A recent article in Nautilus science magazine argued this: "Science fiction relies on a particular vision of tech when crafting a new, upcoming world. But technology alone doesn't remake our society. Predicting the future requires us to consider the more potent impact of a changing culture." I prepared a diagram, showing the 7 Belief systems in our history, the...
Civilizations
Collectieve intelligentie als verschil?
Eind 2024 publiceerde theoretisch natuurkundige Avi Loeb een interessant artikel dat mij al jarenlang bezighoudt: Is de mensheid het hoogtepunt? Een kosmisch perspectief op intelligentie en overleven. De voortgang in mijn denken wordt gevisualiseerd door onderstaande diagrammen uit 2018 en 2022: Bron: mijn 2018 blog Bron: mijn 2022 blog De collectieve ontwikkeling...
Why can negative demographic trends not be reversed?
"History suggests that once a country crosses the threshold of negative population growth, there is little that its government can do to reverse it." This line is an excerpt from a 2023 NYT article: Can China Reverse Its Population Decline? Just Ask Sweden. Another 2023 quote: "The negative population growth trend cannot be reversed, but behavior and expectations...

Ancient origins
In 1995, Graham Hancock published his book Fingerprints of the Gods, which "has been translated into 27 languages and is estimated to have sold five million copies around the world." About a decade later, I received it from my then neighbours. That book raised my curiosity on ancient history. Hancock's rather annoying way of storytelling is still the same in his...
Love, Knowledge & Power and zero-sum
My Thursday night was restless due to the upcoming full moon of 16 May. My mind kept wondering about zero-sum outcomes within the Love, Knowledge & Power domains of the 7 Belief systems. The Power domain always has a zero-sum outcome: one man's loss is another man's gain. How about the other two? The Love domain has various outcomes. For some, there is synergy...
The Great Filter in civilizations: a conclusion
For a long time, I’ve wondered about the Great Filter in civilizations. Why do initial successful civilizations eventually fail? It also relates to the Fermi paradox: if there is any extraterrestrial civilization, why haven't they contacted us by now? All civilizations seem doomed to fail after their initial success; often for unknown reasons (eg, Cahokia, USA)....

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