I believe in the sun. In the tangle of human failures of fear, greed, and forgetfulness, the sun gives me clarity. When explorers first encountered my people, they called us heathens, sun worshippers. They didn’t understand that the sun is a relative, and illuminates our path on this earth. After dancing all night in aContinue reading “Talking with the sun”
Tag Archives: consumerism
Albert Camus: A society based on symbols is an artificial society
“Consumer society can be defined as a society in which objects disappear and are replaced by symbols. When the ruling class no longer measures its wealth in acres of land or gold bars, but rather by how many digits ideally correspond to a certain number of financial transactions, then that society immediately links itself toContinue reading “Albert Camus: A society based on symbols is an artificial society”
Ok Doomer: Are Millennials ‘Generation Exhausted’?
Covid and endless inflation, AI and global conflicts, misinformation and political instability. Climate change and extinction. The world is full of unknowns and bin fires at the moment. All of the above unknowns are getting onto my head like a low-key buzzing static sound just below perceptible human hearing. Animals hear it. Plants hear it.Continue reading “Ok Doomer: Are Millennials ‘Generation Exhausted’?”
Book Review: How to Do Nothing by Jenny Odell
I didn’t expect much from this book and was delightfully surprised by its immense depth and foresight. ‘How to Do Nothing’ is a profound and glittering jewel about the big topics of politics, internet culture, consumerism, capitalism and consciousness. It takes well-worn assumptions about how you spend your time and the tyrannical monopoly of banal “stuff” on your attention – and then rearranges your brain forever!
Book Review: Everybody Lies by Seth Stephens Dawidowitz
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Genre: Non-Fiction, Psychology, Consumerism, Marketing, Digital Media, Digital Technology, Big Data. Rating: 🌟🌟 Everybody Lies: What the Internet Can Tell Us About Who We Really Are by Seth Stephens Dawidowitz sets out to reveal the hidden selves that we reveal freely to the Gods of Search Engines, but rarely to other peopleContinue reading “Book Review: Everybody Lies by Seth Stephens Dawidowitz”
Book Review: You May Also Like by Tom Vanderbilt
Publisher: Knopf Genre: Non-Fiction, Psychology, Consumerism, Marketing Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 If you’re like me, you are an endlessly curious person who enjoys reading and learning about many things, and you like and enjoy a great many different things…if so, then here is a classic book for you! ‘You May Also Like’ endeavours to answer some fascinatingContinue reading “Book Review: You May Also Like by Tom Vanderbilt”
10 Interesting Things I Found on the Internet #30
Ahoy there mateys. Here’s a little palate-cleanser to wash away any sad stuff from the news and the socials. I hope you enjoy it. Buddy Bears in Berlin The Art of Tolerance is an ongoing exhibition that travels the world. 146 Buddy Bears who represent 146 different countries were last spotted at Tierpark Berlin. They are designedContinue reading “10 Interesting Things I Found on the Internet #30”
Barry Schwartz and the Paradox of Choice
“We laud our almost boundless freedom of choice as if it were a good thing per se, irrespective of what the choice is between. This is of course absurd because any rational person would prefer to choose between two good things rather than between a thousand bad ones. But, under these circumstances, how do weContinue reading “Barry Schwartz and the Paradox of Choice”
How to Counter the Anthropocene: Frugality and the ‘Joy of Missing Out’
“The main threats to humankind were once posed by the forces of nature. Now they are self-inflicted. We are the cause of our own problems and they can only be solved at the level of the society that created them. One help would be to collectively rediscover the ancient virtues of frugality, moderation and theContinue reading “How to Counter the Anthropocene: Frugality and the ‘Joy of Missing Out’”
