Nolan Chai notes

Notes a collection of scrawls

Approach,
or the velocity which my heart seeks
towards ataraxia Mar 2026

I spend a lot of time thinking about bringing good to the world. What does it mean to be good? It's not really much of a rational or objective definition; a debate would be immature here. Often, debates overcomplicate and ruin the heart of what things are meant to be. Rather, to keep things simple, it's a feeling. Being surrounded by a warm rhythm of smiles and contentedness. It's not too slow, nor too fast, but just enough to keep things lively.

I'm happy when my friends are happy. It's a bit selfish and selfless of me, as contradictory as that sounds. It's a sort of happiness borne of a moment free from worry — an ataraxia of sorts. Perhaps that's what good means: whatever universally reduces the worry from everyone's hearts with the least sacrifice.

I have a silly little dream behind why a lot of my usernames are connected to 'atlas' in some sort of way — growing up, I always wanted to create some sort of reliable bastion for my friends and people I hold dear. A whimsical, fun, safe place that inspired so many things: subset, superset, and the dream I'll always work towards.