Category Archives: How the World Really Works

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

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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

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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

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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

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Outside the Overton Window Looking In

image by Midjourney AI; my own prompt and photoshopping At various times over my 20 years of blogging I’ve found myself taking a controversial position on some issue, usually political or economic, but occasionally social or ecological. I was surprised … Continue reading

Posted in How the World Really Works, Our Culture / Ourselves | 16 Comments

Moving Beyond Ideologies — continued

screen cap from one of Sabine’s recent videos One of the mailing lists I’m part of (thanks to Paul Heft) has been debating physicist Sabine Hossenfelder’s controversial recent video in defence of capitalism. I’m a huge fan of Sabine’s scientific … Continue reading

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What’s Going On (Thoughts on a Train)

image: creative commons CC0 license from pixabay The mass of [humans] lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called ‘resignation’ is confirmed desperation. Unconscious despair is concealed even under what are called the games and amusements of [human]kind. There is … Continue reading

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Conditioned Incompetence

“The New Leader Holds Court”, by Midjourney AI; my own prompt Aurélien has been writing lately about how much of the malaise of our crumbling modern systems can be attributed to the incompetence (defined as inability to do the job) of … Continue reading

Posted in Collapse Watch, How the World Really Works, Illusion of the Separate Self and Free Will, Our Culture / Ourselves | 6 Comments

As Fit As I Was In My 20s?

I confess: I hate exercising. I’ve been doing it, on and off, for more than 50 years. Partly this is out of vanity, since I do look better for doing it. And partly it is because I just feel better … Continue reading

Posted in How the World Really Works, Our Culture / Ourselves | 6 Comments