In this essay I want to talk briefly about how most affluent people live in “gilded cages.” Just like bullshit jobs, gilded cages promise meaning and fulfillment, but more often deliver a sense of dissatisfaction and emptiness.
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There is much research out there on peer group dynamics, and I am not going to rehash it. But I’ve been thinking about this for a long time, and spend a fair amount of my mentorship time hectoring folks about avoiding peer group pressure, so here are some thoughts.
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In life — work, home, relationships of all kinds — there are people who “brung ya to the dance.” Sometimes we forget them, and this is a mistake. It is essential to remember them, both because gratitude is a noble emotion and so you also remember to pass it on.
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Seeing the space antics of Messrs Branson and Bezos — and presumably Musk to follow — got me ruminating on the consequences of these terrible acts of violence against our planet. Some thoughts.
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It is said that the pagan ethos of Beowulf is still present in modern civilization — buried under classical values, Christian theology, secular humanism, and anything else. Of course it is. And yet we have had a legitimate transition of power between opposing camps. Some thoughts.
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My own behavior has changed over the last two years in the course of Amasia’s research into sustainability and climate change. For this new year of 2021, I am sharing a more personal manifesto.
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In my Twitter header is a quote by Michel Foucault, whose influence on me which has been substantial. A friend asked me about the quote, and I haven’t written a stand-alone piece on Foucault, so here are three brief thoughts.
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Modern life doesn’t present the same opportunities for belonging that existed in generations past. It is a defining characteristic of our age. But belonging is an elemental human need, and in the modern world, we have to be very “intentional” about finding it.
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The capitalist unit isn’t the worker or the company or the currency or the entrepreneur. The unit of capitalism is the unit of ownership, which is a single share in a joint stock corporation.
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