Category Archives: Poetry

Flow: Chapter 78, Tao Te Ching

Here is my attempt to translate of one of the teachings of Laozi, from Chapter 78 of the Tao Te Ching:

天下莫 (Nothing in this world) 柔弱 (is as gentle and weak) 于水 (as water).
而 (But to) 攻坚 (defeat) 强者 (the strong)
莫 (nothing) 之能胜 (can succeed)
以其无 (if it does not) 以易之 (change).
弱之 (The weak) 胜 (overcome) 强 (strong),
柔 (as gentle) 之 (can) 胜 (overcome) 刚 (hard).

Still working on the last lines, which seem to say the above is an impractical and confusing paradox. Can’t figure out yet if they are meant to be sarcastic in tone.

天下莫不知莫能行
是以圣人云,
受国之垢是谓社稷主
受国不祥是为天下王
正言若反

Deep Thoughts on Convergence

A security expert asked me last night what I thought of Moxie Marlinspike’s Convergence, which aims to remove the need to rely on a Certificate Authority. It uses the phrase “choose who you trust”, for example, in its marketing.

I admit I was a bit facetious in my retort but I had to ask “why should I trust Moxie, is he claiming to be some kind of authority?” Get it?

Indeed, I recommend to everyone that they wait until their peers adopt it because they should choose who to trust with caution. I certainly wouldn’t trust an authority on not trusting authority, would I?

I also noted this phrase in their marketing.

The ability to easily choose who you trust, & revise that decision at any time.

…because trust is all about being able to quickly reverse your decisions about trust. Trust me on this one. No don’t. Yes, trust me. No don’t…