Freedom of Speech and Thought – Quote by Søren Kierkegaard
“People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use.”
Søren Kierkegaard
Author Archive for: Jan
Entries by Jan
Quote by Howard Mumford Jones: Proud of Machines and Suspicious of Men
“Ours is the age which is proud of machines that think and suspicious of men who try to.”
Howard Mumford Jones
Begin Challenging Your Assumptions – Alan Alda
“Begin challenging your own assumptions. Your assumptions are your windows on the world. Scrub them off every once in a while, or the light won’t come in.”
Alan Alda
Believing is easier than thinking – Bruce Calvert
“Believing is easier than thinking. Hence so many more believers than thinkers”
Bruce Calvert
Think Success Not Failure – Prentice Mulford
“You may be saying: ‘I have failed in life and shall always be a failure.’ That is because you are ever looking back, living in your failure and thereby bringing to you more failure. Reverse this attitude of mind; work it the other way and live in future success.”
Prentice Mulford
Religion and Perception – Seneca
“Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by rulers as useful.”
Seneca
Science and Mystery – Mattias Desmet
“As such, science stumbles upon an unknowable and mysterious essence that escapes logical explanation and which can be described only in the language of poetry and metaphor.”
Mattias Desmet
Mattias Desmet on Control and Totalitarianism in Times of Crisis
“The coronavirus crisis did not come out of the blue. It fits into a series of increasingly desperate and self-destructive societal responses to objects of fear: terrorists, global warming, coronavirus. Whenever a new object of fear arises in society, there is only one response and one defense in our current way of thinking: increased control. The fact that the human being can tolerate only a certain amount of control is completely overlooked. Coercive control leads to fear and fear leads to more coercive control. Just like that, society falls victim to a vicious circle that inevitably leads to totalitarianism, which means to extreme government control, eventually resulting in the radical destruction of both the psychological and physical integrity of human beings.”
Mattias Desmet
Totalitarianism as Technocratic Rule – Mattias Desmet
“Totalitarianism is the belief that human intellect can be the guiding principle in life and society. It aims to create a utopian, artificial society led by technocrats or experts who, based on their technical knowledge, will ensure that the machine of society runs flawlessly. In this view, the individual is completely subordinated to being a cog in the machine of society.”
Mattias Desmet
Privacy and Health in the Technocratic Society – Mattias Desmet
“The fact the the human being is like a flower that only blooms when it can enjoy the shade of privacy once in a while is of minor importance in a technocratic worldview. Anyone who refuses to go along with the system lacks civic sense, considers oneself more important than the collective. Your health is no longer your personal business, because some diseases are contagious.”
Mattias Desmet