(2017-09-30) Zvim Slack

Zvi Mowshowitz on Slack. Definition: Slack. The absence of binding constraints on behavior.

Further Research (book, recommended but not at all required, take seriously but not literally): The Book of the Subgenius

Poor is the person without Slack

Slack means margin for error. You can relax.
Slack allows pursuing opportunities. You can explore. You can trade.

Slack enables doing the right thing. Stand by your friends. Reward the worthy. Punish the wicked. You can have a code.

Slack in project management is the time a task can be delayed without causing a delay to either subsequent tasks or project completion time. The amount of time before a constraint binds.

Slack.com the app was likely named in reference to a promise of Slack in the project sense.

A slacker is one who has a lazy work ethic or otherwise does not exert maximum effort. They slack off. They refuse to be bound by what others view as hard constraints.

Many things in this world are Out to Get You. Often they are Out to Get You for a lot, usually but not always your time, attention and money. (2017-09-23-ZvimOutToGetYou)

You might spend every spare minute and/or dollar on politics, advocacy or charity. You might think of every dollar as a fraction of a third-world life saved.

Or you might spend every spare minute mindlessly checking Facebook or obsessed with your fantasy football league.
You cannot relax. Your life is not your own.

Our society even does it to our children. They stay on college and career tracks, fearing one bad grade or mark on their record destroying their whole lives

It might even be the right choice! Especially for brief periods. When about to be run over by a truck or evicted from your house, Slack is a luxury you cannot afford. Extraordinary times call for extraordinary effort.
Most times are ordinary. Make an ordinary effort.

People like to tell you, �You can afford it.�
No, you can�t. This is the most famous attack on Slack. Few words make me angrier.
The person who says �You Can Afford It� is saying to ignore constraints that do not bind you. If you do, all constraints soon bind you.

Ask not whether you can afford it. Ask if it is Worth It.

engineer your situation to force yourself to have Slack

Unless you can�t afford it. Affordability is invaluable negative selection. Never positive selection.

When looking happy means you deal with everything unpleasant, no one looks happy for long.

*Things are bad enough when those with Slack are expected to sacrifice for others. Things are much worse when the presence of Slack is viewed as a defection.

An example of this effect is Maya Millennial (of The Premium Mediocre Life of Maya Millennial). She has no Slack.* (2017-08-18) Rao Premium Mediocre Life Of Maya Millennial

Constraints bind her every action. Her job in life is putting up a front of the person she wants to show people that she wants to be.

Every action is being watched. If no one is around to watch her, the job falls to her. She must post all to Facebook, to Snapchat, to Instagram. Each action and choice signals who she is and her loyalty to the system.

Maya never has free time. There is signaling to do! At a minimum, she must spend such time on alert and on her phone lest she miss something.

Maya lacks free speech, free association, free taste and free thought. All must serve.

Maya is in a world where she must signal she has no Slack. Slack means insufficient dedication and loyalty. Slack cannot be trusted.

Make sure that under normal conditions you have Slack. Value it. Guard it. Spend it only when Worth It. If you lose it, fight to get it back. This provides motivation for fighting things Out To Get You, lest you let them eat your Slack.

respect the Slack of others. Help them value and guard it. Do not spend it lightly.