Tag: society

The age of the copycat economy

When Kickstarter first came online I was thrilled. What a great way to get funding for an innovative idea! Soon others followed. Nothing wrong with a bit of diversity and some competition in order to increase quality of service and cater to different target groups. But these days there are so many crowdfunding platforms out...

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Universal Basic Income? Why?

A lot has been said about basic income. Let us for now put aside the question of how it can be paid for or whether or not it will destroy social security systems. Let’s ask a more existential question: should we give people an income for basically doing nothing apart from being alive? In our current...

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The nature of money – Part 4: The alternatives

The year was 1932 and the small town of Wörgl in Austria was caught up in the great depression, just like the rest of the world. When Michael Unterguggenberger (1884-1936) was elected mayor of Wörgl, the city had 500 jobless people and another 1,000 in the immediate vicinity. Furthermore, 200 families were absolutely penniless. The...

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I agree with Donald Trump

I would like you to stop and think for a moment. What thoughts are currently forming in your head? What kind of emotions are you having? Are you thinking: ‘This guy is crazy!’ or ‘Someone with common sense!’? Are you feeling exhilarated? Angry? Confused? Happy? Frustrated? Supported? Have you formed an idea of who I...

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The nature of money – Part 2: The hidden costs

Have you ever been asked: How does your work contribute to society? What values does your product support? What is your impact? When you want to start a new business or design a new product, one of the first questions you will likely get is: what is your business model? Or in other words, how are...

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Work, an endangered species

Work, for some a passion, for some a necessary evil, for some an illustrious prey that is hard to hunt down. When we think of work, most of us immediately think of paid work, although that’s not the only kind of work that exists. Think of all the volunteer work, the daily chores around the house, raising kids,...

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Changing the world is easy

This is a little story about four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody. There was an important job to be done and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. Somebody got angry about that because it was Everybody’s job. Everybody thought that Anybody could...

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Perfect! The biggest roadblock to better

In the summer of 2012, while attending a Blue Economy summer school, I heard Gunter Pauli utter the quote: ‘Don’t let perfect stand in the way of better‘. It’s that quote that eventually led to this post. We’ve all encountered it multiple times in our lives. We have some great idea to solve an existing problem and one...

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Why a Basic Income for Everyone Should Be a No Brainer

Basic income, for some a ridiculous idea, for others the thing that will eradicate poverty and a host of other problems. For those who haven’t heard of the idea yet, a basic income  gives everyone a fixed sum of money every month, unconditionally. This money must be enough to cover the basic living costs such as...

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Je suis Charlie

I was shocked when I heard the news about the shootings in Paris. I have a very hard time to get my head around the fact that someone can be so offended by a mere cartoon that it sets them on a course to go out and kill the people who made them. And it makes...

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