The Building Better Project: A Nobler Strain
Timeless Building Furthering Human Flourishing
“I do not say that these horrible stories may not have a use of some kind; but there is a danger that the nerves of our Guardians may be rendered too excitable and effeminate by them.
There is a real danger, he said.
Then we must have no more of them.
True.
Another and a nobler strain must be composed and sung by us.”
Socrates and Adeimantus in Book 3 of Plato’s Republic
Hello there 👋,
My name is Erik and I am an aspiring builder of better things. Over the course of my adult life, I have spent varying lengths of time as a technology investor, startup operator, entrepreneur, writer, and product manager. Throughout it all, I have found myself grappling with questions about the things I was building.
Does what I am building actually make the world a better place?
Why is there a Hippocratic Oath for doctors and not software engineers?
Are the technologies we use every day actually making our life better?
All these various lines of inquiry have coalesced into a singular defining question that I have found myself obsessing over: How can we build better?
There are two layers to this question:
First and most obviously, how can we do a better job of building?
Second, how can we ensure that what we build makes the world a better place?
My attempt to answer how we can build better will be the north star of this writing project and I will explore it at great length in coming posts.
If you still want to learn more, allow me to answer some questions that may help you decide whether it will be worth your time to continue reading.
What is the topic of Building Better?
The tagline for the project attempts to sum it up: Timeless Building Furthering Human Flourishing. In subsequent posts I hope to convince you that:
Timeless - There is a timeless way of building that is best learnt by examining the wisdom and ideas that have stood the test of time rather than current events or the latest trends.
Building - Humans are fundamentally builders, whether they are building actual buildings, technological products, societies, or their very lives.
Furthering - When we build things that are good, true, and beautiful their qualities reflect back upon us. Not only do we become more likely to build well in the future, but we become better as a reflection of building well. When we build poorly, the opposite happens.
Human - The philosophy espoused on this blog will seek to grapple with humans as humans. Humans as they are, not as we would have them be. Unabstracted mankind with its infinite capacity for joy and despair, good and evil, hatred and kindness, surprise and predictability.
Flourishing - True kindness is seeking someone’s long-term interest. Too often our modern decisions and discourse are guided by what feels good in the moment without regard for the impact to long-term well-being. I hope to convince you that some things really do enable us to flourish and others don’t and that those things are objective, discernable, and have the potential to be applied to every act of building.
What will you actually be writing about?
The first series of posts on Building Better will outline my Philosophy of Building Better. The rough outline is as follows:
A Philosophy of Building Better:
Chapter 1 - Building is the Pursuit of our Lives
Chapter 2 - The Purpose of Building is to Further Human Flourishing
Chapter 3 - There is an Objectively Correct Way to Build
Chapter 4 - Building is Fundamentally Contextual
Chapter 5 - The Builder Must Learn from the Great Builders of the Past
Chapter 6 - Building Better Supports People’s Best Impulses
Chapter 7 - The Better Builder Refuses to Ethically Compromise
Chapter 8 - The Better Builder Strives to Repair
Chapter 9 - The Builder’s Oath
Chapter 10 - The Building Better Checklist
Once I have introduced this philosophy, future posts will dive deeper into various facets of Building Better, showcase how I am applying the philosophy in my building projects, and highlight those who I think are doing a good job of Building Better.
What are my goals for this blog?
My goal for this blog is to share the concepts I am thinking and learning about in an approachable, applicable, and actionable way for modern readers. I want to explain complex topics in ways that make timeless truths accessible to a modern audience. I also hope that this blog can be a medium to share what I am building. To discuss the decisions I am making and how you can also put into practice the ideas of what it means to build better. My ultimate goal is to convince you that there is a better way to build and showcase how you can apply this approach to your own life.
What will this blog be?
There are a few non-negotiables that I intend to abide by when it comes to my writing.
First, this blog will be fundamentally constructive. There is more than enough content in this world if you want to read a tear-down of the status quo. I am seeking to offer a positive vision of how things could be done.
Second, this blog will strive to be contextual. One of the major flaws of so much of our present discourse is that it operates in a vacuum. As will become clear when we discuss our precepts for better building, the people, place, history, and institutions of a setting are critical to consider if one aspires to build the right thing for a given set of circumstances.
Third, this blog will be built upon the foundational bedrock of objectivity. I will argue that there are right and wrong ways to do things and that it is better to do them the right way. I will argue that there are things that each of us can do to promote human flourishing and things that will cause those around us to become further disintegrated.
Finally, this blog will be authentic. It will be written by me, a fallible human. I am not perfect. I do not have a philosophy degree. I am simply a man/husband/father/Christian grappling with the questions of what matters in life and how I can leave the world slightly better than I found it for my family, friends, and community. I will get things wrong and I expect that many of my views may evolve over time as I continue to learn. Ultimately, I am writing this blog, because I feel that I must. These ideas have knocked around in my head for long enough and I need the process of putting pen to paper to help me properly articulate them. My hope is that my doing so in public will be valuable to readers.
What won’t this blog be?
This blog will not:
Presume to be an absolute expert on any of the topics we discuss. I do not have a PhD in Philosophy or Architecture and you will not require one either.
Be a personal blog. I already have one of those, A Berg’s Eye View. I intend to write both blogs in parallel. Building Better will be about the single most important topic I find myself grappling with. My personal blog will discuss everything else.
Be published on a set cadence. I have tried publishing with a set deadline in the past and it tended to incentivize me getting something published just for the sake of getting it out into the world. My commitment is to spend time every week working on this, but l will only publish posts when I feel like they are worth your time to read.
Be perfectly polished. The counter balance to the point above is that I will not be seeking to write perfection. The nearest thing I have to professional editors are my parents, wife, and the occasional friend I will beg for feedback. I will publish something when it gets to the point where I am proud to have written it, but I won’t drive myself crazy trying to make it perfect.
Why is this post called A Nobler Strain?
Just as Socrates and Adeimantus conclude when discussing whether or not to include certain kinds of stories in their ideal state, it is not simply enough to do away with the harmful elements of society. Instead a better, more aspirational alternative must be supplied. My intent for this blog is that the topics discussed in subsequent posts can be just this kind of aspirational alternative. There is more than enough discussion of how to do things in the most expedient way possible. How to cut corners and skirt edges. I want my writing to be an alternative to that way of thinking, but not simply a critical one. I believe that the world needs more than simply tearing down the ideas we don’t agree with. It needs a constructive, contextual, objective, and authentic view of how things should be done; a way to simultaneously do a better job of building, build better things, and become better in the process. I hope to be part of composing that nobler strain.
Is this blog something I should subscribe to? That’s for you to decide. If any of the above is of any interest at all to you I hope you’ll join me for what I consider to be one of the great endeavors of my life.
Let’s build better,
Erik
Can’t wait!!