Philosophy

The contiguous society
The exponential growth of computing power has created unprecedented possibilities for the democratic organization of a people. Looking at the current voting system of democracies around the world however, very little of these digital innovations to improve the finding and execution of the 'will of the people' have been realized. It is largely unchartered territory, ...
Self-confidence
Because of all the wonderful and extraordinary selves that are currently on display if you are bored enough to browse the Internet, it is easy to misconstrue the nature of self-confidence. Our Internet heroes have grandiose that make them seem independent. The veil of their staged independence is paper-thin, but no-one cares to lift it ...
The authentic liar
Charisma 2.0 is the ability to lie all the time and look more authentic because of it. #happyinaugurationday
Could systemic change be catalyzed by effective altruism?
Dear Prof. Peter Singer, I would like to convey my utmost gratitude for your extraordinary efforts related to the relief of animal cruelty and poverty. I applaud the approach of programs like Give what we can because I think every dollar spent on things like malaria prevention, de-worming, girl's education or clean drinking water as ...
Bubbles
During the last days of a year that was filled with the perceived horrors of the untimely death of several celebrity actors and popstars, as well as the real horror of the destruction of Aleppo, I want to sit back and reflect. A word that illustrates our quick march towards unadulterated cynicism that characterized the ...
Civilization is the ability to believe in a justification for our cruelty.
It doesn't matter much if we have hope now. Will we have hope when a majority of people are literally dying to improve our lot?
What is a ball?
Dear Miru, We were playing with a ball today, but you said it wasn't a ball. Or, as you put it, that the ball was "kapot". You meant that the ball lacked significantly in "ballness"; that its "ballness" was broken. I understand your intuition: The ball we were playing with didn't look like any other ...
the problem with democracy is that the people refuse to believe they are the people