Hi,

I’m Tiisetso.

This is my blog. I write here to share my thoughts, ideas, and experiences with whoever stumbles upon this corner of the internet. If you’ve found yourself here, welcome!

I have a very wide variety of interests. I’m naturally curious and love engaging in on a wide variety topics to learn and develop. I have always had a particular affinity towards technology which is coupled with a desire to make the world a better place. My experience growing up in South Africa, one of the worlds inequal societies, is that a better place is one with that is more equal and equitable. In South Africa this largely relates to access. I believe that advancements in technology can lead to great democratisation of services and help to bring about change within generations.

I tend to read a lot more non-fiction that fiction but when I read the latter it is almost always science fiction. This too reflects the movies I most enjoy. Anything that involves time travel or space and I’m there. For most of my life this has meant a deep enjoyment of Japanese Anime which often has very high concept Sci-Fi themes. Imaginining impossible worlds is something I very much enjoy.

I run. A lot. It was never something I was good at nor had a predisposition for. It is however something I’m working on. I’m coaching myself and aiming to build an large aerobic base. I’m really trying to get into the best shape of my life. This effort is part of deep interest I have in preventive health and healthy aging. My aim is to be fit and strong for the rest of my life. This is continuous journey.

The idea of continous effort is something I hold dear. There is a Japanese word, 改善 “kaizen”, that means improvement and refers to the idea of doing so continuously. It is a core tenet in the field of Industrial Engineering which I earned a BSc degree in. I feel it is more resilient than most attitudes towards production, life, work, etc. as it implicitly dismisses the idea of perfection and embraces the approach of adaptation to challenges as they change. This I feel relates to Nassim Taleb’s concept of Antifragility and the Daoist concept of 无为 “wúwéi”.

I am someone who fails the first time, second time, third time, nth time. I’ve never really been good at anything. Failure is the expected result, repeatedly trying again is the process. I’ve known what it is to become good at something and the enormous amount of work behind it. I like this. Not so much that struggle is the answer, rather that persistence and perserverance are the only way forward. My achilles heel in the past is not stopping early enough and changing direction. This too is something I’m learning.

So here, we are. Well done if you’ve read this far. Read on and let me know what you enjoy and don’t enjoy.