Writings

This is a curation of my writing.

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Last Essays

Daily Photo Story

One shot, a few thoughts, more or less every day.

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Benerkenswert is my monthly-ish Newsletter.

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Reviews & Recommendations

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All Essays & Notes

Burn the Boat

My first evening off since L’s birth was on the night of October 4th. A friend of mine was heading south for a 24 hours adventure and offered me to join for the Donggang Welcomes the Kings Peace Ceremony 東港迎王平安祭典, a triennial spiritual event I had filed in my head under The Big Boat Burning…

On the work of Krzysztof Kieslowski

Krzysztof Kieslowski was a Polish director and screenwriter most popular for his films of the 1990s. Given he usually collaborated with the trial lawyer Krzysztof Piesiewicz, it might be warranted to address ‘him’ as The Krzysztofs, but I’ll stick to hagiographical third person singular common in the auteur sphere. Kieslowski’s movies have a timeless, often…

Notes on Taking Very Many Screenshots

Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella introduced a new feature called “Recall”. The idea is simple: Your Windows computer will take automatic screenshots every few minutes and store them locally on your computer. This will create a memory stream for an integrated AI bot – which in turn means you can talk with it about much of…

Notes on Storytelling

How stories help us to address the big challenges of our times. And why our obsession with them makes it almost impossible.

Notes on Malcolm Gladwell

Notes on Malcolm Gladwell. “You can be fun and playful and earnest nonetheless.”

Taiwan Pride 2023, Celebrating Love in All Its Colors

Taiwan’s annual pride parade took place in Taipei on October 28th, this year under the motto “Stand with Diversity.” With its estimated 176.000 participants, Taiwan Pride was the largest such event in South East Asia this year. The event was joyful from start to finish, a colorful celebration of love and togetherness at a time driven by diversion.

On AI, v1 (March 2023)

There is a lot happening in the AI-world. Fun stuff, crazy stuff, scary stuff – and I am already a bit tired of the hype, even though it just gets started.

This article is the first in a loose series of playful approaches to make sense of this topic.

Remembering 228 in Chiayi (嘉義市), A Study Tour

The 28th of February 1947 is one of the most important dates in Taiwan’s history, marking the day of an uprising that later lead to the “White Terror” period and leaving marks in any bigger city in Taiwan.

This post summarizes the memory of this event in the city of Chiayi (嘉義市).

Oslo Freedom Forum in Taipei

The Oslo Freedom Forum, founded 2009 in Oslo, is an event series produced by the Human Rights Foundation once or twice a year. This year, it took place in Taipei, setting up a firework of new ideas and questions.

The amateur’s way to photography

Photography entered my life very early through the “click, rip rap, click, rip rap” of my father’s old Minolta. It was his great passion, and during my childhood, our family vacation walks took their rhythm from me and my siblings’ interest in puddles and his in the perfect perspective. I am not good in visualising…

Leading emergent change, Chapter 1: Leadership and self-organization

This blog post is the translation of a chapter from a research study I wrote in 2020 for the consultancy LEAD during the Corona crisis. Two ways to shape change: Leadership and self-organization To remain successful, organizations need resilience, adaptability and innovation. But how can leaders strengthen these qualities?Shaping change is an enormous leadership challenge…