MISCELLANEOUS:

Three days ago, I turned 15. Before I go any further, let me answer some of the burning questions you have for me:

“Was the cake any good?” You bet. It was vanilla.

“Were there presents?” Yeah. This would probably be the first time I actually used a birthday present someone gave me. I’m looking at you, polka dot giraffe socks.

“Why didn’t you invite me to the party?” Sorry, but there’s a little bit of a pandemic going on right now. Maybe next year?

“Did you have fun?” 1000%.

TLDR: Aside from the fact that it reminded me of my inevitable death, and how I still can’t (legally) drive, I couldn’t complain about turning a year older. …

MOTIVATION:

When you stir a large enough pot for a long enough time, you’ll eventually see the ingredients combine to create something you’ve never seen before. Some people call it coincidence. Others call it luck, or chance, or statistics, or emergent behaviour.

But regardless of the name, you’re always left surprised with the outcome.

In the same way, when you let seven billion unique people interact in the largest mixing pot you could imagine, you’re almost guaranteed to get a few that turn out different. …

THE TRUTH:

Cancer. It’s a condition that’s been around almost as long as humanity has. And with all that time, we’ve come a long way in understanding how it works. When it comes to the research and advances we’re making, there’s no better time to be alive. If you have cancer, there’s no better time to be alive.

But, let’s be real.

It used to be a whole lot worse, but cancer still takes about 30,000 lives every day. The machines might look more refined, but they still resort to cutting, burning, or poisoning tumours and hoping they’ll disappear. We’re trying our best, but our best isn’t enough. …

ESSAYS:

If happiness could look like something, what would it be?

Some people might answer with sunshine, rainbows, hot chocolate, or freshly done laundry. Others might say getting birthday presents, spending time with their kids, or jumping onto the couch after a merciless day at work.

But when I try imagining happiness, it doesn’t come up with nearly the same resolution. The most I get is a fuzzy blob that doesn’t quite begin or end anywhere. I don’t know what it is, and I doubt anyone else really does either.

But, shouldn’t we know?

Normally, not knowing wouldn’t be a problem. After all, there’s countless obscure concepts, things, and experiences we never even knew existed, and we’re doing completely fine without them. …

CRASH COURSE:

Other than when I’m about to drown at the shallow end of my local swimming pool, I can’t really say air’s ever really at the top of my mind. And studying air? Okay, you can breathe it and you can use it to fly those hot-air ballon thingies. Is there anything else you need to know? Exactly.

You get the idea. Learning about this sort of stuff isn’t exactly something most people would like to spend your free time doing. That is, if they valued your sanity. But hear me out.

I’m no world-class scientist, but I’ve taken the time to understand the big ideas behind how the atmosphere works. Over the past few months, I read articles that were written before the internet existed, tried having a logical discussion with a Flat Earther, and watched lectures from a professor who was wearing his T-Shirt inside out while none of his students had the heart to tell him. …

HOW TO GET IGNORED BY A BILLION DOLLAR COMPANY:

Dear Medium,

Since I know you like concise articles, I wanted to keep this short.

I’m Aaryan. I like writing things — like this extremely festive Christmas gift request I’m typing out to you with my Cheeto-dust encrusted fingers. So far, I’ve written a few dozen pieces, got published once or twice, and made a cool $15.45 from your partner program last month. In other words, I’m ballin’.

But enough about me. This is about you.

Let me preface this by saying you’re definitely on the right track here. …

(NOT SO) FUN:

Let’s start a little social experiment. How many claps can this —possibly the least well thought out article in the world — get?

What’s your answer?

KNOCKOFF PAUL GRAHAM ESSAYS:

Recently, we’ve started questioning the one thing we always thought was obvious — our ability to choose.

The deeper we go, the more we realize free will it isn’t just a given. Even so, we’ve embedded this “free will” — something that might not even be real — into every fibre of our lives.

But why shouldn’t we? After all, we can feel free will in every bone in our body. We know our mind can think, and we know thoughts lead to choices, which lead to real outcomes. How much “real-er” could something get?

True. But what if it wasn’t real? What would you do? What would you do if it was all fake, and you just didn’t notice? …