Social Hallucinations

The Timeline into Future

Future isn't easy to predict. Probably because we use what's known to create the future. Results can be somewhat entertaining. 

1920s,

1930s

1950s

1985

1993

2008

Enjoy!

hattip

The Most Astounding Fact About the Universe

Something to remember and be grateful for. The key to everything we experience and do. The universe is amazingly beautiful. And it is inside you.

"When I look up at the night sky and I know that, yes, we are part of this Universe, we are in this Universe, but perhaps more important than most of those facts is that the Universe is in us. When I reflect on that fact, I look up — many people feel small, because they’re small, the Universe is big — but I feel big, because my atoms came from those stars. There’s a level of connectivity — that’s really what you want in life. You want to feel connected, you want to feel relevant. You want to feel like you’re a participant in the goings on and activities and events around you. That’s precisely what we are, just by being alive.” (Neil deGrasse Tyson)

Hattip

"Meditation is a waste of good shopping time"

The next Spring of Nations will be lead by jesters, those who still manage to maintain the common sense and have valuable insights and views on the society. 

 

a few loose thoughts on the results of election in Denmark

Do social democrats know what's their goal? Do they have the vision of the society that is worth fighting for? I doubt it. The many last years social democrats' key rule is "whatever you (the centre-right) do, we (the centre-left) can do better’. But better will never see the light as for the social democrats, the society is more important than an individual. They diminish the role of humans, treating them as helpless beings that need to be supported at the cost of others, those who refuse to be dependant on the state. It leads to the perversion of the system, where it is expected the wealthy are obliged to take care for those who don't have so much (and I am not talking about the really poor and needy people, as they stay poor whichever system has the power), where the work is not respected. People are disgusted with the rich, thanks to whom they don't have to work...simply because they don't respect the work. The work is not needed to survive. The state is needed to survive. Redistribution of goods. Moving money from one box to the other. Growing bureaucracy and complex systems, that diminish the individual even further. 

The social - democrats = the couch socialists, who sometimes get awaken from their consumption trance and in order to calm the pangs of conscience, they preach how we need to do something for "those who need it most", how we need to show more compassion and increase taxes...of course only if they are sure such statements will bring the popularity among the voters...in the name of collective...

but today, we live in times where there it's rather absurd talking about capitalistic or socialistic econony. there is only a good or bad economy...

well, that's enough for me when it goes for politics

 

Hate

The movements and totalitarian regimes of all kinds need hatred not so much against external enemies and threats, as against its own people. They need it to maintain the readiness to fight but mainly to drive own people to self destruction, spiritual and mental inertia. The main goal is to stop any resistance. Relentless, silent, but quite a clear message says: "You are perfect, the others are utterly rotten. You'v been living a perfect live if not for the anger of  your enemies that stands in the way "

 

Office nomads

The office. Walls, ceiling, windows (if you are lucky), tables, machines, people and noise. A place where you go to work. The church of work. Do we actually need the physical office as we know today?  How do office actually contributes to our performance and output of our work?

Don't get me wrong, I love my office and my colleagues. It is a great place to be, but like with most things in life, sometimes you need to get out to grasp a bit of fresh air, try something new and get inspired. People to collaborate with and machines to work on are to be found everywhere. Todays easiness of access allows us to create our office wherever we feel like, fuel our potential and can make us work in a new ways.

I am a big fan of working different places than your office but I hope Seth Godin isn't entirely right when saying "I think in ten years the TV show 'the Office' will be seen as a quaint antique.".

I believe the office and the community you build there are also very important part of your work life. Face time and the relationships you create contribute to your overall satisfaction, motivate and inspire you. So please, don't kill offices, just give people opportunities for being the office nomads and sit with laptop different and unexpected places. Make them go out. Changing the environment can fire some different neurons and bring astonishing results and discoveries. 

 

Giving people opportunity to help themselves

Getting people out of poverty is not just about giving them money, it is about giving them opportunity to help themselves. Seeing the need, fulfilling it at creating the movement is what happened when Pedals for Progress and founder David Schweidenback have shipped over 20.000 used American bicycles to Rivas, Nicaragua. Amazing transformation caused by giving the people opportunity to be mobile.

 

The Bicycle City. Trailer from Greg Sucharew on Vimeo.

Rules of Life

Does life has any rules? Or is it just a subject to unpredictable events? I've been always fascinated by people setting clear rules or resolutions and wondered how far can you go to stick to them? When you decide to change and adapt? 

Today I've stumbled upon Tolstoy's 10 Rules of Life. Seems like tough rules for live...he broke them many times but it is amazing how we do strive for the clear guidance and map for our lives. Does having rules make us happier?

Could you imagine living by his rules? Do you? 

1. Get up early (five o’clock) 
2. Go to bed early (nine to ten o’clock)
3. Eat little and avoid sweets
4. Try to do everything by yourself
5. Have a goal for your whole life, a goal for one section of your life, a goal for a shorter period and a goal for the year; a goal for every month, a goal for every week, a goal for every day, a goal for every hour and for evry minute, and sacrifice the lesser goal to the greater
6. Keep away from women
7. Kill desire by work
8. Be good, but try to let no one know it
9. Always live less expensively than you might
10. Change nothing in your style of living even if you become ten times richer.

Love and Money

...relationship is simple...there comes money when you love what you do. 

via 

Shitty Monday... the answer to what?

...whatever man...fuck! Crappy day filled with disappointment. One of those days when you just have no answer to anything until you open the internet and happen to run across something refreshing. Refreshing like Die Antwoord - ZEF NINJA RAP RAVE CREW. South African slap to the mainstream pulp. Profane and absurd. Refreshing cultural melange.

 

Stereotypes

Stereotypes, we hate them but we can't help from falling for them. They make the world around us more predictable and controllable. Everything and everyone has a defined place in it and it makes us safe. 

Here is an interesting idea for 2011 calendar - The Calendar of prejudice. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

See more here

via Angus

Do you love football?

You do. There are also many kids who do but they need footballs to make their dream come true and play.

Spread the joy of kicking a ball about but making a simple gesture and small donation that will buy lot of footballs for kids in Tanzania.

Help great guys from the advertising and media industry - Neil, Sam,  Willem, Hugh,  Matt,  Darren,  Steve,  Thomas  who has decided to fundraise money and take trip to Tanzania in November and  deliver those balls to kids. To make a difference and make kids smile. 

They are now fundraising to buy footballs to take out there. Don't wait but take an action and buy a football and spread lot of joy.  Wherever you live, whatever you do, your support means a lot and will make a difference. 

Buy a football  or two :)

The project is the part of The Great Football Giveaway.

thank you!

 

Mobile & Social Media in Scandinavia

A demographic study within the Nordics of people mobile phone habits, and social ’s media network habits...men and women, boys and girls, from 15 – 55, from all over the Nordic regions, and from all walks of life....

Mobile & social media in Scandinavia

View more presentations from Vizeum Denmark. or read more about Vizeum

 

BBC Dimensions

Sometimes, it is hard imagine how powerful and big some events can be. We need to set things in perspective. This is what BBC Dimensions does. It takes important places, events and things, and overlays them onto a map of where you are.

 

 

 

 

Technology Epitaph is Useless

The latest Chris Anderson's article in Wired on the death of web was rather provoking and caused quite a stir.

What always surprise me is the easiness with which we kill things around and present them as useless. Like we discard old clothes, we try to discard the technology. We've already tried to kill radio, TV and print. All three are still living and doing quite good, but the way they are used has changed.

As history shows, technologies evolve and being shaped by people and their needs they can coexist and merge.

There is some pinch of sensationalism in the way of declaring web dead. Alexis Madrigal from Atlantic responded to Anderson's article: "What's Wrong with X is Dead".

"From the vantage point of the present, it may seem that technologies are deterministic. But this view is incorrect, no matter how plausible it may seem. Cultures select and shape technologies, not the other way around, and some societies have rejected or ignored even the gun or the wheel. For millennia, technology has been an essential part of the framework for imagining and moving into the future, but the specific technologies chosen have varied. As the variety of human cultures attests, there have always been multiple possibilities, and there seems no reason to accept a single vision of the future." (David Nye, Technology Matters)

Killing the web seems like the attempt to simplify and feel more in control over the complex and unpredictable world of people behavior and interactions - choosing a single vision for the future. It is tempting to have a single vision, because it is more manageable and controllable but world keeps on evolving into plenty of parallel and intersecting paths.

There is no need to write an epitaph when nobody died.