“We don't like to think of ourselves as subject to the forces of the world, we like to think of ourselves as exerting that force.” ThinkingWorldForceSubjects Author:Ian Bogost
“I think a lot of the misery that people experience comes from that sensation of boundlessness, of infinite possibility.” PeopleThinkingPossibilityInfiniteMiserySensationsInfinite Possibilities Author:Ian Bogost
“We're stuck in these situations with other people and our stuff and our jobs, and thinking that we can extract ourselves from those seems doomed to me. Instead, how can we live within those systems of constraints? We don't have to enjoy them, exactly, but at least acknowledge that those boundaries are real and that they structure our response to the world. And then once you do that, you allow yourself to say "I did my best given the circumstances."” PeopleThinkingWorldRealSeemsJobsGivenStuffEnjoySituationCircumstancesStructureResponseStuckBoundariesAcknowledgeDoomedConstraints Author:Ian Bogost
“The actual effort that you can exert upon the universe is fairly limited.” UniverseEffort Author:Ian Bogost
“It's helpful to be prepared to celebrate the tiny things that you can do, where you meet the world and you negotiate an outcome that's quite tiny. But you can still make it feel remarkable.” WorldFeelsStillsCan DoPreparedTinyCelebrateOutcomesRemarkableHelpfulBe PreparedTiny Things Author:Ian Bogost
“No one wakes up and says, "Yay I get to mow the lawn!" But if I can find meaning there, then there's nowhere I can't find meaning.” IfsI CanWake UpFind MeLawnsYay Author:Ian Bogost
“God will not speak to me and tell me to mow my lawn today.” TodaySpeakGods WillLawns Author:Ian Bogost
“If you start the day not really expecting substantial change, but anticipating some small new revelation or some small alteration, then over time you're able to find them in more places.” IfsAbleRevelationsExpectingAlterationsStart The Day Author:Ian Bogost
“To me, being able to find gratification in more venues, rather than greater gratification in a few, seems like a much more sane way of living.” WaySeemsAbleGreaterSaneGratificationVenues Author:Ian Bogost
“We know exactly where the path to despair and insanity lies. It's in that sense that life is meaningless, there's nothing about today that's worth doing because it's just like yesterday and it's going to be just like tomorrow.” KnowsTodayLife IsLyingPathTomorrowDespairYesterdayInsanityMeaningless Author:Ian Bogost
“Looking for meaning in the ordinary seems like the most urgent thing that we can do.” SeemsCan DoOrdinaryUrgent Author:Ian Bogost
“Be contemporary. Have impact. Strive for it. Be of the world. Move it. Be bold, don’t hold back. Then the moment you think you’ve been bold, be bolder. We are all alive today, ever so briefly here now, not then, not ago, not in some dreamworld of a hypothetical future. Whatever you do, you must make it contemporary. Make it matter now. You must give us a new path to tread, even if it carries the footfalls of old soles. You must not be immune to the weird urgency of today.” IfsThinkingWorldGivingMatterMomentsTodayMovingPathAliveImpactStriveContemporaryCarrieImmuneUrgencyLive For TodayHypotheticalNew Paths Author:Ian Bogost
“Today, all our wives and husbands have Blackberries or iPhones or Android devices or whatever-the progeny of those original 950 and 957 models that put data in our pockets. Now we all check their email (or Twitter, or Facebook, or Instagram, or) compulsively at the dinner table, or the traffic light. Now we all stow our devices on the nightstand before bed, and check them first thing in the morning. We all do. It's not abnormal, and it's not just for business. It's just what people do. Like smoking in 1965, it's just life.” PeopleFirstsLightTodayMorningWifeBedHusbandModelsOriginalsTablesDinnerChecksDataSmokingPocketsDevicesTrafficEmailInstagramHusband And WifeIphoneAbnormalDinner TableBlackberriesAndroidsProgenyTraffic Light Author:Ian Bogost
