On reading We have been harmonised I was reminded the if you want to control a large group, one of easiest ways to do that is to get them all 1) naked and 2) alone. Naked, so that they feel watched by the authority, their peers and -more importantly - by their own selves. Religion … Continue reading Naked, and alone
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
We Have Been Harmonised by Kai Strittmatter makes for uncomfortable reading. The book details the seemingly unstoppable slide towards the total surveillance state (or the 360 degree, 4D WiFi curtain, as I like to call our emerging omniscient open air prison reality), not just in the Communist Party of China's China, but all over the … Continue reading We have been harmonised
"Do you not know that a man is not dead while his name is still spoken?"~ Terry Pratchett When it comes down to it, although our day to day lives may be driven by envy; what we want, what we really, really want, as conscious human beings, is immortality. Traditionally, this has taken one of three routes … Continue reading Deed, seed, creed – and the war on biology
I've been thinking a lot about micro-fiefdoms and the putting up of pay walls and page gates and toll gates for a myriad of formerly free human interactions, in the digital and physical realms. For example: From public spaces to private city states (also think gated communities and company towns run by big tech companies … Continue reading Inside and Outside the Walls
"We don’t exist unless there is someone who can see us existing . . . to be surrounded by friends is constantly to have our identity confirmed."~ Alain de Botton Tracey Follows is one of my favourite contemporary futurists. Her new book, The Future of You explains why I love the way she thinks. For … Continue reading The Future of You
“What can it profit a man to think if he does not dare to?” ~ Henry Hazlitt Henry Hazlitt is one of my favourite clear thinkers. The Way to Willpower is a straight talking guide to personal motivation (not my favourite genre by a long stretch, but somehow Hazlitt makes even self improvement bearable). The … Continue reading The Way to Willpower
Good: Virtuous. Right. Commendable. Great: Remarkable in magnitude, degree, or effectiveness. When it comes to leadership, it is not good to great; so much as good vs great. An uncomfortable truth about human history is that the greatest - that is the most effective, influential, and powerful - leaders are seldom the most good. Indeed … Continue reading Good vs Great
“Evil comes from a failure to think. It defies thought for as soon as thought tries to engage itself with evil and examine the premises and principles from which it originates, it is frustrated because it finds nothing there. That is the banality of evil.”~ Hannah Arendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality … Continue reading Machette Season
At the moment, a crop of ideas that have been lying around for some time are sprouting. Make no mistake, these ideas time has come and they will be used to shape the next generation of economic and social policy. They will affect every life and every nation. Specifically, 2020 has seen the following ideas … Continue reading Ideas Lying Around (and Sprouting)
