Angelino Desmet

Hover to FBI-enhance!

Ambition is overrated. Whether a janitor or surgeon, being virtuous is what matters [1]. Avoid contempt and envy because we each have our part to play [2], powerless to choose our upbringing. Often there's more than meets the eye so hold off on passing judgement. Everything is borrowed [3], so avoid craving credit too. The meaning of life is sharing (and) laughter [4], helping each other through peaks and throughs. Bref, GLHF.

  1. Dr. Michael Sugrue: Marcus Aurelius' Meditations: The Stoic Ideal.
  2. Nicky Case: Fireflies.
  3. The Streets: Everything Is Borrowed.
  4. YouTube: The Meaning of Life.

Contact

Don't hesitate to reach out. Especially if one finds typos, misinformation, or errors of any kind.

Tinkering

Websites.

Photographs (deliberately unedited because fake is plentiful already).

Miscellaneous.

Education

Experience

Supportive of

Lichess

Lichess.org is the best chess website on the Web; completely free while refusing the use of ads and trackers. Click the following link to checkmate me.

Citizen science

GIMPS, Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search.

PrimeGrid, searching for primes. Among all “my” results, here are the noteworthy finds:

Free, libre, open source software

Because power-mad greedy monopolies need competition. Here's a list of all the software I use.

Philosophical preferences

Throughout the years I've changed my mind often. Contrary to popular belief, that's a good thing.

“When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?”

Current preferences:

Preferences on hold:

Discarded preferences:

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Degrowth

We live on a planet with finite resources, an economy that aims for indefinite growth is inherently unsustainable. Stop it. GDP needs to yield for UBI; the economy should serve humanity and nature, not the other way around.

Degrowth elephant vs snail illustration. degrowth.info

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Antiwork, tang ping (躺平)

From antiwork in the USA to “tang ping” (躺平) or “lying flat” in China, people are fed up with the grind. Could it be that we shouldn't live to work, but work to live? That we shouldn't serve the economy, but the economy should serve us?

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(Ethical) Veganism

It just isn't possible to mass produce meat without torturing animals. In fact, raising animals specifically for consumption, i.e., “humane slaughter”, is an oxymoron.

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Cynicism

“For the Cynics, the purpose of life is to live in virtue, in agreement with nature.” —Wikipedia

Naturally flowing from Cynicism is minimalism. The less you need, the less you have to work, the more time you have; for time is the most valuable resource there is.

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Nuclear energy

As part of a former discussion:

“Well, I read your linked pdf, and all I can say is that neither ecomodernism, degrowth, veganism, etc., has all the solutions. The Western world can implement degrowth for sure because we're drowning in luxury. Nobody needs two homes, a yacht, a luxury car, etc., to be satisfied. We need to learn sharing and be happy with what we've got. However, we cannot expect or tell thirsty, hungry, and needlessly sick people in developing countries: “Hey, stop trying to modernize and suffer less, because we did too much of it already.”
Investing in Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) for instance would work miracles in order to increase the living standards in developing countries while not affecting the environment (nuclear waste is negligible [4] and a solved issue [5]).”

Nuclear energy or atomic energy is green and safe. However, don't take my word for it:

  1. Our Friend The Atom, educational video by Disney.
  2. The Safest Source of Energy Will Surprise You, spoiler: nuclear energy is the safest.
  3. Titans of Nuclear, nuclear energy podcast. If you watched the series Chernobyl, I highly recommend this podcast's five dedicated episodes expanding on the misinformation it contains.
  4. Nuclear Energy, Zondag met Lubach.
  5. We have a solution for final disposal of spent nuclear fuel.

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Mastery based education

Currently, the time spent on a topic is fixed, and mastery is variable; the converse should be true. Ultimately, education should nurture curiosity, not stifle it.

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Freethought/antireligion

“…beliefs should not be formed on the basis of authority, tradition, revelation, or dogma, and that beliefs should instead be reached by other methods such as logic, reason, and empirical observation.” —Wikipedia

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Deliberative democracy

Only informed people should be able to vote on policies in their respective fields of expertise.

“Deliberative democracy, school of thought in political theory that claims that political decisions should be the product of fair and reasonable discussion and debate among citizens.” —Britannica.

My review of The Flaws That Kill Our Democracy by Klaas Mensaert.

In the quest for efficiency, scientists and engineers are often inspired by, and get praised for using mechanisms from the natural world. That politics should be no different is my main takeaway from this book (e.g. bottom-up approach, piecemeal changes, trial-by-combat, etc.), achievable ideas I can fully get behind. Except for that last one, that was a joke… [full review.]

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Ad blocking

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POSSE

The main reason I Publish on my Own Site and Syndicate Elsewhere is to reduce 3rd party dependence and to have complete freedom over content and aesthetics.

Randy Marsh butterfly.
I'm flying free
with my beautiful
butterfly wings!