Did food used to be more natural, and therefore implicitly better, than the food we eat today, which seems to be over-processed and contain lots of additives? In the past, there was no such thing as “organic”, and yet food … Continue reading Today you have to write “organic” on it, and in the past you just had to write “poultry” and “egg”?
Occasionally, you come across a video a little late that you really should have seen earlier, because the statements in it hit the mark. One such video comes from Apple’s long-time chief designer Jony Ive, who gave a commencement speech … Continue reading Jony Ive on Creativity, Ideas and Curiosity
A terrorist attack against the power supply for the Tesla factory paralyzed production a few weeks ago. Demonstrations and occupations of the planned site caused weeks of commotion before the factory was built. Tesla’s water consumption is also constantly brought … Continue reading Schizophrenic Germany: Lamenting Deindustrialization While Fighting Tesla
A few years ago, I conducted a survey among my newsletter subscribers in which I asked them about their own country’s outstanding technological, economic or scientific successes or failures, or how they viewed the USA and China. The participants had … Continue reading Driving With The Handbrake On
The choice of words is important, it “makes the music”. Unsurprisingly for me, as a book author and wordsmith, I naturally pay a lot of attention to the right words and phrases. Especially because of the way they can change mindsets … Continue reading How We Talk Ourselves Into Decline
Every era has its fears. Attentive readers of the news could easily come to the conclusion that we are living in the worst of times, given all the political and technological developments that cannot help but lead to the collapse … Continue reading News Déjà Vu – The News Twin From The Past
The mood in the country is bad, I have just heard from friends, and there are many reasons why exactly. However, one of the reasons is our success over the last few decades, which has made us overconfident. I notice … Continue reading Deflecting, Lulling and Hysteria – The Strange New German Leitkultur
Recession, Deutsche Bahn, crumbling infrastructure, an automotive industry under massive pressure, supplementary funds in the budget that were cancelled by the Constitutional Court, two wars (almost) on the doorstep, broadband expansion and digitization that have now been abandoned, a Pisa … Continue reading The Mood is Bad – Germany at a Crossroads?
In the bookstore Morawa in downtown Vienna, a man collapses on his knees, raises his hands in the air and complains loudly about unheard-of things. What had happened? The traditional bookstore, which is located just across the street from the … Continue reading Sphexishness OR The ability or inability to change behavior.
A review of my book on artificial intelligence, When Monkeys Teach Monkeys, indirectly blamed me as naïve. The reviewer said: I’ve found few arguments in favor of AI, but maybe that’s because I don’t want to downplay the dangers. In … Continue reading The Incompetence of Cynics – A Study