Everything humans have achieved to this day was precariously built on the great myth of growth: the belief that this civilisation can continue to dig its own hole without ever falling in. Perpetuating the myth of growth meant keeping citizens hostage to the Ponzi scheme of ecological fraud: by forcibly making us stakeholders to this scheme, we had everything … Continue reading Truth In The Time Of Collapse
Global industrial society may have successfully catered to the primal impulses of food, comfort and ownership, but it would end up blatantly neglecting humanity’s most basic emotional needs. When we created this civilisation, we somehow thought that if we solved issues of scarcity, efficiency and comfort, everything else would fall into place. We thought we were … Continue reading Lost in Consumption: The Age of the Consumatronic Zombie
For years I have marvelled at the sight of flame-red tulips returning faithfully each March right at the edge of the sea cliff my hideous block of flats is built on. Who planted these tulips here? I’ve asked my neighbours and tried to trace the history of the place, but never got anywhere with my … Continue reading Farming Ourselves to Extinction: The Great Tulip Uprising of 1822
The belief that a small group of individuals forming a “government” can be trusted to represent the best interests of its people has been one of the most disastrous leaps of faith our civilisation ever took. Some may argue that as our societies grew, we had no choice but to form administrative superstructures that could … Continue reading Governments: Did We Ever Really Need Them?
Act 1: The Invention of the Morally Corrupt Consumer Whenever I order a piece of cake at a restaurant, I always wonder how many more pieces of cake there are back in the kitchen. Not because I’m greedy, but because I’m fascinated by how, from a logistics point of view, the restaurant manages to achieve … Continue reading How Humans Invented Waste
Any species subscribing to narratives of its supremacy over other species will sooner or later fall prey to identical narratives within its own society. It was unavoidable therefore that the myth of human supremacy would be cloned and reproduced across social strata: racial supremacy, income supremacy, cultural, gender and straight supremacy are mere versions of … Continue reading Capitalism Doesn’t Want You To Survive What’s Coming
I live at the very edge of a massive rock that juts off into the north Aegean Sea. It forms an impressive peninsula made entirely of granite that spans about 5 city blocks, but you would be forgiven for completely failing to notice it. You see, the towering rock peninsula is hidden under a forest … Continue reading Memories of Extinction
Value comes in many shapes and forms. Gold and diamonds may be two of the most chemically and biologically inert substances on Earth, but they have immense value to humans. Conversely things like dead leaves, mud, sea water or desert dust have little monetizable value in the human economy but huge importance for the planet. … Continue reading The Pseudoscience of Economics
Scarcity is our natural mental state, but this all changed once industrial civilisation handed everything to us on a silver platter. In fact, we are happiest when resources are in short supply. Anthropologists and volunteers in third world countries never fail to mention how some of the biggest, widest, longest-lasting smiles they’ve ever witnessed were … Continue reading The Happiness Trap: How Humans Became Terrified of Scarcity
This newsletter is my main income. It is FREE to subscribe to, but made possible by the generosity of paid members. If you’d like to support my work please consider a paid subscription. Thank you. As societies grew into increasingly complex economies, the need for specialised skills gave rise to specialised humans. Each successive era … Continue reading Laboured To Extinction: How We Became the Planet of the Working Zombies
George Tsakraklides 