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Losing sight of the “big picture” while fixated on a detail
Thinking selfishly of a small profit, of a small measure and closing one’s eyes to the overall plan is to rush towards one’s own downfall and that of others. Believing that one will be spared is an illusion. One must think of the general interest, of the vision of society as a whole when one…
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The richest 1% are at war with the rest of the world
“There’s class warfare, all right, but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.” Warren Buffett – Good Reads: https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/123058-there-s-class-warfare-all-right-but-it-s-my-class-the “Terrorism is the war of the poor. War is the terrorism of the rich.” Ustinov Peter: https://www.grainesdepaix.org/fr/ressources/sinspirer/aphorismes/le-terrorisme-est-la-guerre-des-pauvres-la-guerre-est-le-terrorisme-des-riches What does this war involve? In France, as elsewhere, the role of national education…
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Is Artificial Intelligence good for humans?
Our understanding of how the brain and AI (Artificial Intelligence) work has advanced considerably. The best model of the human brain we have today dates from the 1970s and is based on neural networks. For each characteristic, a knowledge or emotion is associated. We reconstruct concepts whenever we need them. Our memories are linked to…
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Work, it’s an all-or-nothing option
In Greek, Roman and Eastern antiquity, work was seen as a necessary evil. If possible, others were made to do it for you. The earliest references to work in Mesopotamia depicted gods imposing their tasks on men, because gods were stronger. Value in antiquity was not work, but knowledge, information and the arts. In medieval…
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Absences from work
Everyone talks about absence from work. But if you don’t show up for work, it’s professional misconduct and you can be fired for it. What we’re talking about is absence from work, which is justified by a sick leave, i.e. due to illness. To speak of absence from work without mentionning illness is to question…
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Free public transport
Free public transport can be a way of getting more people to use it, and of developing it further. This enables us to fight pollution, limit road infrastructure, limit the use of cars and thus ease traffic congestion, give greater independence to young people, the elderly and others who can’t get around by car, and…
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Representation of capitalism trying to take all the resources and trying to make workers live nothing but work
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Drugs
At the end of the 1970s, the neo-liberal idea developed that if you work hard you can succeed, but if you fail it’s because you haven’t given yourself the means. In the 1980s, under the Thatcher/Reagan era, Western countries became deindustrialised and mass unemployment emerged. In the 1990s, the “cool Britannia” left-wingers such as Tony…
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Let’s democratize art
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Short circuited mass distribution
Even if supermarkets are beginning to phase-out, the G20 economy does not seem to be suffering. Hypermarkets may even have been detrimental to growth: – G20 GDP Growth – Fourth quarter of 2018, Stable GDP growth in G20 area OECD – OECD: https://www.oecd.org/newsroom/g20-gdp-growth-fourth-quarter-2018-oecd.htm Hypermarkets and shopping malls are now doubting their survival: – Will ShoppingMalls…