Author: Jason D. Rowley
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Excerpt From a Constantly Growing Piece of Fiction
This is the most recent in a long line of excerpts I’ve posted on HD. The working title has heretofore been “Didact”, but I’m now just calling it Jesus, this is getting long. The piece itself is approaching twelve thousand words. And this disturbs me, because I had no intention of writing anything longer than…
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Photos from TEDxUChicago. Photos by JDR.
More will be added over the coming days. Check back. © 2011 JDR Photo. All Rights Reserved.
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What Makes Me
I am an architect of meaning, maker of dreams, fears and futures, a lover of much and a loather of slightly more; I’m an entrepreneur, an undertaker, a fierce adventurer, and a way-finder to boot. I am an ideator. I believe in clarity, despite myself. I simultaneously speak truth to power and seek it. I…
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A Quote About Diversion
I have discovered that all the unhappiness of men arises from one single fact, that they cannot stay quietly in their own chamber…. But on further consideration, when, after finding the cause of all our ills, I have sought to discover the reason of it, I have found that there is one very real reason,…
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First Reactions to the World Foresight Forum. A Note About Empowerment.
I find the idea of “inspirational leadership” vacuous. The excitement of an individual about a topic or an idea, top-down inspiration, is bullshit. What if I told you that I don’t want someone to tell me what to do or how to think. What if I don’t want someone to precipitate that “inspired”, energized feeling…
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Why Inspirational Speaker-Entrepreneurs Are So Disappointing
An excerpt from my most recent Flyover Geeks post. Read the whole thing here. What is it that makes a charismatic leader? Is it his or her message, or its delivery? Or is it something else, perhaps the inclination of the audience to believe it? In 1978, 918 people died at the Peoples Temple Agricultural…
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Introducing “JDR Found”
For a long time, I’ve used Facebook as a repository for links and photos I find online. After trying to find an easy way to access all the content I posted, to no avail, I’ve decided to stow my findings on a Tumblr blog, which I’m calling JDR Found. There is no real theme to JDR…
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Why, Complicator? (Okay, Computer.) – On Technology | An Excerpt
I am writing a long essay about technology. Its thesis is fairly simple: We live in an increasingly ugly world. To escape its ugliness, we seek diversion. Whether it’s on Facebook, Twitter, Second Life, Farmville, or any number of games we can play on our mobile devices, many are integrating an ethic of escapism into…
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Autoinvolutionism, n.
Autoinvolutionism noun Of or describing the tendency to become self-involved or have one’s worldview circumscribed by algorithmic processes determining wants, needs, and friends–used especially with respect to that state of being brought about by social-networking and other ostensibly social technologies. : Norbert came upon the idea that users of Facebook turned their desks, laps, tables,…