I’ve been railing about the deleterious effects of capitalism in one form or another for some years now, slowly refining my views on it. If you want examples, see here, here, here, here, here, here, and here. My view currently…
Category: Consumer Culture
Profit über alles
In my last article I pressed on the idea that while we rely on capitalism to value things, there are a lot of things it’s not good at valuing. I want to explore that a little more. The oft repeated…
Art is life
It may sound outrageous to say it — I used to think so — but without art we are lost. What do we live for otherwise? Our children? Love? Perhaps, but to what end, if not to together experience the…
Why community matters
The other day I was bemoaning the erosion of community in our everyday lives and placing the blame squarely on automation. Automation and the never-ending race to achieve greater efficiency seeks to remove people from as many equations as possible.…
Yo, Tim Horton’s: Wrong Message!
Now, don’t get me wrong. Tim Horton’s appears to be doing a lot to reduce it’s environmental footprint and I applaud them for that. I took exception, though, with a poster I saw in a Tim Horton’s the other day. …
I don’t want. I want out.
I don’t want what this society has to offer. I don’t want money. I don’t want prestige. I don’t want a fancy car, nice clothes, or a big beautiful house. I don’t want any of it. As far as I’m…
More proof Facebook is bad news
What more information do we need to convince us to get the hell out of dodge? Why are you trading your privacy for the privilege of playing Farmville? Don’t worry, your real friends will call you. The implications of Facebook’s…
Why post-apocalypse books and films matter
I love post-apocalypse movies, but to tell you the truth they scare the crap out of me. My interest in stories of this type used to be just out of fascination with an imaginary world, but as time has progressed…
Increasing efficiency increases waste. WTF?
In my post “The nature of waste“, I made a direct link between the concepts of efficiency and waste, namely that: Increasing efficiency increases waste. That sounds strange doesn’t it? I had myself confused by this even though I wrote…
A smart idea
My boss was telling about a company he talked to and was pretty impressed with something smart they did. So am I. This company is a cabinet maker and when making cabinets they would create a lot of waste material.…