Jaromír 'Kerray' Matýšek
(yah-roh-meer mah-tee-shack)
From the heritage of ancestors and possibilities of the 21st century,
I distill the best approaches to oneself and the world,
and share them with my kin.
Online avatar · since 2004
Kerray
Online since 1993. Forums, blog, translations, sharing. Fragments at the boundaries of fields and approaches.
Programmer & generalist
Jaromír
Perfectionist and, at the same time, a generalist. I try to keep an overview of everything — not just in IT — which specialists usually don't have the capacity for.
Dance magic · since 1998
DJ Kerray
Once psytrance and ambient, now from the heart and more eclectic. Sets and mixes from parties and studio, original productions, playlists.
Human
Jarek
Husband, father of three. Head used to be in the cloud, now heart on Earth too. Tech optimist who learned to be human.
Where I come from
The 1980s, born into a family of a physician and a programmer. Reading since four, at a computer since six. The Internet arrived in the early 90s — and it was clear to me this was the foundation of everything to come.
The early Internet started teaching me: English, programming, how the world and people work — through forums and blogs. I got my bachelor's from an English-speaking school, and I've learned a lot more since then — most of all about people and how we work.
I was a Christian and techno-optimist from early on, but through rationality and psychedelics I worked my way to a techno-realist view. I'm literally a cyborg — dependent on insulin from a smart pump — so I essentially participate in life thanks to the effectiveness of the scientific method and the work of thousands of people.
My wife Jitka and I are raising three little ones, and when I'm not working or trying to make sense of a messy world, I try to pull out whatever has proven to be good, beneficial, and useful from everything I've learned and encountered — and share it with those who understand it's worth it.
What I believe
Breadth over depth
I'm a generalist. I'm not so interested in the deepest details of any one topic as in what it means — what research findings say about us and the world, and how to grasp them and pass them on in an accessible way.
High standards
I'm a perfectionist. I have high expectations of others — but I try to apply the same criteria to myself.
Privilege as obligation
Thanks to the conditions I've had and still have, I'm absurdly privileged. I no longer feel ashamed of it — I try to use it for the common good.
Honesty over image
People sometimes say I come across as arrogant, but that
impression usually dissolves once you actually talk with me
— still, I'd proudly wear labels like "self-righteous" or
"do-gooder".
¯\_(ツ)_/¯