Essays

One of my friends recently got married. Another is getting married soon. If that is entirely their decision and that of their partners, then well, good for them, and I have nothing to say. But I do have something to say because they were actually “nudged” by their ailing parents into hastily getting married. There is nothing wrong with respecting the wishes of one’s parents, especially when they are elderly and unwell. But there is something problematic about their parents, and perhaps their entire generation, who, despite their age and supposed wisdom, often hold such wishes without much reflection. In believing they know what is best for their children, they sometimes use their illness as a reason to push them into marriage, urging them to fulfill part of their concept of the good life, which revolves around reproductive and material success. ...

Recently, I interviewed with a self-advertised “top” company, with the initial assumption that they were a decent engineering organization. However, the actual technical interview they conducted proved me totally wrong. The interview lasted around 55 minutes, with around 25 minutes of product discussion and Q&A with a manager whose English was incomprehensible. But let’s just consider that part unfortunate and unimportant, and focus instead on the actual 30-minute technical discussion, which I think was insightful in terms of software engineering and product development in general. ...

An old friend of mine criticized my view of life, saying that I live fast, devoid of emotions, oblivious to things around me, and that I focus instead on the general, abstract, and the principles. My view is, obviously, extreme, and I often fail to live up to it. But what matters is that I think it is essentially the correct way of life as a human being, and it is worth striving for. ...

Nhiều người sống ở thế kỷ 21 nhưng vẫn tiếp tục ôm lấy những thứ “tín ngưỡng”, “phong tục” mà bản chất thực ra là mê tín dị đoan. Nói về mê tín, mình sẽ không chỉ đề cập đến những niềm tin mà đa phần mọi người đều biết là mê tín rồi, ví dụ như “bị bệnh thì cúng bái chứ không đi bệnh viện”. Mà mình sẽ đi xa hơn, bao hàm tất cả những niềm tin, phong tục mà hay được biện hộ dưới cái mác “có thờ có thiêng, có kiêng có lành” và gọi đó là mê tín. Một số ví dụ là: “đầu tháng không ăn thịt chó”, “đầu năm không cho vay/đi vay tiền”, “mua nhà, chuyển nhà phải cúng bái”. Mình gọi những hoạt động này là “thờ kiêng” cho ngắn gọn. ...

To be continue… 13/2/2024, Vinhomes Grand Park, Thu Duc 27/1/2024, Hamptons Plaza, Ba Ria 19/1/2024, Diamond Plaza, Saigon

“The” question and “the” comment “Why are you so thin?” is the question. “You are too thin” is the comment. I receive that question and comment too often to the point I get bored. It usually happens in a casual conversation, in which I don’t have enough time to give a proper reply or explanation. So I think it is better to write it down and save some energy by not repeating it too many times. ...

We are living in a society heavily influenced by liberalism, which embraces human happiness, freedom of choice and opinion. The need for open-mindedness - respect towards other choice, opinion, taste, culture, religion, etc - flows naturally. However, as the word has become commonplace, many people have lost sense of its actual meaning. They exercise something called relativism. What is relativism? Relativism means respecting everyone’s ideas and opinions equally. Right and wrong depend on personal situations, so basically there is no right or wrong. Relativists usually apply relativism widely to all areas and aspects of life. They call it open-mindedness and label everyone else who doesn’t have such “open-mindedness” closed-minded. Let’s take an example. Let’s say a physicist states that the Earth is a globe, while an uneducated person insists that it is flat. A relativist will settle the matter by declaring that, since it is a matter of personal opinion, no one is right or wrong, and we should respect both ideas equally. ...

Recently I interviewed with a “top” Internet company in Vietnam. Top, in terms of salary offered, at least. But the interview content and process, in my opinion, are by no way at the top. I wonder how their recruitment and HR departments, which are willing to spend a good deal of money for headhunting services and salary offering, put so little thought into preparing the interview content and process. I can summarize the interview of such single-minded organizations in a single word: technical. ...

My next-door neighbor adopted a dog. Day and night it would balk non-stop for hours. I have always hated noise. But in addition to my mounting annoyance, the balking sound also gives me a chance for contemplation. Noise Of all the human senses, hearing is the most difficult to control. We can always avert our eyes when we don’t want to see something, move our hands when we don’t want to touch something, spit something out when we don’t want to taste it, and block our nostrils when we don’t want to smell an unpleasant smell. But it is extremely hard to completely block a loud noise, even if we hard press our ears with our hands. And of course we want to free our hand to do something more important. ...

Chuyện là mình mới đi khoá thiền Vipassana 10 ngày ở trung tâm UCENLIST Hà Nội, và đến ngày thứ 3, sau khi nghe giảng pháp, mình quyết định quit. Dưới đây là suy nghĩ của mình về một số khía cạnh của khoá thiền này. Về tư tưởng của khoá thiền Trước khi tham gia mình có đọc kỹ những thông tin chính thức trên trang web của trung tâm. Những cái review khác mình nghĩ là không liên quan, và mình không muốn bị spoil, nên ko đọc. Trang chính thức nhấn mạnh rất nhiều vào tính “không tông phái”, với phương pháp “tự quan sát”, để đạt mục tiêu là có trí tuệ, thoát khỏi “vô minh”… ...

Ngồi gặm bắp ngô, nghĩ về quá trình chọn giống (artificial selection) cây ngô và một số loại ngũ cốc khác, tự nhiên mình liên hệ đến kiểu lập luận của Tony buổi sáng (và một số “thinker” tương tự) về việc không nên ăn thịt chó. Trước khi phản bác kiểu tư duy này thì trước hết mình muốn nhấn mạnh góc nhìn của mình: mình không phải là người thích ăn thịt động vật, nhưng đồng thời cũng không đồng tình với việc sử dụng cách lập luận sai lầm để thiên vị việc ăn bất cứ con gì (chó mèo lợn gà…) ...

Freedom seems like a straightforward and common concept, with so many people pursuing it, either explicitly or implicitly, that its meaning is rarely examined. But in fact, many people have such a poor understanding of it that I think a clarification is needed. What do we mean by “freedom”? Is it desirable? Is it achievable? If yes, then how can we achieve it? Before attempting to answer those questions, there are a few points I want to clarify. First, the following view is biased from a human point of view. I am only proposing what I think to be a general concept that could be accepted by most people, with a human structure of mind and human capability of thinking and reasoning. I am not going to propose a universal concept, accepted by every species or machines with a different way of thinking. In fact, they might not have a concept of freedom or even something as a concept. Second, I have no intention of forcing my view of what is good and what is bad on other people. Everyone can pursue any goal they want, be it freedom or a balanced way of life, whatever balanced means, as long as they are happy with it. I only think that a clear concept of freedom is fruitful for people pursuing it, so that they can either pursue it better, or simply give it up because it is undesirable for them or out of their reach. ...

Since there is no existing term for the thing that I’m writing here, I will invent one, which is “dying note”. It is not a suicide note, because even though I think suicide is always a possibility and a matter of choice, currently I have no intention to do so. Why am I writing a dying note, when I’m feeling like I am at the height of my youth, my strength and in the constant process of growing my intellect? Because while I’m optimistic about the future, the future is still the future, full of uncertainty. And while being optimistic, I’m also realistic. Therefore, I think it is necessary to account for the full range of possibility, including the possibility that I might die for some reason in the near future. Only a single-minded fool thinks death from old age is the only death awaiting him. ...

Taking care of our health has always been a major concern for most of us. As the economic condition improves, healthcare service becomes increasingly accessible. When the number of private hospitals increases, we don’t have to queue for hours at a public hospital (well, if we can pay for private service). We don’t have to rely on health insurance to cover the cost. And, as some of my friends who had been in other countries remarked, healthcare in Vietnam is really cheap. Therefore, we rarely have to worry that our illness won’t be treated. But with the increasing availability of healthcare service, a new set of problems arises. We can be over-treated, treated incorrectly, or even treated without us having any health problems. Here, I want to dig into these issues and point out the causes, with the hope of providing some points to consider before going to a hospital or a health clinic, taking any drug, or undergoing any treatment. But before I start, there are some points which I want to clarify. First, I don’t want to generalize to all health service providers, all doctors. There are certainly good, humble and prudent doctors. Second, my experience is limited to healthcare service in Vietnam. In developed countries, from what I read in several books, the situation might be better, but some issues still exist or in even worse form than those in Vietnam. Now, let’s go through the causes of what can be called a new “healthcare crisis” one by one. ...

Informal statements are often imprecise. Consider these two statements: “I have just finished dinner” and “I will always love you”. Both are imprecise. Why? Because both are certain about one thing, and leave out many possibilities. My memory is imperfect. My feeling could deceive me. I might have thought about yesterday experience while in fact haven’t had today’s dinner yet. My feeling of full in my stomach could be caused by the water I drank. But these possibilities are very unlikely, consider I’m of a sound mind and I’m usually able to distinguish between the feeling of full caused by food and that caused by water. ...

It is actually funny that, some people, living in the 21st century, enjoying the fruits of science, from electricity, televisions, personal computers to cars and airplanes, yet whenever having a chance, strenuously try to deny science, try to fallback to some groundless traditional and religious ideas, invented thousands of years ago by ignorant people, just to defend their dogmas, to cling to their long-held but totally wrong beliefs, to avoid facing the TRUTH. ...

Khi mình nói chuyện với mọi người, đa số nghĩ về triết học như là một thứ vô dụng và đéo thể hiểu nổi. Thế nên mình quyết định viết bài này để giúp mọi người có cái nhìn đúng đắn hơn về triết học. Trước khi bắt đầu, thì đây chỉ là một bài viết bày tỏ quan điểm và trải nghiệm cá nhân. Mình không phải người nghiên cứu triết học một cách có hệ thống, nên có sai sót gì mong mọi người thông cảm. ...

Trước giờ mình vẫn không (à ý là rất là đéo thích) thích vụ đi ăn cưới bằng phong bì. Lúc đấy nó chỉ là một cảm giác rất bản năng về: Sự mất giá trị/ý nghĩa khi đi mời rất rộng những người mà mình không gần gũi (một số người cô dâu chú rể thì đéo biết là ai, bố mẹ cô dâu chú rể có khi cả chục năm cũng không gặp người đó rồi =)) ) ...

Nhiều khi tâm sự với bạn bè người thân, mình nhận xét về một ai đấy kiểu: “Đm tao ghét thằng/con abc vãi l.” Người kia không đồng tình: “Dù xyz nhưng mà nó tốt.” Câu này ý không phải là “dù nó không được điểm này nhưng nó tốt điểm kia”, mà ý là “dù làm những việc đéo được nhưng mà bản chất nó là tốt nên đừng chấp làm gì”. Đây cũng là ý mà mình muốn phân tích. ...

Lâu không đăng bài lên fb, nhưng vì lần này quá khả năng chịu đựng nên mình xin bày tỏ một chút quan điểm cá nhân :)) Btw if you feel offended, I DON’T GIVE A FUCK Trong thời gian diễn ra dịch covid này, mình mới nhận ra hiện tượng “cung cấp thông tin rác” và “tiếp nhận và phản ứng thái quá với thông tin rác” đang diễn ra một cách có hệ thống chứ không chỉ ở những thành phần thiếu khả năng nhận thức và suy nghĩ như mình từng nghĩ (hoặc có thể là cả hệ thống chỉ toàn những thành phần như thế?). ...