Author Archives: Dave Pollard

The Miscalculation

This is a work of fiction. “The Aftermath” by Midjourney AI; my own prompt The situation was grim. The Ukrainian War, dragging into its fourth year, had essentially illustrated the utter bankruptcy of any idea that a war in the … Continue reading

Posted in Creative Works | Leave a comment

The [Euro]American Empire: Ignorant of the World and Submerged at Home

image from The Daily Show This is kind of a follow-on from my recent post on Everything Falling Apart, in which I reviewed and compared some cogent writings from Aurélien, Patrick Lawrence and Yanis Varoufakis about the fragmenting of our … Continue reading

Posted in Collapse Watch, How the World Really Works, Our Culture / Ourselves | 2 Comments

More Scenes From a Café: The Body Language Lesson

This is #21 in a series of month-end reflections on the state of the world, and other things that come to mind, as I walk, hike, and explore in my local community.  our neighbourhood café after dark; my own photo, photoshopped … Continue reading

Posted in Creative Works, Month-End Reflections | 3 Comments

It Takes a Village

bonobo mother playing with her baby; photo by Frans Lanting in the Smithsonian The word village comes from the PIE root word weik which refers to a clan or tribe — a small group of people that is larger than … Continue reading

Posted in Collapse Watch, How the World Really Works, Our Culture / Ourselves | 1 Comment

What Could Go Wrong Next

currency exchange in Somaliland, an unrecognized country within Somalia, from the BBC, photographer Simon Reeve Collapse is happening more quickly this year, but for most people it’s still happening so slowly as to be hardly noticeable. What will it take … Continue reading

Posted in Collapse Watch, How the World Really Works | 2 Comments

If, When, Now That

This is, like everything, a work of complete and utter fiction. “Childlike Wonder”, by Midjourney AI; my own prompt I If, some morning, this body were to awaken, without a sense of self and separation to reconstruct its worldview and … Continue reading

Posted in Creative Works, Illusion of the Separate Self and Free Will | 1 Comment

Links of the Month: September 2023

an old cartoon by Michael Leunig, from his fans’ Facebook site.  “What has been lost…” All around me are familiar faces, worn out places, worn out faces Bright and early for the daily races, going nowhere, going nowhere Their tears … Continue reading

Posted in Collapse Watch, How the World Really Works, Our Culture / Ourselves | 4 Comments

Everything Falling Apart: Three Perspectives

my own diagram of what Jim Kunstler calls “The Long Emergency” — a gradual multi-stage collapse over an extended period Aurélien, Patrick Lawrence and Yanis Varoufakis are IMO three of the most astute observers of our modern, global, industrial civilization … Continue reading

Posted in Collapse Watch, How the World Really Works, Our Culture / Ourselves | 3 Comments

The Trauma of the Self

This is a partial, edited transcript of a meeting held by Tim Cliss in 2021, on zoom. Probably not of interest unless you are intrigued by the message of radical non-duality. At the end of the transcript, I ponder a … Continue reading

Posted in Illusion of the Separate Self and Free Will | Leave a comment

What Does Chaos Look Like?

Dave Snowden’s Cynefin framework (2021). Adds liminal domains, points of uncertainty or paradox, notably the aporetic domain, from whence, notably, NZ’s Jacinda Ardern chose to cede decision-making authority to health experts as being better equipped than politicians to determine the … Continue reading

Posted in Collapse Watch | 5 Comments