Sticky
3 Important Reasons Why Reading Can Save Your Brain Health

By:
On:
In: economics, featured, health, media, mind, power, Reading, social media, truth, Writing

A lot of us are using machines to do stuff for us, these days. We have been encouraged to think that hacks are smart strategies in life. The truth is rather different, when it comes to neglecting your own brain in favour of technology. Use it or lose it! Our brain functions do not improve with neglect. Reading and writing are the two things that set us apart from all other animals on planet earth. Language is our innate superpower and if we outsource the processing of it to machines and AI, we will be the mentally poorer for it. Here are 3 important reasons why reading can save your brain health.Continue Reading

Sticky
Americanisation

By:
On:
In: corruption, crime, democracy, economics, featured, Government, health, history, identity, latest post, media, mind, movies, oral fetish, politics, power, social media, sport

You know, I see quite a few of these YouTube videos where Americans compare stuff to what happens in Australia. It is not these that peak my interest, but rather that the global Americanisation is so ubiquitous. Everything about modern life is largely the same in the western world. Have a think about the computer age and where that originated. The internet and social media are American inventions. Smart phones are a big part of this and they too are a US innovation. Beyond this, to more prosaic trends and think about working out, bigger muscles and tattoos. These too, are American cultural shifts, which occurred over the last couple of decades.Continue Reading

Sticky
5 Reasons Why Toxic Masculinity Is A Real Problem?

By:
On:
In: corruption, crime, democracy, featured, Government, identity, latest post, media, mind, morality, politics, power, Sex, truth

Don’t get defensive about this statement or I will punch your head in. 5 reasons why toxic masculinity is a real problem? Seriously though folks, it is, because it doesn’t just occur on the personal level it impacts across the whole spectrum. Vladimir Putin displays toxic masculinity via his actions invading Ukraine as the leader of Russia. The behaviour of the Russian President can only be described as toxic masculinity. Taking what you want violently against the wishes of another, when you know full well it is not yours to take.Continue Reading

Sticky

By:
On:
In: democracy, featured, history, identity, latest post, literature, media, mind, morality, politics

It is incredible to ponder on how obsessed America has been with one individual for the last decade. This republic, this land of the free, has been messed up in the Trump cult of personality. Hundreds of millions of Americans have had their lives upset and f***** with by one, fairly sordid, son of a second rate property developer. Celebrity is the weakness of this people. Their unhealthy fondness for the faux familiarity of celebrity. So much for progress, for the democratic journey over decades and centuries. So much for the American Experiment.Continue Reading

Sticky
person with smartphone standing in projection of zeros and ones

By:
On:
In: corruption, democracy, economics, featured, Government, history, identity, latest post, media, mind, morality, politics, truth

We created a model of our lives. The model was called a computer. Lots of us thought this was really cool. Everyone got a computer if they could and lots of cool stuff was generated. The Internet, world wide web, and social media. More and more human activity was transferred to the digital realm. We became more dependent upon computers and the digital world. The computer transformed into a smart phone, which could do a bunch of cool stuff. Human behavior has been modified with generations of digital natives knowing little else. Now, AI is here and taking over much more of our lives. The digital world taking over the real world is actually happening.Continue Reading

Sticky
crop person showing mobile phone in park

By:
On:
In: consciousness, democracy, economics, featured, Government, history, latest post, media, mind, politics, truth, wellbeing

Maybe you just don’t have the time or the inclination. Everything is available as a video or podcast anyway, you reason. Are you too dumb to read? Or just too lazy? Consuming information via videos also means, in the main, that you have no reference for the source material underpinning what is claimed by the speakers in the video. Most YouTube videos do not include this reference material. This is just another way we are all being dumbed down by the convenience of technology. It is one of the reasons why we are having to deal with Donald Trump because dumb Americans voted him back in despite the plethora of evidence against him.Continue Reading

Sticky
Stoicism: above, suicide Seneca; middle

By:
On:
In: featured, history, latest post, literature, mind, morality, religion, truth

I could begin with a brief history lesson about Stoicism but this is not the essence of it. Being Stoic: What is it? Doing stuff you don’t want to do but know that you have to do anyway. The expression ‘soldiering on,’ invariably comes to mind, as soldiers have to do a lot of shitty things they really would rather not. Duty is a big one for Stoics. Virtue, even, more so. WTF is virtue anyway? It is a word, which has not stood the test of time. It exists as an anachronism, a term draped in cobwebs and an echo from the ancient world. This is old stuff and does it truly having any bearing on our lives today?Continue Reading

Sticky
Figurative Abstraction

By:
On:
In: featured, identity, latest post, media, mind, politics, truth

Humanity Is regularly celebrated for its technology, which has lifted us above all other animals. Curing diseases, motorised vehicles, supermarkets, splitting the atom, computers, mobile phones, and even space rockets. These are but a few of the amazing inventions created by humans. How come then masses of us think and act so stupidly? Why so dumb if some so smart? Has it always been the case that the majority of us are low intel creatures and only a minority are much smarter? The experts tell us that it is our ability to share information which has set us apart on the intelligence scale from the other species of animals on the planet.Continue Reading

moving cars on the road near wangjing soho buildings

By:
On:
In: featured, latest post, mind, religion, truth

We are in the midst of a hype driven mania for all things AI at this time. This is not entirely unusual, as humanity has done this before. There have been fevers for all sorts of things from tulips to Facebook over the years. In this instance, however, it involves handing over agency to something called Artificial Intelligence (AI). AI: Why do we give our power away? Human beings have a tendency to be inclined to pass over responsibility to something perceived as wiser than ourselves. We did it with God! For millennia, large sections of the human race have handballed autonomy to an invisible, apparently supernatural entity with a lot of oms. Omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence. All powerful, all knowing and everywhere. Of course, the concept of God has proven to be scientifically unverifiable.Continue Reading

ancient ruins of apollon temple

By:
On:
In: book review, history, latest post, mind

I spent a good number of years studying ancient history at university and thoroughly enjoyed it. I recommend the learning experience. Understanding the ancient world, however, remains an intellectual exercise, as the passing of millennia makes it impossible to really grasp the Geist of these distant times. I compare it to trying to stare down a deep well through cloudy water in a bid to see what is down there. Fleeting speculations based on interpretations of translations and bits of broken pottery are the best we can do. Still, the process of trying to comprehend the past is a worthwhile thing in itself, in my view. It reflects keenly upon the present.Continue Reading