Every scientist sees the world through the lens of their discipline. A geologist touches a rock and reads time, a virologist peers at a public handrail with considerable mistrust. When I look out at the world, I see it as a brain might: an environment deprived of the essential conditions it evolved to thrive in. I see brains trying their best to keep pace with demands they weren’t built for.

And how do we attempt to solve this? We…optimise. The answer is life hacks, allegedly, and gamified endurance. Wellness culture sees that we’re exhausted and tells us to try harder. I object to this madness.

I do not wish to hack my brain, nor engineer it into hyper-productivity . I know what it takes to protect it, and it’s very much not that. What’s the use of an ‘optimised’ life if my brain ca

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