Reading books is becoming cool again. Book reading is up there with kale, meditation, stoicism and mental models. And in some circles, the number of books you read has become a representation of how intelligent you are and how likely you are to be able to solve problems effectively. Everyone boasts about how much they…
Category: ideas
On misanthropy and the hatred of humankind
The word misanthropy has its origins in two Greek words, anthrÅpos, meaning “human being,” and misein, meaning “to hate.” There isn’t a more human word than misanthropy. Humanity cohabiting in one word with its most distinctive emotion, hatred. The fact the word even exists is disconcerting. The idea that so many people hate humankind that…
Change or persist?
There’s a tension between two forces that dictate the evolution of culture. I find this true of society, the public sector and within businesses. The first force is driven by curiosity and a dissatisfaction with the present. People who buy into the first force believe the best is yet to come, and that there are…
Bullshit jobs and meaningless, busy work
John Maynard Keynes predicted in 1930 that labor-saving technologies and automation would lead to a 15-hour workweek by the time his grandchildren came of age. Keynes never had children and thus never had grandchildren. However, if he’d had, they would not have seen a 15 hour workweek in their lifetime. What they would have experienced…
Fixing education – where we might start
I had the privilege of attending some amazing schools when I was growing up. Schools that had produced important political leaders, national sports captains, titans of industry. And yet, I now look back on my upper middle class education and I feel robbed. I’m not here to bash our education system. Other, more qualified people…
On seeing the world
“This looking and not seeing things was a great sin, I thought, and one that was easy to fall into. It was always the beginning of something bad and I thought that we did not deserve to live in the world if we did not see it.” Ernest Hemingway Hemingway calls it ‘seeing’. I like…
Social media is designed to be addictive.
A number of people who’ve watched Social Dilemma on Netflix seem surprised at the revelation that social media is designed to keep them on the platform for as long as possible. This surprised me. So, either watch the movie, or keep reading. The only reason I’m writing this post is because most people don’t seem…
Is innovation dying?
We are living through the most innovative period known to human kind. Innovation in mobile phones have changed our lives, the Internet has become humanity’s repository of knowledge (and stupidity), we are making advances in artificial intelligence that help with everything from differentiating between muffins and dogs to diagnosing cancer. 3D printing will see us…
Doing great things is hard.
There’s a saying in writing, ‘writers write.’ It seems trite but it is the truest thing you can say about being a writer – and its a fact most aspiring writers ignore. Most people who want to be writers talk about writing, but spend their evenings watching TV. I know – I’ve been there. Each…
Pay Attention
We pay attention. We don’t give, loan, grant, gift or donate attention. We pay. Attention as a topic isn’t discussed often. Instead it is folded into the critical issues we believe are severely impacting how we live today. And we tend to miss its importance. We ironically don’t pay attention to attention. ‘Pay attention. It’s…