In modern times, I have seen several books attempting to provide alternatives to global capitalism to stave off climate destruction and other problems, like the richest one percent holding half our wealth. Actually, I applaud these authors because they are right that global capitalism is destructive and must be eliminated from our society if we … Technology versus capitalism: which is worse?

Newton’s third law says that if two bodies at rest act on each other with forces, then those forces are equal in magnitude and opposite in direction. But it occurs to me that there is a kind of analogue of Newton’s third law for technology: if technology acts to simplify some aspect of life, then … A Newtonian-style third law for technology

Technology continues to grow stronger, and its force is nearly beyond human control. Moreover, it is becoming more cohesive so that it mimics a living organism with incredibly strong defenses. Even as technology destroys the biosphere, we sit aside and do practically nothing because there are simply very few possibilities left for those who wish … The erosion of diversity by technology

Marine biologist Sylvia Earle wrote “The World is Blue”, a beautiful book about the ocean and how it is being threatened by humanity. If you care about the ocean or just want to learn more about it, I’d recommend reading it. But if you asked me which books you should read as an environmentalist, Earle’s … What to read as an environmentalist

It’s well known that even slightly elevated CO2 concentrations can impair mental functions. For example, this paper does a pretty good job of summarizing the danger. Here is one of the relevant paragraphs from that source: Systematic relationships were found between most of the cognitive function scores and CO2 concentration, including from 550–945 ppm and … When will atmospheric CO2 start to impair our mental functions?

If you are grading your students’ essays or homework with ChatGPT, then it is immoral and wrong. It does the students a disservice. Is such a strong statement justified? I think it is. Now of course, you might think that ChatGPT is just a tool and that because it’s so good, a sort of dialectical … Why grading with ChatGPT is immoral

De acordo com Martin Heidegger, o desenvolvimento da tecnologia acontece porque nós adotamos uma filosofia de exploração. Em nossas mentes, vemos o planeta e tudo que há nele como um recurso a ser explorado. Mas essa filosofia não é a única filosofia possível. Na verdade, há algumas tribos que entendem o mundo em termos de … Como tecnologia está revelando nossa filosofia

Consider an optimal society. If one could measure the health of this society over time, it would fluctuate about the optimum point, somewhat like a sinusoidal curve: This is the graph of sin(x) + 10, and idealized version of this phenomenon. Of course, this is not to imply that the health of society can be … The Principle of Illusory Improvements

When we think of rituals, it might be natural to think of ancient tribes and practices related to classic mythologies. However, we also have rituals as well: Christmas, Halloween, etc. all have ritualistic aspects. According to Watson-Jones and Legare, recent research points to rituals having key functions in society: identifying group members, demonstrating commitment to … Ritualization in global capitalism

As I’ve talked about before, technology and its amalgamation with human beings can be thought of as an organism. This is a concept I explain more in my upcoming book. Individual technologies are like cells, and they come together and interact to form the technological organism, which of course can be quite different at different … Three goals of technology

OpenAI’s Sora is a generative video AI tool that people can use to generate video clips based on prompts. Based on the results so far, it can certainly generate semi-realistic looking scenes. And no doubt, we are going to see a lot of short and long films with this sort of content in it. There’s … Fundamental reason why Sora won’t improve filmmaking

I recently got an interesting comment on my About Page: Dr. Polak — I agree with your aim – but to blanket all technology with such a abroad brush – especially when there are many technologies that have proven good – invented by people that have views contrary to yours — is just self-serving – … Are any technologies good? A reply to a comment

According to the BBC, the UK government made a new definition of extremism in UK law. To quote the article: [E]xtremism is “the promotion or advancement of an ideology based on violence, hatred or intolerance, that aims to: negate or destroy the fundamental rights and freedoms of others; or undermine, overturn or replace the UK’s … Why the UK’s new extremism definition is still faulty

Does democracy still exist in western civilization any more? I would argue that in the United States and Canada at least, we no longer have a democracy. Rather, we have a technocratic rule where the main source of power is diffused over corporations and technology companies. The encyclopedia Britannica defines democracy as Democracy is a … Does democracy still exist?

I already sent this letter (on March 12, 2024) to the National Science Foundation, but I am making it public here as well: Dear National Science Foundation, My name is Dr. Jason Polak. I have a doctorate in mathematics from McGill University in Canada and several published papers. I hope you will pass this letter … Open letter to the National Science Foundation

If I could have any wish, you might think I’d wish for riches. And in fact, perhaps in this screwed up world, I might be tempted to wish for an isolated place away from civilization. But here is what I wish for in truth is… …That people can have land as a right rather than … What I wish for

One of the most dangerous aspects of an evolutionary system like capitalism with hardly no restrictions is that every implementation of a good idea likely serves the capitalistc-industrial system as well, even if the good idea purports to go against part of the system. This is because ideas typically go through iterations, and if one … Deceptive actions that are ostensibly good

Hey, how creative, I entitled this post “February Updates”. So anyway, I’ve been thinking about my math blog. I definitely liked blogging about math but at some point it was getting tiring to maintain and I’m glad I deleted it. Actually, since I deleted it, nobody told me that they missed the content so I … February Updates

Today, I was reading an article about the environmental impact of mining. And in that article, the author said the following: As today, any future society will have similar or even bigger needs for water, food, and energy, and hence, the availability of these resources has to be ensured to future generations. This is exactly … Another assumption that MUST go: increased energy consumption

One of the greatest problems today with many environmentalists is that they lack a firm moral philosophy. They’re more about trying to solve our problems with the climate, but want to have their cake and eat it too. They want to have all this fancy, first-world society stuff like modern technology, VR, AI, and other … The great problem with many environmentalists

We have a new religion, and it’s called technology. Technology is the most deceptive sort of religion, because it purports itself as mere machine, mere mathematical logic incarnate. But if that were so, surely we would think more about which of these lifeless machines are good for us and which are not? We don’t. We … The new religion of technology

There are many extremely difficult social problems we’ve got in fighting against consumerism and the technological world. I plan to write about some of these soon. Here is a list of some of the most pressing, which are focused on potential roadblocks to revolutionary change to transform industrial society into something more sustainable: Modern industrial … Difficult problems in trying to stop consumerism and technology

I have been thinking a lot about definition overloading and how the flexibility of language can actually lead to serious misunderstandings of our own human nature and the force of humanity. I already wrote one article on the nature of sharing, which I invite you to take a look at. As I explore this new … A new concept on definition overloading

This is an evolving list of how I plan to reduce my technology usage in the next few years: Reduce Internet usage. Ideally, three days per week maximum and at most 2 hours per day. Get rid of smartphones, which might be impossible. However, I already use mine very little: maybe 1 hour of usage … My goals for tech use reduction in the next 5 years

It’s true that it’s hard to function in modern society without technology, especially in 2024, and I wouldn’t expect most people to be able to do that. But we can certainly lessen our use of technology. Here are eleven ways to disconnect from modern technology! 1. Take an internet-free day Take one day a week … Tips to reduce your dependence on technology in 2024

In modern society, our actions can have multiple functions that may not be readily apparent. For example, people who speak out against the system might think their actions are changing things for the better, but such individuals may also have the function of allowing dissatisfied people to blow off the steam from frustration of living … The multifarious nature of action in modern society

Today, I am going to look at five problems of society today. You may of course object to my use of the word “society”, as there are many small societies that coexist both peacefully and not so peacefully. Nonetheless, when I say “society”, I mean the truly global society of people that is a higher-order … Five problems with society today

Today, I am going to give you a short reading list for 2024. But before I do, I also want to mention that I released my latest newsletter. This newsletter is designed to be an encouraging email you get that shows that fighting against technology and global climate change is not a lost cause. The … Six books I recommend in 2024 for a better future

article written by Amelie Farrell Over the past few years, the audiobook market has been booming. Data from Acumen Research and Consulting reveals that the market is expected to reach $33.5 billion by 2030, up from about $4.2 billion in 2021. Unsurprisingly, this growth hasn’t escaped the attention of tech companies and the cloying grasp of artificial … AI Use in Audiobooks: How it Takes Away from the Medium and What You Can Do to Fight Back

You should watch out for AI masquerading as something good. Most technologies usually have both positive and negative effects on society. Unfortunately, the positive effects are usually ephemeral and quick to manifest themselves whereas the long-term effects are hard to comprehend for most of us and damaging to the basic nature of being human. Consider … Beware of the AI wolf in sheep’s clothing

Unlike most websites, I do not track my visitors. I did have a stats plugin recently to see which posts were the most popular, but I figured there was no point in that so I deleted it. Of course, I can still view server logs to see fairly anonymous requests like every website, but I … This blog does not use tracking or cookies

As you know, technology and climate change are intricately linked. Thus, I’ve decided to write more about climate change. I’ve also started making some videos on climate change. There’s a bit of an internal battle inside me because I don’t like YouTube much but I do believe it’s a good way to reach people. I’m … New series on climate change

I used to have a 9-5, full-time job and this year I quit. The reasons I quit are somewhat complex but I think it’s fair to say that aside from getting money, it was a complete waste of time in the sense that I wasn’t learning anything I cared to learn, nor was I using … Tips to avoid 9-5, full-time jobs

Climate change is the most difficult problem humanity has ever faced, because it doesn’t go away when civilizations die. We can’t start over and we can’t just move somewhere else. I’ve been thinking a lot about this topic, which is why I am expanding this blog to treat topics on technology and climate change. This … Meta-challenges of climate change