Halt and Catch Fire: The Magic of Great TV
10 Lessons From The Most Underrated Show Of The 2010s
I write about how people can think, act, and live with purpose.
This week, my learnings come from a TV show: Halt and Catch Fire. I’ll be forever thankful to
for recommending it to me on Notes.I’m not gonna tell you what it’s about in detail, but essentially the show is centred around a few characters navigating and trailblazing the newborn “tech” industry in the 80s and 90s. It’s the best thing I’ve watched in a long fucking time, maybe ever.
It made me laugh, it made me cry, and it ended beautifully. It inspired me.
I think it’ll do the same for you.
But what made the show magical is that - like all great fiction - it cast light on some deeply human truths.
So without further ado, here they are (no spoilers).
1 Human flaws are beautiful.
Our limitations, not our abilities, are the seed of our potential.
If we could fly, we wouldn’t build planes. If we knew it all, we wouldn’t write books. The work we do is a result of trying to overcome our flaws, and we’re blessed with the ability to do something about them.
Like pieces of a puzzle, we make up for flaws in each other. In this way, we’re bound together.
2 From chaos comes magnificence.
We don’t create something from nothing. We create great things from chaos.
Chaos represents unknown, raw, and untamed potential. It’s the real source of magnificence. Whether it’s from the storm of ideas in our minds, or from the impenetrable rocks in the ground, we wrangle with them, and transmute them into beauty.
3 When something stops being fun, stop doing it.
Nuff said.
4 Vision is nothing without execution.
Having visions for the future is our blessing and our curse.
As visionary creatures, we can imagine worlds of peace and abundance. But vision also makes us painfully self-aware of the fragility of life. The only way to realise an abundant and joyful future over a broken and precarious one is to act in accordance with the future we want to build. To execute.
If you have a vision for the future, it’s on you to make it a reality.
5 Execution is nothing without vision.
Execution only bears fruit when it’s paired with a vision for what the world could be, what we want the world to be.
And it’s futile to build things if we don’t have a clear direction and equally firm conviction.
6 It’s never too early and it’s never too late to do something great.
The brazen and naïve ambition of youth is a powerful force. But so is the calm and slow wisdom of age. Doing something meaningful isn’t limited by how old you are, what mistakes you made in the past, or how much time you’ve wasted so far.
Now is a perfect time to do something great.
7 Argument strengthens our values.
Whenever we argue about something, it signals that thing is important to us. We should never forget that. So within every argument, this common ground of importance is shared. The only way to polish this shared value is to argue over it, discuss it, and build a fortress around it.
Real argument is the sacred act of nurturing what we value.
8 The incumbents are always on the back foot. David will beat Goliath.
Institutions, companies, and even people who’ve been around for a while will naturally sclerose and succumb to entropy. Entropy will always win, so the old will always decay and make space for the new.
Building something new is how we reform the old.
The seeds of today will be the great oaks of tomorrow. The great oaks of tomorrow will die and nourish the seeds of the day after. And the cycle will continue forever.
9 The story of technology is the story of humanity.
We like to think of technology as being a sterile, logical and objective thing. But our values are what drive the technology we choose to build. We choose to build computers because we value what they can do for us. We choose to explore space because we value the treasure at the frontier. But more deeply, technology is what defines us as a species.
We create knowledge, and we apply it through technology. That’s what makes us people.
10 Diversity is the spice of life.
So be generous with your seasoning.
One Liners
“And now is your chance to honor that you can still transform who you want to be without only anchoring that in what you do.” -
“The mistake is thinking people care what you do. You are free.” -
“Speed is intoxicating because it blurs perception.” -
Recommended reading from Substack:
💭
chats with Nadine Kreisberger about discovering your inner wisdom and truth.🍆
urges us to choose better inputs in sex, pastries and life.➖
explores how to keep negativity at bay (at least most of the time).📈
sits down with to explore what brings newsletter success on Substack.⚡️
shares the promise of cheap and abundant energy, forever.
Recommended reading beyond Substack:
Song of the week (Halt and Catch Fire Season 4 Finale Outro) - I think
will particularly appreciate a popular song in 7-time):
"...technology is what defines us as a species." Couldn't agree more! I've currently dove down the rabbit hole on the origins of the computer, computer science, and the like. It's very interesting to see how one thing leads to the next, and here we are today writing in the comfort of our homes :)
Thanks Zan for the shoutout! Never heard of this show but definitely have to check it out 👏
I love the part “if we knew it all we wouldn’t write books” it makes me think of something @bethkempton wrote not so long ago about being a self help author and how many confuse it with having lots of answers when in fact she’s got lots of questions. Good questions makes good books….
Great work 🙌