It’s funny, I started doing “Image of the Week” so I could have a rest day from writing without actually taking a day off. Now I’m actually more inspired and motivated to write that coming up with pictures is sometimes more difficult than I anticipated.

Fortunately, this week, Wrath of Gnon came through as ever. Order vs. chaos, city planning style.

I can’t stop staring at the organic version; the centrally planned houses make my skin crawl.

Wrath’s dessications of modern architecture are fantastic, but his demonstration of how architecture and city planning can be organic and human-centered is absolutely mind blowing.

Many of the modern diseases that we face (including my own) are the effects of overcentralization, of too much order with too little wisdom, of failure to understand tail risks.

(Basically everyone needs to read more Taleb.)

Sometimes it can be easy to overreact. “Burn it all, let’s make the jungle our home.” Sometimes I think I want that – but then I consider how difficult such a life would be.

Perhaps a better way is to realize that we cannot centrally plan civilization, and to figure out how to let natural, organic growth guide our technological sophistication.

It is difficult to visualize what that could look like – but Wrath provides examples. (Which usually happen to be very, very old but very, very beautiful. Naturally.)

I’ve been in a very pessimistic mood this week, but perhaps the future holds more promise than it seems.