Culture and Ideas
-
Why are young men obsessed with discipline?
|
My male peers are becoming more concerned with discipline — with their own discipline, and with the discipline with others. They are referring to a kind of rigour they deem necessary for mental and/or physical excellence, a volitional tautness that goes into being a healthy adult. But I have had my suspicions that their concern…
-
On the Lives That Matter
|
Without a doubt, we live in a more connected and shared existence. Perhaps not spiritually, but definitely in the sense that we have a broader access to the world. From this, we gain perspective to various opinions or experiences, echoing similar voices, or seeking comparatively different views. For some, this is beneficial, for others, it…
-
Fact, Power and Covid-19
|
‘We’re following the science’ has been the constant chorus of the UK government. Unfettered by tired ideologies, their response to the Covid-19 pandemic has been determined by nothing but the very latest advances in public health and data-driven virus modelling. Or so if they are to be believed. This essay will contest the claim that…
-
What Does a Statue Mean? Notes on Rhodes Must Fall
|
Edward Colston was obviously an awful man: no one whose actions lead to the deaths of 19,000 people, actions motivated by (at best) a desire for profit, can be called anything except evil. At least, if evil is here understood as being broadly understood, as “deserving of widespread moral condemnation”. The same goes for Cecil…
-
Major Transformative Technologies and the Five Dimensions of Security
|
Cyberattacks and data theft have received a rating between 3.5 and 4 out of 5 in the 2020 World Economic Forum Global Risks report. Our societies’ ubiquitous reliance on technologies naturally comes with downsides. It is now commonplace to refer to new technologies as transformative forces in the 21st century – with the attendant discussions of opportunities and…
-
Clocking off during coronavirus: why capitalism won’t wait any longer
|
In normal times, the slightest dip in productivity is enough to bring even the most stoic of billionaires to tears. But when public health measures threatened to suspend the productive process altogether, the floodgates opened. As calls to re-open schools, shops, and workplaces were heeded, it became clear that the cost of billionaire counselling was…
-
Can politics ever be free from violence?
|
Discussions about violence are perhaps more prominent than ever before, and we are constantly bombarded with depictions of violence in films, the news, books, and a variety of other cultural mediums. We are living in an era which is sometimes described as the bloodiest on record, sometimes as the most peaceful[1]. Lively and fierce debates…
-
Coronavirus and the meaning of fake news
|
Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, journalists and authors in the media have routinely been using the term “fake news” to refer to the deep and dynamic flows of misleading, malicious, conspiratorial and divisive coronavirus-related online content. Characterised as an ‘infodemic’by the WHO,the coronavirus era has seen high volumes of both non-state and state-backed coronavirus-centric “fake news.”…
-
Culture during Covid-19: A Conversation with Vienna’s Kunsthistorisches Museum, Belvedere Museum, Jewish Museum, and Albertina Museum
|
Culture during Covid-19: A Conversation with Vienna’s Kunsthistorisches Museum, Belvedere Museum, Jewish Museum, and Albertina Museum. By Julia Vassileva The Covid-19 times brought many governance measures, but the closure of all museums and cultural institutions in Austria in early March 2020 was a particularly sad one. In a city usually vibrant with visitors, a European…
-
Hype, Hope, Repeat: Cryptocurrency and Symbolic Value
|
Cryptocurrencies. Virtual currencies. Digital coins. Studies from ING and St Andrews University reveal that, “while most of us now know something about these terms, many of the details are still a little sketchy.” Cryptocurrency is defined as virtual or digital money which takes the form of tokens or coins. Investopedia explains that the ‘crypto’ in cryptocurrency as a…