What is degrowth communism?
https://thoughtshrapnel.com/2024/01/07/what-is-degrowth-communism/
This interview with Kohei Saito in the EL PAÍS talks about the importance of having a positive view of the future, with "a society that adapts to the limits of nature and offers universal access to education, health, transportation, internet". Sounds good to me. We are in a chronic state of
No technology is neutral, and vendors are only ever going to tout the positive qualities. Take this example: it's a way to create a camera out of any window. Huge benefits, as the article says, but also some rather large (and dystopian) downsides. Zeiss is bringing its remarkable Holocam techno
We become what we behold
https://thoughtshrapnel.com/2024/01/07/we-become-what-we-behold/
Your future is statistically more likely to be better than your past
Another fantastic article by Arthur C. Brooks for The Atlantic which draws on research about how your future is likely to be happier than your past. That's because of various psychological effects that come into play as you age. Good news! I'm particularly looking forward to my anxiety tamping do
Logical fallacies, cognitive biases, and more
https://thoughtshrapnel.com/2024/01/04/logical-fallacies-cognitive-biases-and-more/
I always enjoy posts like this because I invariably learn something new. There's some gems in here, some I hadn't come across before, and some I had. There are plenty of logical fallacies and cognitive biases amongst the ideas, which reminds me of this from Buster Benson. I've had a large poster
Would you survive in medieval Europe?
https://thoughtshrapnel.com/2024/01/04/would-you-survive-in-medieval-europe/
Realistically, I'm never going to watch an hour-long YouTube video which is mainly a talking head. I mean, I'm into history, but I'm not that into it. Thankfully, Open Culture has summarised some of the most important points. If you're the kind of person who watches a lot of YouTube, then maybe y
The rich are scared we’re going to eat them
https://thoughtshrapnel.com/2024/01/04/the-rich-are-scared-were-going-to-eat-them/
I'm reading Roots at the moment, the novel by Alex Haley about an African man captured and sold into slavery. I'm at the point of the story where his daughter's 'massa' gets spooked about a slave uprising. It's difficult not to draw parallels when reading about an apparent trend towards billionaire
Remember distinct music scenes and culinary traditions? Yeah, they’re coming back.
https://thoughtshrapnel.com/2024/01/03/things-getting-weird/
Anything that Anil Dash writes is worth reading and this, his first article for Rolling Stone, is no different. I haven't quoted it here, but I love the first paragraph. What goes around, comes around, eh? [T]his new year offers many echoes of a moment we haven’t seen in a quarter-century. Some of
Giving up is an attempt to make a different future
https://thoughtshrapnel.com/2024/01/03/giving-up-is-an-attempt-to-make-a-different-future/
This is some incredible writing from psychotherapist Adam Phillips. It's an edited extract from his forthcoming book On Giving Up and is based on the subtle difference between 'giving up' something and... just giving up. It's a really important read, at least for me, and particularly poignant at
We already have solutions for a lot of problems, we just don’t use them