for thinking people
December 19, 2017
The words “idiot” and “idiocy” originate from the ancient Greek word ιδιώτης (“idiotes”), which has sadly lost its meaning in modern Greek. Nowadays, it means “a private employee” (i.e. in contrast to a public employee). But in ancient Greek, its meaning was far more intriguing: it meant someone so self-centered and absorbed with private matters, that he neglected the duties of citizenship: to discuss, vote, and participate in matters of public interest.
December 6, 2017
The big question: How do you define success? But of course, by measuring it, right?
You might think that the need to quantify everything is innate in humans. After all, when our ancestors lived in caves and had to hunt every day for their survival, 4 wild boars versus 3 could make the difference between life and death.
Fast-forward to the present day (Space Odyssey style) and the obsession with counting is more intense than ever. We live in the digital revolution era (with all its problems). Is your camera 12 or 24 megapixels? How many GB of RAM is your computer, your phone, your tablet? How tall are you? What’s your shoe size? Will it be a small, medium, or large coke?
You could argue – and you wouldn’t be wrong – that there is nothing sinister with measuring in that way. We need to be able to organize our life, after all.
The problems begin when you begin to overexpand measuring in adjacent areas. How many megapixels soon becomes “my camera is better than yours”, and, worse still, “I can take better photos than you”. The size of your clothes becomes a synonym of your value as a person. The size of your breasts a way to define you as a sexual being.
Sooner or later, we reach to the most absurd measurement of them all: the size of your bank account as a sign of your success.
November 29, 2017
Privilege and reality alludes to a conflicting coexistence between what the world really is and what you think it is.
Whether you are an empiricist (“there is an ‘out-there’ reality”) or an idealist (“the only reality is within my mind”), there is a common element: your mind. Even if we accept the empiricist thesis, this “out-there” reality cannot be accessed but through our senses. And hence, this leaves us vulnerable to delusion.
Let’s now ponder on this in terms of society, privilege, and class.
It is often said, correctly, that the very rich and powerful are entirely disconnected from the masses. The 1% don’t know how the 99% live, how they feel and think, how they cope. The problem is (and yes, it is a problem), you don’t know either.
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