Blog

The Morality and Behavior of Children

Some adults lack morality even after an entire lifetime. Yet, as this study shows, constructive ethical values are something that the vast majority of us are born with:

https://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/09/magazine/09babies-t.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0^

So when does one lose one’s moral compass? Perhaps, like almost any quality in life, it has to be cultivated:

https://littlebearabroad.com/raising-pippi-longstocking/^

Here are more tips about how to ensure the healthy development of a child’s behavioral dictionary:

http://www.regardingbaby.org/2012/03/20/understanding-your-toddler-why-she-does-the-things-she-does/^

And more:

https://www.janetlansbury.com/2010/03/a-baby-ready-for-kindergarten-college-and-life^

Obviously, there are many routes available when one wants to foster a child’s healthy emotional and intellectual development. All or any of these lead to a happier adulthood, to people we can rely on, to a better world of tomorrow.

But there are also routes that jeopardize a child’s development. Here’s an article about self-soothing:

https://raisedgood.com/self-soothing-biggest-con-new-parenthood^

[ax_meta lnimgurl=’http://mentatul.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/03935-MoralityAndBehaviorOfChildren-Thumb.jpg’ lnimgw=’250′ lnimgh=’250′ title=’The Morality and Behavior of Children’ desc=’Some adults lack morality even after an entire lifetime. Yet, as this study shows, constructive ethical values are something that the vast majority of us are born with.’]

November 25, 2019
Ignorance as Mental Defense
It is said that „ignorance is bliss”. It’s a well-known and controversial saying. Ignorance, by most current definitions, is a bad thing. The dictionary definition is “the condition of being uneducated, unaware, or uninformed.” But this definition covers a very wide range of conditions. Being uneducated is, admittedly, not a good thing. However, the state of being uninformed or unaware may, in some cases, be helpful towards one’s life. How so? Read on.

In one of my favorite articles, I explained how “just like the body is what it eats, the mind is what it experiences^”. Very importantly, experience is created by more than just new external events (those coming from the surrounding world). Experience is also built up by new thoughts and internal images. So, the mind is also what it thinks.

New information can seriously disturb the balance and tranquility of the internal world. It can simmer inside, creating unrest and, thus, decrease the quality of life.

A few examples

Let’s analyze some cognitive processes, with the purpose of showing how ignorance can be used as mental defense. To set the stage, consider the following two examples. To be clear, these are slightly exaggerated with the purpose of highlighting a middle way.
1. There’s always some political figure that does things that one doesn’t agree with. The more one learns about that person’s statements, the more information about their political direction (or rather misdirection) one gets. This is the opposite of ignorance. Often, new statements and information surrounding that person shows up on a daily basis. Indulging in this torrent of information reinforces the mental image of that politician in one’s mind.
2. There are still wars on Earth. Sometimes, we follow a conflict’s events on a daily basis. We live under a constant bombardment of terrible news. We are informed and aware. Again, we are not ignorant.
The rest of the article will focus on highlighting a middle way that finds itself between a state of increased awareness and a state of ignorance. Clarification: this article does not promote ignorance, but the mastery of wielding it.

Inner storm to inner peace

For about 16 years straight, I’ve been reading mass-media coverage of various geo-political events. I became over-saturated with information. This took an enormous amount of memory space. Countries and politicians became as intimate as family, sapping my emotional budget.

This January, I decided to not read my favorite news aggregator for 1 year. This doesn’t mean I went and buried my head in the sand. I continued to listen to local news, for no longer than 10 minutes per weekday (whereas before I would spend more than 60 minutes reading news, 7 days a week). Important events continued to reach me through friends and I manually searched for any other topic that interested me.

Almost 11 months later, I find myself in a state of clarity and tranquility unlike anything I’ve ever experienced in my adult life. Even better, if news about some politician I disliked reaches me, I interpret it without any negative feelings. I can even respect good things said by the worst leaders in the history of mankind, alive or dead. When I hear bad things, I take them in a much less personal way. And, of course, I realized just how horribly controlled and polarized by over-information our society is.

Over-information

The deluge of information eventually leads to reinforcing cognitive biases^. The effect is compounded by the increasing popularity of “AI” algorithms^ used by news aggregators and social networks, which specialize in feeding people exactly what they way to hear (because it makes them happy (ab)users). Why do you think flat Earth’ers have conventions^ now-a-days?

We are experiencing dangerous and ever-increasing levels of social polarization. Social groups (be it political, religious, cultural or economic) focus more and more negative energy on other social groups which they see as enemies. And each moment, the mass-media and entertainment industry is busy creating more enemies. To not generalize: there are some good publications out there, but in the age of the sensational and “AI”-curated content, quality and truth are not having an easy ride.

It has become difficult to separate the important from the meaningless, the true from the sensational, click-bait and outright lie. All this makes it very hard to take the vital decisions that a society runs on (such as voting).

Selective exposure to information

As I detailed, I expose myself selectively to information. I carefully listen to local news and receive other important news from friends. I pick my own information menu based on my current direction in life. This is not hard to do at all.

The benefits are immense: an instant increase in time and a prolonged release of mental pressure. 10 months after my self-imposed “(excess) news embargo”, I feel lighter with every passing month. It looks like a second year of fasting will follow.

Eventually, I shall desire to be more helpful towards the world through some other role that requires me to expose myself to more information again. I shall then tune in to sources that should be as diverse and contradictory as possible. Not because I hunger for gossip and bad news, but because I see the beauty of diversity and the fact that everybody’s right.

I’ve accepted the progresses we’ve made and understand that many of the crises we’re going through are part of an intelligent species’ evolution. I wish we will be able to continue on this journey. And, if a certain theory is right, the very reason why we exist is because at some point down the line, our grandchildren’s grandchildren have done something amazing. It will be well. The show will go on.

Pardon the surge of positivity, but this is precisely the result of clearing a massive amount of brain-space by cutting useless information, toxic news and toxic people.

I am still well informed about the topics I care for (trade wars, semiconductor technology, AI and the environment, to name a few). But I do this with a fraction of the time I was spending last year.

And I have the society I live in to thank for all this. In most countries, it would have been pretty damn difficult to handle selective isolation with such surgical precision (I live in Sweden).

Selective memory

I’m going to give a third example.
1. I recently saw a (horror) movie trailer that seriously disturbed me. It went straight for some inner sanctuaries, risking to dirty them. Not only was I careful to reinforce the areas it attacked, I also decided to avoid that movie and am currently in the process of deleting this event from memory, save for a BOLD RED WARNING to not see anything related to that movie ever again.
My inner world is quite solid, but some of the offensive methods used against the intellect are incredibly well crafted. I’m actually thankful for having seen that movie trailer. It presented a new sort of attack. It made me stronger and showed me how dangerous some of the “entertainment” out there can be.

So did I just say that I am deleting, at will, something from my memory? Yes, it’s somewhat possible^. It’s not easy and sometimes “complete” deletion is difficult to achieve. For example, writing this article has re-invigorated my memory about that trailer. But it was definitely an already wrinkled memory. After just 6 months I felt it like 6 years ago. Well, now it’s stronger again but hey, I did it for science!

Try this exercise: never, ever, from now on, think about a pink elephant. You will soon get the hang of it. Memories are deleted by forgetting them. Forgetting means not thinking about a certain thing for a long period of time. And it can be done. After all, the brain does this automatically when it blocks memories.

Not-thinking about something is a skill that involves focusing on everything else in one’s life except that thing one wants to forget. And, like any skill, the more often one uses this process, the better one becomes at it. Sure, stray thoughts will come haunting for a while, but the will of silence is strong.

Brain pilots

A calm and happy existence doesn’t mean controlling life or the environment. It’s mastering how one deals with that environment and the challenges it brings. Are we to be piloted by our brains, or are we to be brain pilots?

Our mind is only partially known to us. It’s full of hidden universes and unexpected surprises. Mysterious processes are often at play. Time spent understanding all this is the best investment one can make.

I use ignorance to free up space and protect my core. I use ignorance to delete useless references and, with the space so created, fill my brain with diverse knowledge from the weirdest of sources. I use ignorance to destroy rules and patterns that harm me. Ignorance is my mental defense. My delete button. My “please move away from here” spaceship.

[ax_meta fbimgurl=’http://mentatul.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/03919-IgnoranceMentalDefense-Share.jpg’ lnimgurl=’http://mentatul.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/03919-IgnoranceMentalDefense-Thumb.jpg’ fbimgw=’1170′ fbimgh=’350′ lnimgw=’250′ lnimgh=’250′ title=’Ignorance as Mental Defense’ desc=’It is said that „ignorance is bliss”. It’s a well-known and controversial saying. Ignorance, by most current definitions, is a bad thing.’]
November 15, 2019
Troubles with Antibiotics

The antibiotics industry is going through rough times. Big Pharma is heavily polluting Asia, where India and China are the main producers of the world’s most commonly used drugs:

https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2018-01-24/big-pharma-fails-to-disclose-waste-leaked-from-factories^

But it’s even worse when companies give up researching new antibiotics because these sort of medicine doesn’t give enough profit:

https://cen.acs.org/business/finance/Antibiotic-developer-Achaogen-files-bankruptcy/97/i16^

This is understandable given the way our economy works^. The sad effect is that it just doesn’t pay off to tackle new species of antibiotic-resistant bacteria (after the same antibiotic industry caused their emergence, in the never-ending battle with evolution – a battle that cannot be won at our current technological level):

https://www.dw.com/en/big-pharma-nixes-new-drugs-despite-impending-antibiotic-apocalypse/a-50432213^

[ax_meta lnimgurl=’http://mentatul.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/03912-BigPharmaAntibiotics-Thumb.jpg’ lnimgw=’250′ lnimgh=’250′ title=’Troubles with Antibiotics’ desc=’The antibiotics industry is going through rough times.’]

October 25, 2019
Social Activism and Treading Carefully

Somebody in a position of power once told a newcomer: “You have a choice. You can be an insider or an outsider. If you are an outsider you’ll retain your right to say anything you want, whatever you believe in but know that you’re going to be persecuted, you’re going to be vilified and you’ll be jettisoned. On the other hand, you can choose to be an insider, to play the game… If you chose to be an insider you’ll be given information that outsiders don’t have, you’ll be given… an opportunity… to make some… small tiny changes within the inside, but the one rule that you must respect, is that insiders do not tell outsiders the truth, and they do not turn against other insiders.”

Well said. Except for the fact that it’s not all black and white. There is no absolute boundary between insider and outsider. Boundaries fluctuate with every situation and for every piece of information. This is very important, because it’s what successful activism is all about.

Activism is defined as: “efforts to promote, impede, direct, or intervene in social, political, economic, or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society.”

There are many ways through which activists can voice their message and act on it. Just like an activist’s relationship with a system is complex, so is the activist’s spectrum of action.

Throughout history stretches a long list with names of activists that were persecuted, tortured and even killed. Sometimes, their suffering or death only accelerated the changes they fought for.

But there’s an even longer (and mostly unknown) list with the names of hidden activists. Those that have treaded carefully and taken fewer risks in order to ensure their safety and thus, the longevity of their work. These are the little-known heroes that operated patiently, within the confines of a system (and often working around the system), changing it from the inside, slowly but surely (and often collaborating with the “outsiders” more than we will know in this lifetime).

The overall effect

What determines the success of a message? The shock and confrontation approach, or a slow and careful process of sculpting society? A sprint prodding others to act, or a marathon of implementation? The answer is: any mix of the above. That’s where an activist’s strategy comes into play. And let’s not forget that chance also plays a role.

Activism requires a great understanding of society. Careful messaging (writing and presenting) is a must. However, the success of an activist is not determined only by skillful messaging, but also by the careful orchestration of one’s social interactions.

The first thing on an activist’s mind should be how to ensure the most positive outcome with the least amount of risk and effort. In thinking about this, it is useful to consider the three pillars of activism: the relation with the insiders, the intensity of one’s message and the scale of one’s actions.

The activist’s relation with the in-group

Whatever an activist militates for, there is a social group that does things (very) differently. Within this group, there are counter-activists and leaders.

The quote we started with is a very simplified view on the extremely complex interactions that occur between social groups. Can an activist even consider ejecting oneself as far from the insiders as possible? This all but removes the possibility of using diplomacy – the exquisite art of negotiation and trading with knowledge.

There’s a saying: “keep your friends close and your enemies closer”. How else can an activist truly understand the opposite camp? The word “enemies” is a bit too strong: a wise activist understands that there is no enemy, just different points of view. This understanding will lead to a healthy relationship with “the insiders”. This is more than a necessity; it is a prime ingredient of success.

The intensity of the message

“Change your beliefs, or die!”

Could, by any chance, such a threat cause people to assume a defensive intellectual stance? Could any message accompanying such a statement be discarded? Of course yes and of course it will.

The exaggeration above serves to illustrate the point that when crafting any message, a deep understanding of its target audience is paramount. Even if that audience is the activist’s own group, messages that are too radical are likely to alienate the opposition and do more harm than good. The opposition is likely to push back with comparable force.

On the other hand, weak messages won’t achieve anything. Crafting and presenting a balanced message is at the very heart of meaningful activism.

The scale of the actions

Even though messaging and diplomacy are actions themselves, this third pillar of activism is about those concrete actions that contribute to the intensity of the message and complement diplomatic efforts.

The scale of an action is the number of people becoming aware of it. This is not necessarily related to the number of people whose opinion is influenced by the action. Some may be indifferent, while some may see the action as a threat and steer away from the direction desired by the activist.

Never start big: at a small scale even wrong actions may be beneficial, as they may lead to valuable lessons. However, even a good action at the wrong scale will have undesired effects, damaging a social activism campaign. More than anything, actions make or break activists.

The predictable activist

Whatever would one’s stance be in regards to each of the three pillars of activism, this better not change often. Vocal activists should stay vocal, patient diplomats should continue working diligently. A chaotic way of working will erode trust, which is arguably the most valuable currency an activist possesses.

Activism is a profession like any other. And like any professional, the activist should deliver with constancy and predictability. Unpredictable activists make larger waves, but do so by taking risks that can jeopardize themselves and their campaigns.

Treading carefully

There’s a hidden activist in all of us. I wish for everybody to listen to that inner voice and find where we can make even the smallest difference. The world needs it now more than ever. We live in a period where the actions of the many are necessary to revert the mistakes of the few.

But tread carefully. Let us not repeat the mistakes of the past. We seek evolution, not revolution^. The activists we need aren’t those that reject dialogue, but those that understand that opposites attract. Be and let be^.

Disclaimer: despite what I’ve been writing on this website, I do not consider myself an activist. The closest “role” I can describe myself as is historian.

[ax_meta fbimgurl=’http://mentatul.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/03862-SocialActivismTreadingCarefully-Share.jpg’ lnimgurl=’http://mentatul.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/03862-SocialActivismTreadingCarefully-Thumb.jpg’ fbimgw=’1170′ fbimgh=’350′ lnimgw=’250′ lnimgh=’250′ title=’Social Activism and Treading Carefully’ desc=’Hidden activists are the little-known heroes that operated patiently, within the confines of a system (and often working around the system), changing it from the inside.’]

September 15, 2019
Privacy Desensitization Through Nuisance

While surfing the web, did you perhaps, just by chance, come across popup messages and notifications? Doesn’t it seem like there’s more of those with every passing year? Have you been assaulted by updated “terms and conditions” statements from the plethora of services you use?

Notifications about cookies abound. The GDPR “spam” is wreaking havoc. At least in the EU, surfing is becoming increasingly annoying. The first access on almost any given site leads to at least two popups, and perhaps a third one about allowing the site to give notifications, or a fourth about social media interactions, or a fifth about sharing location… the list goes on and on.

Wait, wasn’t all this meant to protect our privacy? I don’t think so anymore. Privacy could have been protected without a gazillion notifications. The respect for privacy should have been implied, not asked for. Looking at how the attack of legal notices is orchestrated on almost every website we visit, it’s obvious that the objective is to abuse the user, overwhelm the brain and basically just herd everybody into a “click-ok-to-give-up-your-rights” mentality.

The EULA (End User License Agreement) is the oldest form of legalese attack. In recent times, companies were forced to simplify it, but the old reflexes of “accept whatever” are still there:

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/mar/03/terms-of-service-online-contracts-fine-print^

But then came social networks and cookie spying, which caused a deluge of notifications popping up everywhere, up to the point where governmental bodies (ahem, the same ones that asked for this) are trying to find way to de-clog the browsing experience:

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-38583001^

Meanwhile, other methods^ to suppress the cookie monster’s yells have showed up.

But just when we sort of adapted to the cookies thing… came the GDPR (in the EU):

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/askjack/2018/jul/05/what-should-i-do-about-all-the-gdpr-pop-ups-on-websites^

https://www.wired.co.uk/article/gdpr-cookies-eprivacy-regulation-popups^

And we can’t forget the war on Ad Blockers:

https://www.wired.com/story/google-chrome-ad-blocker-change-web/^

Nor can we forget “social networking beggars” (those websites that ask us to follow, subscribe, allow notifications or whatever else they can do to be a part of our lives):

https://thinksem.com/blog/floating-social-media-share-bar-good-or-bad/^

Last but not least, how about the mobile versions of websites forcing users to use their native apps? Yes, this has extremely much to do with privacy, as this answer points out: “An app has more potential access to your phone and hardware than a website. Access to your contacts, alarms, camera, and maybe most importantly for social media platforms, notifications. Notifications to have you coming back for more and more.”

https://www.quora.com/Why-do-websites-like-Quora-force-users-to-install-their-apps-We-are-told-to-Unlock-the-full-Quora-experience-and-cannot-use-mobile-browsers-even-on-non-mobile-devices-that-use-mobile-browsers^

Of course, the corporate overlords are very giddy about this:

https://venturebeat.com/2016/04/06/why-pinterest-forces-you-off-its-mobile-site-and-into-its-app/^

Use Our App

[ax_meta lnimgurl=’http://mentatul.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/03839-PrivacyDesensitization-Thumb.jpg’ lnimgw=’250′ lnimgh=’250′ title=’Privacy Desensitization Through Nuisance’ desc=’While surfing the web, did you perhaps, just by chance, come across popup messages and notifications? Doesn't it seem like there's more of those with every passing year?’]

August 25, 2019
The Corporation as a Lifeform

It is agreed^ that life on Earth started with single cells, around 4 billion years ago. After a very, very long time, roughly 2 billion later, multicellular life appeared. This followed a catastrophic event called the Great Oxidation Event^ (GOE). But what was catastrophic for others was a gift for us. Without the oxygen created during the GOE, we wouldn’t have been here. Multicellular life brought a plethora of evolutionary advantages and soon enough, dominant lifeforms were born. Living longer, stronger and, most importantly, smarter.

So what does this have to do with corporations, capitalism and the stock market? As I’ll show, quite a lot. The current market ecosystem^ is a place where companies undergo natural selection. But unlike the past 4 billion years, the evolution of our economic organisms is supercharged, almost out of control – this, unfortunately, sometimes comes with a steep cost for our environment^ and current social structures.

But what if a new breed of corporation triggers a financial chain reaction (like the GOE), wiping out most of its competition? Already, a new generation of companies is starting to take shape. And, as new ways to apply technology are found, the chance of a new business model emerging is much greater. Capitalism is bound to evolve^.

Take a look from (very) high above

Let’s zoom out at the level where we, individual humans, can be seen as cells, while our various social structures can be seen as multicellular organisms. From this high up, the corporation is a multicellular organism comprised of humans. A nation-state or ethnic group can also be seen in the same way, but as I will show, the corporation has many more behaviors similar to lifeforms than other social structures do.

First of all, companies evolve at a much faster pace than any other previous social structure. Similar to most complex organisms, in a company we can find groups of cells with different roles. In this case, the cells are humans with different education and skills – including the skill of using advanced tools, which are themselves evolving rapidly. The evolution of our tools is very important, because this is precisely what supercharges the current evolutionary cycle. Not only do we evolve, but so does all our technological ecosystem.

This new form of life has appeared for the same reasons why multicellular organisms thrive. The same natural laws of evolution apply: there are many advantages just waiting to be applied due to the synergies between different types of cellular organization. Think of departments in a company as specialized tissues in a body. Think of different technologies as new means of acting on information and generating survival-value for the company.

Corporations are good at inventing new tools. They do so for the same “survival of the fittest” reason as any other lifeform. The only problem is that we humans are evolving slower than our tools^. As our technology skyrockets, so does the risk of catastrophic events, accidental or otherwise.

Capitalism and the stock market

Capitalism is fueled by an extremely strong impetus to produce more. This primal urge is one of the chief motivators for researching new technologies. The problem with this all-consuming focus is that anything that does not create profit (immediate or forecasted) is disregarded.

The superpower of capitalism seems to be the creation of new meta-lifeforms: economic entities that absorb human capital and create other forms of capital, usually in the form of material goods and technological advances. These technological advances allow capitalism to perfect the entities it creates.

As an evolutionary driver, capitalism is pretty damn good. The problem is that this early 21^st century capitalism is obsessed with numbers in fake currencies. The fact is that capital takes many other forms: brain capital, ideological capital, ideation capital and even emotional capital.

There aren’t many corporations that invest in philosophy or the arts. Sure, if the investment can serve towards some economic purpose (for example a PR stunt), then perhaps a company may invest in some artistic or charitable event. The problem with this approach is a short-sightedness regarding what is profitable and what is not. Actually, philosophy and art are extremely profitable because society (which is where the workforce is coming from) is built on ideas and inspiration, not on material goods.

Unfortunately, for the time being, our companies are locked within the context of a money-centric stock market. This makes sure that the corporation is a master of financial efficiency. That’s all fine up to a certain point. When things go awry is when our companies fail in their social responsibility and ethical code. In the rabid chase for profits, this has started to happen increasingly often.

Corporations crush each other without almost any regard for the people involved in the conflict. It’s pretty much like war, except people don’t get killed, they get laid-off. True, that’s a great improvement from our times as barbarians (which haven’t yet passed, just watch the news).

But society is starting to catch on. The people are starting to rebel against corporate irresponsibility. In the near future, expect alternative stock markets to appear. Markets that value a company’s long-term sustainability (ethics, social & environmental responsibility, impetus on R&D). As I will show, such developments are not only necessary, but almost unavoidable.

As technology advances, money will begin to lose relevance (basic income^ will happen sooner or later). Therefore, the corporations that invent new weapons to compete with are those that will survive the next evolutionary leap. Technology will also become too powerful to handle by such crude mechanisms such as the stock market. After all, the stock market is already falling prey to the technology of its own inhabitants^.

The unstoppable march of progress

Every major civilization had at least one mammoth, culture-defining project. For example, the Romans are known for their works of infrastructure and Egyptians are often associated with the monolithic remnants of their pharaohs: pyramids and other massive structures into which their empire has poured enormous amounts of resources (rushing its own demise).

Currently, the most coveted technology seems to be artificial “intelligence”. I used quotes because A“I”, as is currently developed, is not really intelligent^. Humans fear true AI because they believe a sentient “computer” might endanger our species. But we’re very far from creating a sentient being; this is a feat that will require more than just quantum computing. Instead, wherever we read “AI” what they really mean is human-developed algorithms that have certain learning aptitudes (which is why a more correct term is ML – Machine Learning).

But our greatest fear shouldn’t be true AI (sentient AI) but rather this ongoing development of human-defined ML. This is because rather than it being sentient, it is a slave to sentient humans. And because most humans are still very selfish beings^, putting advanced ML systems in the wrong hands might seriously jeopardize society^ (rogue killer drones and automated armies, automatic hackers, stock market viruses, large-scale social engineering).

Corporations are already becoming increasingly complex and will be at least partially ruled by artificial intelligence algorithms (it’s already happening^). The corporation of the future is a master of synergy between humans, computer algorithms and other assets. This sort of company will have a human/machine leadership where machines can work with nanosecond decisions and humans can assist with high-level strategic thinking and ideation.

All of a sudden, we’re heading towards a future that will see thousands of different economic lifeforms, communicating with each other, engaged in perpetual ideation and competition on many more fronts than just money. Could it be that the next stage of life on this planet are corporations? And then, what happens to us?

Ethical capitalism

Just like the cells in our own bodies thrive if we’re healthy, so will we if this higher form of life we find ourselves building is well-behaved^. Quite simply, our future depends on how comfortable and sustainable our corporations will be. And that is why ethics and empathy are important^.

Regardless if corporations will ever be classifiable as life (after all, they eat each other and can spawn all sorts of weird babies), what is certain is that the business sector is far nimbler than government. It is therefore not surprising that governments around the world are becoming the puppets of business interests. Of course, one can argue that it was always so. Perhaps, but now-a-days, the possibilities of buying politicians have increased, because the wealth amassed by various corporations has also increased.

Government has lost its way^ for a good reason: society’s way of ruling itself is not only inefficient and archaic, but it also has very little defense for corruption and other chronic illnesses. A broken democracy^ is like a sick organism: it’s very easy to conquer by infection and disease. As I pointed out in the past, I believe that the only hope for government is a serious make-over, alongside the lines of a Government 2.0^, which is in fact inspired from the way of doing things in the private sector.

Judging by the political circus we’ve all witnessed in the past few years (even decades, centuries), I’m not betting on government ever recovering from this downward spiral. Ironically, this social activist is beginning to think that an evolution of the private sector to higher ethical standards is perhaps the best chance for peace and prosperity.

This evolutionary leap is not only possible, but outright necessary, as many companies have started to discover that an increasingly higher percentage of employees lack motivation. Because the percentage of creative jobs on the market is rising (and will continue to rise) and because lack of motivation kills creativity, the only option for the company of the future is to change in such a way that its constituents are happy and feel a connection with the entity they’re part of.

After all, what’s not to love about a meritocracy based on economic performance and everything this means (intellectual progress of all kinds with happiness as a chief motivator). Combining the efficiency of capitalism with a code of conduct based on empathy may yield a species of corporation that many of us may actually feel happy to be a part of.

[ax_meta fbimgurl=’http://mentatul.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/03759-CorporationAsLifeform-Share.png’ lnimgurl=’http://mentatul.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/03759-CorporationAsLifeform-Thumb.jpg fbimgw=’1170′ fbimgh=’350′ lnimgw=’250′ lnimgh=’250′ title=’The Corporation As A Lifeform’ desc=’Zoom out. Individual humans, can be seen as cells, and corporations as multicellular organisms. The current market ecosystem is a place where companies undergo natural selection in an ever-quickening race for survival.’]

July 2, 2019
Justice vs Revenge, Consequence vs Punishment

In my life as a human, husband and father, I was often confronted with the four words above. So I decided to highlight them all at once and see what shows up.

Let’s start with the differences. “Revenge is, by nature, personal; justice is impersonal, impartial, and both a social and legal phenomenon” and “Revenge is predominantly emotional; justice primarily rational”:

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/evolution-the-self/201402/don-t-confuse-revenge-justice-five-key-differences^

The difference between consequences and punishment is extremely important when it comes to child education:

https://www.empoweringparents.com/article/punishments-vs-consequences-which-are-you-using/^

“Whether they are natural or logical, consequences help us all to learn and grow. When kids experience the results of their actions, they learn to make better choices and improve their behaviors. In short, consequences = learning.

Importantly, a consequence respects the child’s right to make a decision, even if it’s not a good one. It’s not a withdrawal of love or a rejection. It’s a matter-of-fact learning experience in which you maintain a better relationship with your child as you hold him accountable.”

https://www.janetlansbury.com/2013/07/truths-about-consequences/^

“The essential difference between consequences and punishments is our sincere and honest sharing. We can’t be gentle parents without taking care of our personal boundaries… and the consequences of that kind of modeling are all good.”

Makes sense, right? But guess how many parents actually live that. Not many, unfortunately. Even being aware of such information, I still make mistakes! So then is it surprising that after being educated with punishment, most adults repeat the same flawed pattern? Sometime soon, this circle must be broken.

If children currently have little opportunity for a consequence-based education, perhaps there is a way to change ourselves as adults. Could forgiveness and progressive justice^ be the way? Unfortunately, society is still fixated with “putting the problem away”:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punishment^

“Punishment is the imposition of an undesirable or unpleasant outcome upon a group or individual, meted out by an authority—in contexts ranging from child discipline to criminal law—as a response and deterrent to a particular action or behavior that is deemed undesirable or unacceptable. The reasoning may be to condition a child to avoid self-endangerment, to impose social conformity”, etc.

When it comes to prison, nowhere in the world is its dismal lefficiency^ highlighted better than in that country with the highest per-capita imprisoned population in the world. It’s a country that I think can’t dare to call itself “land of the free” anymore: the USA^. Of course, prison is a bad solution no matter where on Earth, except perhaps some experimental prisons. What I advocate is Prison 2.0^ (or more precisely “Justice 2.0”).

But back to punishment. It gets worse:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retributive_justice^

“Retributive justice is a theory of punishment that when an offender breaks the law, justice requires that he or she suffer in return.”

This is basically “eye for an eye”. And as an artist^ once said: “an eye for an eye makes the world go blind.”

Personally, I believe that the vast majority of criminals, especially non-violent ones, are a product of society. Confronting our evolutionary weaknesses^, social contribution inequality^ and education^ will have as a consequences the closure of anywhere between 70% to 99% of all forced confinement institutions.

[ax_meta lnimgurl=’http://mentatul.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/03773-JusticeRevengeConsequencesPunishment-Thumb.jpg’ lnimgw=’250′ lnimgh=’250′ title=’Justice vs Revenge, Consequence vs Punishment’ desc=’Revenge is, by nature, personal; justice is impersonal, impartial, and both a social and legal phenomenon. The difference between consequences and punishment is extremely important when it comes to child education.’]

June 25, 2019
About Expectations

Happiness = Reality – Expectations

I came across this “formula” after a rather difficult day in my life at the end of which I found my expectations put through a blender and then thrown down the toilet. This isn’t the first time this happened. Being an optimist makes the clash with my own expectations even worse.

I decided to look more deeply into this topic and came across the above formula, which for a while seemed to make sense. Luckily, I wrote this article and I realized that of course things aren’t as clear cut. It’s good that “expectations” seems to be a subject everybody + their dog love to debate. That made it very easy for me to find some useful information about the topic.

First, let’s see what the “having no expectations is good” camp has to say:

https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/fixing-families/201312/5-benefits-having-no-expectations^

The article above comes from an author of some 11 books and hundreds of articles. He’s making good points. But what I notice is that he handles only the negative part of having expectations, which is fine. But I find it very important to realize that “expectations” isn’t just a noun: it’s a complex and multi-faceted behavior.

https://tinybuddha.com/blog/how-expectations-undermine-our-relationships-and-happiness/^

What does having “no expectations” mean anyway? And if such a thing is so simple, why doesn’t everybody just do it? As it turns out, there’s a problem with the “Happiness = Reality – Expectations” formula.

As this (rather poorly typed but still valuable) article^ points out: “you’ll work your ass off to lower your expectations to lonely monk limits. Then, when expectations will be close to zero, you’ll get to: Happiness = Reality — 0. Which really means Happiness = Reality. Are you kidding me?”

This nicely leads us to what the “expectations are good” camp has to say:

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/expectations-why-you-should-have-them_n_8999466^

So yes, expectations can be good. As the article above correctly points out: “if I operate by the theory of most and don’t expect anything from people, then where’s my inspiration to strive for more? If I’m not to expect certain behaviors from people in my life, what motivates me or them to develop into being the best version of ourselves?”

https://www.noomii.com/articles/5552-happiness-reality-expectations^

And now here’s an article about expectations and relationships. It drives some solid points especially when it comes to not accepting being treated poorly.

https://www.gottman.com/blog/truth-expectations-relationships/^

So who’s right? Everybody! These are all good, valuable points.

So what to do? Expectations management. That’s how we, as individuals, can decide how expectations can either empower us or drag us down. So, here’s a new formula:

Happiness = Reality + Expectation Management

“Having expectations is strangling yourself with the future, hooked to a ceiling that can sometimes be as far away from you as never.”

[ax_meta lnimgurl=’http://mentatul.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/03695-AboutExpectations-Thumb.jpg’ lnimgw=’250′ lnimgh=’250′ title=’About Expectations’ desc=’Expectations management. That's how we, as individuals, can decide how expectations can either empower us or drag us down.’]

May 25, 2019
How to Destroy Democracy – A Practical Guide
Disclaimer: 1. I love (true) democracy, 2. Even with its flaws, I do think that the current system is WAY better than absolutism, 3. I wrote this article in a period of my life where I was quite upset with the socio-geo-political situation in the world. Even so, I’m no revolutionary. I’m an evolutionary :). That being said…

How to destroy democracy in 7 simple steps
1. Employ representative democracy^. “Nearly all modern Western-style democracies are types of representative democracies”. This removes democracy from the people and hands it to far-from-reach representatives (politicians). These can be bought, manipulated and when they become useless or exposed, can be thrown away. The masses can be angry at a face, but the machinery controlling that face remains hidden.
2. Own the democratic menu. Fewer parties at the election mean less options for the voter. The ideal situation is, of course, having just two parties. This creates the illusion of choice while, in fact, the menu has been completely sterilized. Imagine going to a restaurant and being able to choose between just two dishes. And they both contain ingredients you can’t tolerate.
3. Control education. Stuff kids’ minds with facts and figures, invest as much time as possible in developing memory and practical skills. This creates good workers. Reduce time invested in developing emotional intelligence, empathy, self-worth and respect. This ensures that there’s enough people with psychological problems later on, enough that end up being criminals and even more that are easy to control. Focus on creating consumers of cheap entertainment and useless products; people who invest most of their time staring at screens, thus increasing the time that they can be programmed through media. Which brings us to…
4. Control the media. Newspapers, radio & TV stations, internet publications should be bundled into large conglomerates owned by media moguls who can easily censor any attempt at exposing the decay of democracy. Downplay the advantages of other systems of government. Demonize the other, whatever the other may be. Create enemies out of thin air, distribute fear, desensitize to violence^.
5. Suppress dialogue. First, isolate people in online bubbles. Then, gather bubbles in neat little herds that can be targeted with just the right kind of information to gently steer their opinion. Under no circumstances should opinions flow freely from one herd to another: this might lead to civilized dialogue which, every democracy destroyer knows, is the number one enemy of ignorance and manipulation.
6. By controlling education & the media, representative democracy should be presented just as “democracy”: this is the real democracy, there is no other. The population must be educated to be proud to live in such a system and under no circumstances should direct democracy^ or any other systems be mentioned in a positive way.
7. Continuously spray each crop of politicians and research new spraying methods and compounds. By this, of course, I mean indoctrination. Keep the indoctrination program in good shape. Grow politicians that are easy to corrupt. Well-sprayed politicians are cheap to own and can do miracles for the banks and corporations controlling them.
Spray Your Crops

Democracy in 2019

Oh, democracy, how proud some countries are to have you. But oh, democracy, are you really there? The vast majority of “democratic” countries in the world employ a twisted version of the original concept called “representative democracy^”. That is to say, instead of direct democracy^ – where all citizens can directly express their opinion about each and every single thing happening in their society) – the country is run by a select group of “experts” (politicians) who are supposedly more qualified to decide regarding what’s best for their constituents.

Now-a-days, few people seem to realize that specialized ministries (education, agriculture, development) are in fact drowned by graduates of political schools and other bureaucrats that have almost no clue about the ministry they’re supposed to lead. These people are quickly transformed into puppets of corporations that gladly offer their “advice” regarding how things should be run.

Indeed, since time immemorial, our democratic representatives, like all selfish humans^, have their own interests. In 2019 it’s hard to find politicians who are not in somebody’s pocket. That is not to say that some of those pockets (lobbyists) aren’t well-intended and actually wish to help our civilization overcome this dark age of violence and mistrust. Unfortunately, the same rules apply to everybody: representative democracy opens the door not only to the “good guys” but also to greedy, power-hungry sociopaths.

Even worse is the fact that the glorified democratic pride-fest called “the elections” is, in the vast majority of cases, a battle between a small number of parties which results in very few options for the voter. The democratic menu is controlled by the establishment. It is censored and carefully orchestrated by the mainstream media which is, in turn, owned by people with business interests. These individuals support those parties whose measures would favor their bottom line – and guess who ends up working more and getting fewer benefits.

The main problem with parties is that they force a country to be run by rigid dogmas that conform to the party’s creed. It’s not all that different from other outdated political practices such as running a country according to the views of a monarch or bishop.

Most people like and dislike a number of proposals from almost every party they can vote for. Almost every party has proposals their own voters dislike. Similarly, a party has proposals that voters of other parties do like, but they won’t vote for that party because there are not enough policies they like, or because there’s one single policy they strongly disagree with. So, for that single “flaw” a party has, all its other valuable proposals are lost.

To make matters even worse, parties often organize into coalitions, making it easy to break election promises because “hey, the other members of the coalition didn’t agree to what we originally promised.” Representative democracy has become a way to muddle the democratic landscape in order to escape accountability. Mainstream media gives us televised debates between party leaders, a sort of boxing match made to distract and hide the dirty party machinery.

Compare this to direct democracy^ where not only parties but also citizens can put proposals forward and subject them to a vote. This form of government is used in some cantons in Switzerland and other isolated social pockets around the world. See the linked Wikipedia entry for more details.

This isn’t democracy. This is a theater play where most of the population is hypnotized and made to believe that they have a choice. The only real choice is what sort of country to be a slave in: authoritarian or “democratic”.

Blowing up

Back in 2015 I wrote that “social unrest^ around the world is rising to dangerous heights^, creeping its way from one country to the next^. Civilization is literally boiling: pockets of revolt show up and then miserably subdue – as a result of careful manipulation, merciless intervention or lack of immediate success.”

Now, four years later, things have gotten much, much worse, with the volcanic rise to power of far-right candidates and authoritarian leaders across the world. I consider that the success of the far-right is, really, the success of the machinery controlling our fake democracy. The apparatus has succeeded in creating a political current that absorbs frustration and hatred and promises various kinds of radical changes for enough desperate people to believe in. Instead of fixing our civilization, we risk sinking into a dark, dark age.

The far-right isn’t even the problem. In a legitimate democracy, they have their place and right to be there. They even bring some valid points, such as a strong cultural immune response against the destruction of local cultures. But it’s all wrapped in hate, and as the saying goes, you reap what you sow.

Protests are bound to become more explosive. First reason: political polarization. The success of the far-right will amplify the revolt of those who fought for decades to build a better world. Second reason: the Internet. The free flow of information is now augmented by various technologies that can connect people even when extreme censorship is applied.

Several governments have abused their powers in various ways while trying to compromise or squarely shut down our means of unhindered communication. Countries such as China^, Iran^, Turkey^, Egypt^, Syria^ and Russia^ but also such bastions of “democracy” like the United Kingdom^ or United States^ have all prepared censorship mechanisms. I expect that list to grow exponentially in the coming years as more and more governments and their power-hungry manipulators become aware of the explosive power that the Internet can give to any enlightening political movement.

Frankly, the Internet has seen much better times. There is a noticeable decay in the free flow of information even when compared to last year. People have been caught in the net of giant corporations that specialize in isolating them in neat little bubbles from where they can’t discuss with people of other ideologies.

Dialogue, civilized and uncivilized is essential for democracy. Dialogue is suppressed by first removing the need for people to communicate face-to-face (thanks to the oh-so-convenient device screen). Then comes the decisive blow of keeping voters in nice little flocks that are easy to control. Tell each flock what they want to hear. Some flocks may not be within reach, and some may be too smart to control. But remember, it’s enough to control the majority.

Money

Unfortunately, in the age of corporationism, politicians and business interests go hand in hand. It’s almost impossible for a politician to succeed without the financial clout of some lobbyist (the best example of this “pact with the devil” can be seen at work in the United States’ PAC system^). But really, almost all democracies are infested with various strains of the lobbying virus.

Most people are either unaware or they don’t dare to think that this broken system can be repaired. Even so, most voters have begun to associate wealth and excess with the ruling class (an association that is often encouraged by reported facts – for example how could one of Ukraine’s former presidents afford this?^).

Despite massive advances in technology, a family can hardly afford to own a house in a situation where a single adult is working, as was the case not long ago. Two adults working full time can barely pay off a mortgage in 30 years. This forces families to commit their children at an early age to the industrialized education system where they can be indoctrinated at a stage where their minds lack vital intellectual and cultural defenses.

But all is not lost. We are going through a period when we, “the represented”, are reminded of the power we inherently wield. Our leaders would not be in their seats without somebody to represent. And while in decades past we have often ignored their abuse of power, even when we saw it happening right under our noses, now, disturbing statistics^ about income inequality spread like wildfire and bury themselves deep within the collective subconscious. The result is not pleasant and it’s probably going to get worse^ before it gets better.

Even in the most liberal countries, there are very few ways through which we can vent the frustration on our leaders. Most people with a bit of political acumen have by now understood that the voting process has become almost completely irrelevant: in most countries (yes, even in the holier-than-thou Western democracies) political parties are nothing more than pawns in the hands of business interests. The democratic exercise has become a mockery of its base principles; therefore, the voting booth is no longer a valuable tool. Whatever independent media still exists (not much), has little power.

We’re left with the third option: going out in the streets where, lately, more often than not, the protest becomes destructive. Considering all this, it’s not surprising that the younger generations have lost interest in the current organization of society.

It is also the reason why extremist parties gain in polls. It’s not because they’re any good, it’s because they specialize in selling escape, and many are just desperate enough to buy it.

Great efforts will be needed to restore democracy and our faith in it. Most probably, what we need is, simply put, in software terms: Government 2.0, a topic I wrote about recently^. Indeed, we now have the technology to make direct democracy a viable system of government.

This piece was originally titled “Democracy Dies in Darkness” and it’s inspired by the Washington Post’s tagline, which caused quite a stir^ when it was adopted back in 2017.

[ax_meta fbimgurl=’http://mentatul.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/03439-HowToDestroyDemocracy-Share.jpg’ lnimgurl=’http://mentatul.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/03439-HowToDestroyDemocracy-Thumb.jpg’ fbimgw=’1170′ fbimgh=’350′ lnimgw=’250′ lnimgh=’250′ title=’How to Destroy Democracy – A Practical Guide’ desc=’Oh, democracy, how proud some countries are to have you. But oh, democracy, are you really there?’]
May 15, 2019
“Helping” Developing Countries – The Mastery of Abuse

The way superpowers and developed countries have spent money in order to „help” developing countries is often highly questionable. The „help” ranges from plaine naive to ruthless neo-colonialism.

What adds insult to injury is that more often than not, the problem was caused by those „helpful” nation-states in the first place. This is a very complex topic that, for now, I will not debate. I’ll just give you the information along with a few short comments.

Before that, however, I’d like to mention that this is not meant to disregard the many efforts that did work well for developing countries, particularly in the field of agriculture, human rights and social development.

Arbitrary Border Creation, or How to Plant the Seeds of Destruction

Take a close look at the shape of borders of countries such as Iraq^, Syria^, Libya^ and Egypt^ to name a few. There are quite a few straight lines. Why? It’s so easy for leaders to draw straight lines to partition territory they’re bickering about. But when they draw a straight line between communities that share the same religion or put vastly different cultures in the same bucket, bloodshed should not come as a surprise.

Then again, those that planted the seeds of destruction probably knew what they were doing. A couple of dictators later though, millions of people worth unimaginable potential have been lost (and billions of dollars in profits from the sale of weapons have been gained).

China’s Belt and Road Initiative

A wonderful example of neo-colonialism^ is China’s BRI:

https://edition.cnn.com/2018/12/31/asia/china-kenya-belt-road-bri-intl/index.html^

The Great Western Empire (my own name for it) is of course always quick to attack China’s expansionist plans. Perhaps it’s just jealous that China is trying to beat it at its own game.

The $100 Laptop That Wanted to Change the World (and Miserably Failed)

Once upon a time, an idealist computer scientist^ hoped that giving poor children laptops would improve their chances of success in a world where technology plays an ever-increasing role. We will never know if he was right, because the project failed (not with a bang, but with a whimper):

https://www.theverge.com/2018/4/16/17233946/olpcs-100-laptop-education-where-is-it-now^

To be honest, I disagree that throwing plastic and silicon at developing countries would be more helpful than investing in better training for teachers and a large number of social advisors to begin tackling major social issues such as corruption and toxic social stratification (I’m all for diversity, but not at the expense of the value of life).

The Weapon Trade

Recently, I became aware of a company that sells watches made out of metal extracted from confiscated weapons. Their marketing says that buying such a watch “supports peace”. One of their commercials shows Kalashnikovs being destroyed, because of course that’s the only weapon in the world:

https://www.triwa.com/se/page/triwa-x-humanium-metal-pre-order

Pardon me for going: “yeah, destroy the weapons made by the previous superpower so that you can sell new ones”. After all, there’s a lot of people banking on conflict in such nations; there’s fewer and fewer countries on Earth engaged in active war and the weapons industry can’t just die… right?

Oil

No comment.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/12/south-sudan-150-women-girls-raped-12-days-181204074727376.html^

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/12/journalist-south-sudan-181214094915498.html^

[ax_meta lnimgurl=’http://mentatul.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/03182-The100LaptopMiserablyFailed-Thumb.jpg’ lnimgw=’250′ lnimgh=’250′ title=’"Helping" Developing Countries – The Mastery of Abuse’ desc=’The way superpowers and developed countries have spent money in order to "help" developing countries is often highly questionable. The "help" ranges from plain naive to ruthless neo-colonialism.’]

April 25, 2019