I don't sing in the shower because I'm happy - I sing in the shower to make myself happy - Austin Showers
Philosophy
Habit and comfort
Sometimes, the categories of an ad hoc philosophical anthropology can be revealing. Today, my anthropology says: We are beings of habit as well as beings of comfort. The inertia of our species and our politicians is grounded in these principles. There is always a certain optimal balance of comfort and habit, which our organisms are ...
Modesty
“A great man is always willing to be little.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson “A modest little person, with much to be modest about.” ― Winston Churchill I want to stretch out my tentacles to tackle the idea of modesty. Sound the clarions, hoist the flags, this self-proclaimed writer marches in to lecture about a virtue ...
Boredom
Dear companion, would you like to write about boredom with me? Would you mind if we leave out scientific studies involving cortisol levels, inhibitors, synapses, our neocortices and neurotransmitters. Would you mind it not containing literary quotes by the likes of Schopenhauer, Ciorán, or Sartre? If it becomes a mere piece of reflection, an invitation ...
Ethics of mobile phone chat conversations.
When you live in an urban area, you will have the experience of seeing people conducing chat conversations with their mobile phones in public places. This is an exciting new possibility of technology, that enables us to talk with anyone, anywhere, and seemingly without disturbing others, because these conversations are silent. There is one catch: ...
Tractatus Logico-Economicus
0. The economy revolves around things. 0.1. Things are products, services, and consumers. 0.1.1. Products depend on finite natural resources. 0.1.2. Services depend on finite time. 0.1.3. An economy with a value-function based on products and services needs endless progress. 0.1.4. Endless progress combined with finite resources results in devaluation. 0.1.5. The value of products ...
One Human Nature?
Prize question: What is more harmful, the assumption that there is one human nature, or the idea that there are many? History suggests several answers. We can argue that the assumption of human beings as "economic agents" interested only in maximizing their own profit, leads to the current neoliberal system with all its destructive tendencies. ...
Code Is Not Poetry
Much of the Internet, including these words, "runs on" a piece of software called Wordpress. It has become the most popular blogging platform because of smart architecture, passionate contributors, and a healthy bit of good luck. You are likely to know Wordpress, and also its slogan "Code is Poetry" might sound familiar. I write code ...
“I cannot be the only one who…
"I cannot be the only one who basks in the illusion by breaking it. When did we grow ears to the story of value that is told through us, the root of our essence as social beings? Such brilliant fiction, and so undeniably true. We live in language, says the bedridden poet. Our chain of ...