Big ideas that could change the world – or just a few of the people in it
Everywhere we look, people are disappearing. Disappearing into their bedrooms, into their phones, into the metaverse and out of their real lives. As life becomes more virtualised and more artificial, as our digital lives supersede our physical existence, as our stores of value - of both worldly financial wealth and social credit - become increasingly … Continue reading Connecting the Dissapeared
Over the last few years, Minecraft users have been painstakingly building a 1:1 replica of Earth to preserve a record of our planet and our current civilisation in event of its destruction. (Goodness knows there are enough options - from climate change and pandemics to nuclear and bio warfare - for total world-ending destruction available … Continue reading Guardians of the Past
Two quotes to get you through chaotic times, when it feels like things are spiralling out of control: Tend your own garden "Life is bristling with thorns, and I know no other remedy than to cultivate one's garden." ~ Voltaire In a literal and figurative sense : look after yourself, take responsibility for your own … Continue reading Tend your garden, Defend your garden
I'm currently trying to get the following self-created ideas/ terms to catch on, since I think they explain things about the future: The WIFI curtain (which I first wrote about anonymously, under cover, for Future World) as the 21st century's version of the Iron Curtain. Only this one is a 4D (it stretches across space … Continue reading Ideas that need to catch on
Virtuocracy : A society which is ruled by the most virtuous. Aristocracy, where one's station in life is tied to the accident of birth, is plainly unfair. Theocracy, where one's station in life is tied to one's proximity to the nexus of clerical power is likewise unjust. Meritocracy, where one's station in life is tied … Continue reading The Rise of Virtuocracy
I find myself sharing the same essays over and over again, and I thought it would be useful to collect all these perennial favourites into one resource. Enjoy the rabbit hole. On the tyranny of the minority - or why the most unreasonable win: https://medium.com/incerto/the-most-intolerant-wins-the-dictatorship-of-the-small-minority-3f1f83ce4e15O On luxury beliefs: https://nypost.com/2019/08/17/luxury-beliefs-are-the-latest-status-symbol-for-rich-americans/ On why there are (still) no … Continue reading A few of my favourite things
Life is all about choices, and choices are all about trade offs. This little chart I made - which combines the logic of the Nolan Chart and the "political triangle" in a simplified way focused on the core trade-offs of the various political ideas - has helped me to think about some of the biggest … Continue reading The grand trilemma
I don't know about you, but I cannot live without a few secrets. Without secrets, without a private inner life, we lose our individuality and our sense of self. Today though, we are bombarded with messages telling us that privacy is worth sacrificing for the greater good; for the good of community security, for the … Continue reading Secrets and Lies
"A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in." - Greek proverb It's no secret - I love reading. In particular, I love reading books, real, paper books that don't hurt your eyes and don't require cables or charging. I also love future thinking and foresight. … Continue reading The future library
Facial Justice by LP Hartley is not a good book. In fact, I would say it is a pretty terrible book. Bad plot, bad characters, badly written. Yet, I am still featuring it here because the book's big idea is brilliant. Facial Justice imagines a not too distant future where women are forced to have … Continue reading Facial Justice
