The other day, I watched Jordan Peterson having a conversation with Michael Malice, the author of “Dear Reader: The Unauthorized Autobiography of Kim Jong Il“. I really recommend watching the video. One core aspect that Michael talks about is people eliminating their own freedom through self-censorship. They choose conformity, become small and unobtrusive, and hide… Continue reading The Terror of Suspicion
Category: Behavior
What influences behavior and decision making?
Capitalism and Faith
This may seem like a pair of strange bedfellows. I expect people to generally consider faith superfluous when it comes to how the market operates: contracts and legal authorities regulate its function. During the search for an apartment, however, I considered the following hypothetical alternatives: First, imagine a broker—regardless of whether working for a seller… Continue reading Capitalism and Faith
Character Litmus Tests
Over the past few days, I have been struck by an intense experience of frustration. Being from Germany, and growing up in the 1980s, I remember the extent to which my education emphasized tolerance and acceptance of others as a fundamental principle of a functioning society. One of the reasons I felt so strongly about… Continue reading Character Litmus Tests
Playing With Fire
Have you heard about—and maybe believe—the “lab leak hypothesis” related to COVID? The idea is this: people tasked with doing basic research on respiratory viruses might have been partly responsible for the outbreak. Why partly? Their work would have included “gain of function research”, which seeks to investigate more aggressive versions of the virus, artificially… Continue reading Playing With Fire
The Truth in The Expanse
Over the past five weeks, I took part in a series of calls under the heading of “Warm Data Labs“. The participants, broken out into groups of 3 or 4 people at a time and shuffled three times per call, were asked to answer open ended questions such as: “how are you tending to …?”,… Continue reading The Truth in The Expanse
Reciprocal Openings
Earlier this week, I took part in an empathy circle practice organized by Rebel Wisdom together with Edwin Rutsch and a group of facilitators. I was part of a group of five people, and after we engaged in this practice, we all reported on the effect this had: each of us, in different words, experienced… Continue reading Reciprocal Openings
Bullshit’s Shadow
To avoid confusion, I will start with my own definition of bullshit: whenever I exert energy into efforts which are primarily meant to make others—and sometimes also myself—believe that I have something of value to contribute, or into efforts to shift attention away from my true motives, and a truthful disclosure of what I can… Continue reading Bullshit’s Shadow
Inner and Outer Goals
Some months ago I joined a mens group currently organized by Jacob Kishere. Every other Sunday morning we take part in Zoom calls with men from around the world. The following line of thought struck me as important during today’s call in two ways. First, it demonstrates why I sometimes find it difficult to follow… Continue reading Inner and Outer Goals
Free-Energy in NVC
This post is a follow-up to my previous post, “Words as Windows or Walls“. I feel intuitively drawn to more deeply explore the connection between Nonviolent Communication—NVC for the remainder of this post, which is a process I learned about, together with some of the concepts described by it—and one particular way of describing (human)… Continue reading Free-Energy in NVC
Individual vs. Collective Value
Yesterday, I was listening to a panel discussion on academic freedom. Close to an end, I noticed a conflict arising in me: many practical situations require that I seek and find value or utility in the connection to other humans—anyone who has ever networked to get anything done can attest to that. If you know… Continue reading Individual vs. Collective Value