Virtual Reality
Fantasies are fun, and the rewards can be intoxicating/addictive. But it’s time that we grow up and stop playing the empty, escapist game of modernity: we need to learn to live in the real world again.
Nice little economy you’ve got there, be a shame…
It may seem like a mug’s game to take on Trump’s thuggish power with economics, physics, music, art, and justice. But perhaps they still hold some force in this world—we shall see.
Larder
First you taste the fruit, then you know the territory, then you find the flower. That is the way round it is. Sometimes you travel a long way to come home with empty hands.
The steps to an American oligarchy
One of the things that all of this reveals is that the dystopian world in which AIs have taken our jobs and left us all destitute is not so much a scenario which needs endless public policy discussion. Instead it is the return of the repressed. It’s the story that our tech billionaires wish for, but still have to pretend that they don’t.
Protecting the Climate (documentary film review)
While I generally hold Deutsche Welle documentaries in high regard, this one falls disappointingly short of its potential. Don’t watch it if you’re looking for an in-depth exploration of cognitive and neurological barriers to climate action.
The Light Triad
In this Frankly, Nate explores the concept of Light Triad personalities and their struggle against the Dark Triad forces shaping our social, economic, and ecological landscape.
Downsizing the U. S. government this way will destroy its effectiveness without increasing its efficiency
Either the Trump administration doesn’t understand that making personnel cuts across the U. S. government in this manner will not increase efficiency OR it intends to make government agencies ineffective.
Dougald Hine: “Reimagining the Cultural Narrative: Art and Storytelling for Systemic Change”
Today, Nate is joined by storyteller and social thinker, Dougald Hine, to explore the importance of narratives in shaping our understanding of the world and how they can help us navigate the complexities of life, especially in the face of ecological crises.
Not more but better – parts 1 and 2
The rise of supermarket chains, the fast food chains, factory farming, food waste, the conversion of landscapes into monocultures, food deserts, obesity, malnutrition, ultra-processed food, you name it –the four mega-drivers have a lot more explanatory power than the prevailing, and infantile, narrative of consumer preferences.
7 ideas for going local
This world is not a billiard ball table where we advance by banging into one another. It is a world of relationships, constantly changing, everything in some way feeding everything else. It is a world of mutuality and reciprocity.
To the lifehouse?
As I see it, people generally seek peace, health and prosperity where they can. They care less whether those things are to be found in the city or the country. It’s the things themselves that matter.
The View from Washington
Hyperbole is impossible when discussing the seriousness of what’s happening in Washington. When I speak of a wrecking ball to government, I mean federal agencies usurping the legislative branch’s powers, with a strong possibility of ignoring decisions of the judicial branch.
