage
Dongseo Trail — South Korea's 849km Coast-to-Coast Pilgrimage
Dongseo Trail — South Korea's 849km Coast-to-Coast Pilgrimage