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  <channel>
    <title>thinkingoutloud &amp;mdash; One Thomas Alan</title>
    <link>https://1thomasalan.writeas.com/tag:thinkingoutloud</link>
    <description>Reflections and photos from life in Japan and abroad.</description>
    <pubDate>Fri, 08 May 2026 17:07:27 +0000</pubDate>
    <item>
      <title>On Losing to Win</title>
      <link>https://1thomasalan.writeas.com/on-losing-to-win?pk_campaign=rss-feed</link>
      <description>&lt;![CDATA[&#xA;Sometimes losing reveals what winning doesn’t— perspective you can only see from the other side.&#xA;&#xA;As always, your mileage may vary, so use what&#39;s helpful. Discard the rest.&#xA;&#xA;#thinkingoutloud #philosophy&#xA;&#xA;hr&#xD;&#xA;pstrongWritten by a creative technologist, photographer, and an evolving human living in Japan—enhanced (and tangled) by technology./strong/p&#xD;&#xA;!--emailsub--]]&gt;</description>
      <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Sometimes losing reveals what winning doesn’t— perspective you can only see from the other side.</p>

<p>As always, your mileage may vary, so use what&#39;s helpful. Discard the rest.</p>

<p><a href="https://1thomasalan.writeas.com/tag:thinkingoutloud" class="hashtag"><span>#</span><span class="p-category">thinkingoutloud</span></a> <a href="https://1thomasalan.writeas.com/tag:philosophy" class="hashtag"><span>#</span><span class="p-category">philosophy</span></a></p>

<hr>

<p><p><strong>Written by a creative technologist, photographer, and an evolving human living in Japan—enhanced (and tangled) by technology.</strong></p>
</p>
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      <guid>https://1thomasalan.writeas.com/on-losing-to-win</guid>
      <pubDate>Wed, 22 Oct 2025 03:36:50 +0000</pubDate>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>On Complexity</title>
      <link>https://1thomasalan.writeas.com/on-complexity?pk_campaign=rss-feed</link>
      <description>&lt;![CDATA[I don’t struggle with complexity itself.&#xA;I struggle with irrelevant or poorly explained complexity.&#xA;&#xA;On Complexity&#xA;&#xA;As always, your mileage may vary, &#xA;So use what’s helpful. Discard the rest. ✌️&#xA;&#xA;#philosophy #thinkingoutloud&#xA;&#xA;hr&#xD;&#xA;pstrongWritten by a creative technologist, photographer, and an evolving human living in Japan—enhanced (and tangled) by technology./strong/p&#xD;&#xA;!--emailsub--]]&gt;</description>
      <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I don’t struggle with complexity itself.
I struggle with irrelevant or poorly explained complexity.</p>

<p><img src="https://i.snap.as/VHmv9mAT.png" alt="On Complexity"/></p>

<p>As always, your mileage may vary,
So use what’s helpful. Discard the rest. ✌️</p>

<p><a href="https://1thomasalan.writeas.com/tag:philosophy" class="hashtag"><span>#</span><span class="p-category">philosophy</span></a> <a href="https://1thomasalan.writeas.com/tag:thinkingoutloud" class="hashtag"><span>#</span><span class="p-category">thinkingoutloud</span></a></p>

<hr>

<p><p><strong>Written by a creative technologist, photographer, and an evolving human living in Japan—enhanced (and tangled) by technology.</strong></p>
</p>
]]></content:encoded>
      <guid>https://1thomasalan.writeas.com/on-complexity</guid>
      <pubDate>Tue, 29 Apr 2025 21:01:15 +0000</pubDate>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>On What Matters Most</title>
      <link>https://1thomasalan.writeas.com/on-what-matters-most?pk_campaign=rss-feed</link>
      <description>&lt;![CDATA[Some of the most important things in life&#xA;are the ones you choose freely,&#xA;not the ones you do out of pressure or obligation.&#xA;&#xA;As always, your mileage may vary, so use what’s helpful. Discard the rest. ✌️ &#xA;&#xA;#philosophy #thinkingoutloud&#xA;&#xA;hr&#xD;&#xA;pstrongWritten by a creative technologist, photographer, and an evolving human living in Japan—enhanced (and tangled) by technology./strong/p&#xD;&#xA;!--emailsub--]]&gt;</description>
      <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Some of the most important things in life
are the ones you choose freely,
not the ones you do out of pressure or obligation.</p>

<p>As always, your mileage may vary, so use what’s helpful. Discard the rest. ✌️</p>

<p><a href="https://1thomasalan.writeas.com/tag:philosophy" class="hashtag"><span>#</span><span class="p-category">philosophy</span></a> <a href="https://1thomasalan.writeas.com/tag:thinkingoutloud" class="hashtag"><span>#</span><span class="p-category">thinkingoutloud</span></a></p>

<hr>

<p><p><strong>Written by a creative technologist, photographer, and an evolving human living in Japan—enhanced (and tangled) by technology.</strong></p>
</p>
]]></content:encoded>
      <guid>https://1thomasalan.writeas.com/on-what-matters-most</guid>
      <pubDate>Mon, 28 Apr 2025 20:01:58 +0000</pubDate>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>On What I Used To Know</title>
      <link>https://1thomasalan.writeas.com/on-being-wrong?pk_campaign=rss-feed</link>
      <description>&lt;![CDATA[blockquote  &#xA;“The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.”  &#xA;&amp;mdash; citeStephen Hawking /cite  &#xA;/blockquote&#xA;&#xA;The irony about “wisdom” with age, is that you question what you think you know more than ever.&#xA;&#xA;Sometimes what we know blocks us from being open to the idea that we might be wrong about what we know…&#xA;&#xA;…and that quiet resistance can keep us from seeing the obvious, the new, or even the truth hiding in plain sight.&#xA;&#xA;So, I guess I’m say, the older I get, the less I think I know.&#xA;&#xA;---&#xA;&#xA;As always, your mileage may vary, so use what’s helpful. Discard the rest.✌️&#xA;&#xA;#thinkingoutloud #quotes&#xA;&#xA;hr&#xD;&#xA;pstrongWritten by a creative technologist, photographer, and an evolving human living in Japan—enhanced (and tangled) by technology./strong/p&#xD;&#xA;!--emailsub--]]&gt;</description>
      <content:encoded><![CDATA[<blockquote>  
“The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.”  
— <cite>Stephen Hawking </cite>  
</blockquote>

<p><img src="https://i.snap.as/8xDXzC0w.png" alt=""/></p>

<p>The irony about “wisdom” with age, is that you question what you think you know more than ever.</p>

<p>Sometimes what we know blocks us from being open to the idea that we might be wrong about what we know…</p>

<p>…and that quiet resistance can keep us from seeing the obvious, the new, or even the truth hiding in plain sight.</p>

<p>So, I guess I’m say, the older I get, the less I think I know.</p>

<hr/>

<p>As always, your mileage may vary, so use what’s helpful. Discard the rest.✌️</p>

<p><a href="https://1thomasalan.writeas.com/tag:thinkingoutloud" class="hashtag"><span>#</span><span class="p-category">thinkingoutloud</span></a> <a href="https://1thomasalan.writeas.com/tag:quotes" class="hashtag"><span>#</span><span class="p-category">quotes</span></a></p>

<hr>

<p><p><strong>Written by a creative technologist, photographer, and an evolving human living in Japan—enhanced (and tangled) by technology.</strong></p>
</p>
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      <guid>https://1thomasalan.writeas.com/on-being-wrong</guid>
      <pubDate>Sun, 13 Apr 2025 00:02:11 +0000</pubDate>
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    <item>
      <title>On Creativity</title>
      <link>https://1thomasalan.writeas.com/on-the-shape-of-creativity-r48m?pk_campaign=rss-feed</link>
      <description>&lt;![CDATA[  Creativity may begin in a box, but the best creators learn to fold down the sides.—TheTEKnologist.com&#xA;&#xA;Creativity might start in a box, but the best creators know how to break down those walls. Sometimes the world seems round, but other times it feels like we&#39;re all stuck in a square, trying to fit in. We hear &#34;think outside the box&#34; a lot, but let&#39;s be real: most of us are working within limits we can&#39;t change. The trick is learning to make that box work for us.&#xA;&#xA;---&#xA;&#xA;As always, your mileage may vary, so use what’s helpful. Discard the rest.✌️&#xA;&#xA;thinkingoutloud&#xA;&#xA;hr&#xD;&#xA;pstrongWritten by a creative technologist, photographer, and an evolving human living in Japan—enhanced (and tangled) by technology./strong/p&#xD;&#xA;!--emailsub--]]&gt;</description>
      <content:encoded><![CDATA[<blockquote><p>Creativity may begin in a box, but the best creators learn to fold down the sides.—TheTEKnologist.com</p></blockquote>

<p><img src="https://i.snap.as/5ZaP7Uwe.png" alt=""/></p>

<p>Creativity might start in a box, but the best creators know how to break down those walls. Sometimes the world seems round, but other times it feels like we&#39;re all stuck in a square, trying to fit in. We hear “think outside the box” a lot, but let&#39;s be real: most of us are working within limits we can&#39;t change. The trick is learning to make that box work for us.</p>

<hr/>

<p>As always, your mileage may vary, so use what’s helpful. Discard the rest.✌️</p>

<p><a href="https://1thomasalan.writeas.com/tag:thinkingoutloud" class="hashtag"><span>#</span><span class="p-category">thinkingoutloud</span></a></p>

<hr>

<p><p><strong>Written by a creative technologist, photographer, and an evolving human living in Japan—enhanced (and tangled) by technology.</strong></p>
</p>
]]></content:encoded>
      <guid>https://1thomasalan.writeas.com/on-the-shape-of-creativity-r48m</guid>
      <pubDate>Thu, 10 Apr 2025 21:14:18 +0000</pubDate>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>On Oddity</title>
      <link>https://1thomasalan.writeas.com/on-oddity?pk_campaign=rss-feed</link>
      <description>&lt;![CDATA[Minimalist AI-generated drawing of a stickman in nature&#xA;&#xA;  There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion. —Francis Bacon&#xA;&#xA;I have a thing for odd numbers, even a little OCD. They’re just more interesting—unbalanced, a little unpredictable.&#xA;&#xA;Odd numbers are the system’s way of embracing controlled chaos. They introduce asymmetry—just enough to make things resilient, interesting, or memorable. Like a glitch that makes the pattern more real.&#xA;&#xA;There’s beauty in things that don’t quite resolve and things that do, oddly, and I love that. :)&#xA;&#xA;---&#xA;&#xA;As always, your mileage may vary, so use what’s helpful. Discard the rest. ✌️&#xA;&#xA;#quotes #thinkingoutloud &#xA;&#xA;hr&#xD;&#xA;pstrongWritten by a creative technologist, photographer, and an evolving human living in Japan—enhanced (and tangled) by technology./strong/p&#xD;&#xA;!--emailsub--]]&gt;</description>
      <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img src="https://i.snap.as/Xnm5m9c0.png" alt="Minimalist AI-generated drawing of a stickman in nature" title="Beauty in the odds"/></p>

<blockquote><p>There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion. —Francis Bacon</p></blockquote>

<p>I have a thing for odd numbers, even a little OCD. They’re just more interesting—unbalanced, a little unpredictable.</p>

<p>Odd numbers are the system’s way of embracing controlled chaos. They introduce asymmetry—just enough to make things resilient, interesting, or memorable. Like a glitch that makes the pattern more real.</p>

<p>There’s beauty in things that don’t quite resolve and things that do, oddly, and I love that. :)</p>

<hr/>

<p>As always, your mileage may vary, so use what’s helpful. Discard the rest. ✌️</p>

<p><a href="https://1thomasalan.writeas.com/tag:quotes" class="hashtag"><span>#</span><span class="p-category">quotes</span></a> <a href="https://1thomasalan.writeas.com/tag:thinkingoutloud" class="hashtag"><span>#</span><span class="p-category">thinkingoutloud</span></a></p>

<hr>

<p><p><strong>Written by a creative technologist, photographer, and an evolving human living in Japan—enhanced (and tangled) by technology.</strong></p>
</p>
]]></content:encoded>
      <guid>https://1thomasalan.writeas.com/on-oddity</guid>
      <pubDate>Sun, 06 Apr 2025 20:40:04 +0000</pubDate>
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    <item>
      <title>The New Superpower</title>
      <link>https://1thomasalan.writeas.com/the-new-superpower?pk_campaign=rss-feed</link>
      <description>&lt;![CDATA[  Technology alone doesn’t drive progress — people + tech do. I think hard-earned human wisdom paired with intelligent tools like AI will be unstoppable. —The TEKnologist&#xA;&#xA;For years, technology favored the fast, the young, the fluent.&#xA;&#xA;But everything is changing.&#xA;&#xA;With the rise of AI, the playing field is shifting.&#xA;&#xA;The advantage isn’t in knowing the tools—it’s in knowing what matters.&#xA;&#xA;Life experience. Perspective. Judgment. &#xA;&#xA;These aren’t soft skills anymore — when combined with AI, they’re superpowers.&#xA;&#xA;---&#xA;&#xA;As always, your mileage may vary, so use what’s helpful. Discard the rest.✌️&#xA;&#xA;#ai #technology #thinkingoutloud&#xA;&#xA;hr&#xD;&#xA;pstrongWritten by a creative technologist, photographer, and an evolving human living in Japan—enhanced (and tangled) by technology./strong/p&#xD;&#xA;!--emailsub--]]&gt;</description>
      <content:encoded><![CDATA[<blockquote><p>Technology alone doesn’t drive progress — people + tech do. I think hard-earned human wisdom paired with intelligent tools like AI will be unstoppable. —The TEKnologist</p></blockquote>

<p>For years, technology favored the fast, the young, the fluent.</p>

<p>But everything is changing.</p>

<p>With the rise of AI, the playing field is shifting.</p>

<p>The advantage isn’t in knowing the tools—it’s in knowing what matters.</p>

<p>Life experience. Perspective. Judgment.</p>

<p>These aren’t soft skills anymore — when combined with AI, they’re superpowers.</p>

<hr/>

<p>As always, your mileage may vary, so use what’s helpful. Discard the rest.✌️</p>

<p><a href="https://1thomasalan.writeas.com/tag:ai" class="hashtag"><span>#</span><span class="p-category">ai</span></a> <a href="https://1thomasalan.writeas.com/tag:technology" class="hashtag"><span>#</span><span class="p-category">technology</span></a> <a href="https://1thomasalan.writeas.com/tag:thinkingoutloud" class="hashtag"><span>#</span><span class="p-category">thinkingoutloud</span></a></p>

<hr>

<p><p><strong>Written by a creative technologist, photographer, and an evolving human living in Japan—enhanced (and tangled) by technology.</strong></p>
</p>
]]></content:encoded>
      <guid>https://1thomasalan.writeas.com/the-new-superpower</guid>
      <pubDate>Fri, 21 Mar 2025 23:21:08 +0000</pubDate>
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    <item>
      <title>Lines and Spaces</title>
      <link>https://1thomasalan.writeas.com/lines-and-spaces-xptx?pk_campaign=rss-feed</link>
      <description>&lt;![CDATA[  Are we drawing the lines that define us, or are they drawing us?&#xA;&#xA;A reflection on art creation, constraint, and the spaces we inhabit.&#xA;&#xA;AI generated illustration of a stickman drawing&#xA;&#xA;Ai generated illustration of a stickman sitting in a minimalist space&#xA;&#xA;Click to View more from my AIArt Gallery&#xA;&#xA;---&#xA;&#xA;As always, your mileage may vary, so use what’s helpful. Discard the rest.✌️&#xA;&#xA;#creativity #reflection #thinkingoutloud&#xA;&#xA;hr&#xD;&#xA;pstrongWritten by a creative technologist, photographer, and an evolving human living in Japan—enhanced (and tangled) by technology./strong/p&#xD;&#xA;!--emailsub--]]&gt;</description>
      <content:encoded><![CDATA[<blockquote><p>Are we drawing the lines that define us, or are they drawing us?</p></blockquote>

<p>A reflection on art creation, constraint, and the spaces we inhabit.</p>

<p><img src="https://i.snap.as/mNBRVy6B.jpg" alt="AI generated illustration of a stickman drawing" title="Drawing Lines"/></p>

<p><img src="https://i.snap.as/NxdZttBN.jpg" alt="Ai generated illustration of a stickman sitting in a minimalist space"/></p>

<p><a href="https://snap.as/theteknologist/ai-generated-art">Click to View more from my AIArt Gallery</a></p>

<hr/>

<p>As always, your mileage may vary, so use what’s helpful. Discard the rest.✌️</p>

<p><a href="https://1thomasalan.writeas.com/tag:creativity" class="hashtag"><span>#</span><span class="p-category">creativity</span></a> <a href="https://1thomasalan.writeas.com/tag:reflection" class="hashtag"><span>#</span><span class="p-category">reflection</span></a> <a href="https://1thomasalan.writeas.com/tag:thinkingoutloud" class="hashtag"><span>#</span><span class="p-category">thinkingoutloud</span></a></p>

<hr>

<p><p><strong>Written by a creative technologist, photographer, and an evolving human living in Japan—enhanced (and tangled) by technology.</strong></p>
</p>
]]></content:encoded>
      <guid>https://1thomasalan.writeas.com/lines-and-spaces-xptx</guid>
      <pubDate>Sun, 09 Mar 2025 00:58:19 +0000</pubDate>
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    <item>
      <title>On Finding Peace in the Storm</title>
      <link>https://1thomasalan.writeas.com/turning-to-art?pk_campaign=rss-feed</link>
      <description>&lt;![CDATA[When the world feels like it&#39;s going crazy, art and music bring beauty inside the storm.&#xA;&#xA;---&#xA;&#xA;As always, your mileage may vary, so use what’s helpful. Discard the rest.✌️&#xA;&#xA;#philosophy #creativity #thinkingoutloud&#xA;&#xA;hr&#xD;&#xA;pstrongWritten by a creative technologist, photographer, and an evolving human living in Japan—enhanced (and tangled) by technology./strong/p&#xD;&#xA;!--emailsub--]]&gt;</description>
      <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>When the world feels like it&#39;s going crazy, art and music bring beauty inside the storm.</p>

<hr/>

<p>As always, your mileage may vary, so use what’s helpful. Discard the rest.✌️</p>

<p><a href="https://1thomasalan.writeas.com/tag:philosophy" class="hashtag"><span>#</span><span class="p-category">philosophy</span></a> <a href="https://1thomasalan.writeas.com/tag:creativity" class="hashtag"><span>#</span><span class="p-category">creativity</span></a> <a href="https://1thomasalan.writeas.com/tag:thinkingoutloud" class="hashtag"><span>#</span><span class="p-category">thinkingoutloud</span></a></p>

<hr>

<p><p><strong>Written by a creative technologist, photographer, and an evolving human living in Japan—enhanced (and tangled) by technology.</strong></p>
</p>
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      <guid>https://1thomasalan.writeas.com/turning-to-art</guid>
      <pubDate>Sat, 08 Mar 2025 23:14:52 +0000</pubDate>
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      <title>On Impossibilities</title>
      <link>https://1thomasalan.writeas.com/the-impossibility-of-impossible?pk_campaign=rss-feed</link>
      <description>&lt;![CDATA[When my daughter was little, I&#39;d say, &#34;Nothing&#39;s impossible—just stuff we haven&#39;t figured out yet.&#34; &#xA;&#xA;&#34;Impossible&#34; is just fear talking. We get scared of what we don&#39;t know. Life isn&#39;t split into possible and impossible; it&#39;s more about what we know and what we&#39;re still learning.&#xA;&#xA;As Arthur C. Clarke wisely said:&#xA;&#xA;“The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.”&#xA;&#xA;So when I’m thinking about all the things in life that seem impossible, I remind myself: we’ll get there—we just haven’t figured it out yet.&#xA;&#xA;As always, your mileage may vary, so use what’s helpful. Discard the rest. ✌️&#xA;&#xA;#quotes #thinkingoutloud &#xA;&#xA;hr&#xD;&#xA;pstrongWritten by a creative technologist, photographer, and an evolving human living in Japan—enhanced (and tangled) by technology./strong/p&#xD;&#xA;!--emailsub--]]&gt;</description>
      <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>When my daughter was little, I&#39;d say, “Nothing&#39;s impossible—just stuff we haven&#39;t figured out yet.”</p>

<p>“Impossible” is just fear talking. We get scared of what we don&#39;t know. Life isn&#39;t split into possible and impossible; it&#39;s more about what we know and what we&#39;re still learning.</p>

<p>As Arthur C. Clarke wisely said:</p>

<pre><code>“The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.”
</code></pre>

<p>So when I’m thinking about all the things in life that seem impossible, I remind myself: we’ll get there—we just haven’t figured it out yet.</p>

<p>As always, your mileage may vary, so use what’s helpful. Discard the rest. ✌️</p>

<p><a href="https://1thomasalan.writeas.com/tag:quotes" class="hashtag"><span>#</span><span class="p-category">quotes</span></a> <a href="https://1thomasalan.writeas.com/tag:thinkingoutloud" class="hashtag"><span>#</span><span class="p-category">thinkingoutloud</span></a></p>

<hr>

<p><p><strong>Written by a creative technologist, photographer, and an evolving human living in Japan—enhanced (and tangled) by technology.</strong></p>
</p>
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      <guid>https://1thomasalan.writeas.com/the-impossibility-of-impossible</guid>
      <pubDate>Tue, 04 Mar 2025 12:29:06 +0000</pubDate>
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