Nature has a knack for doing things in a beautifully simple way; and it makes human invention look almost comical. A tree, for example, doesn’t hold a committee meeting to […]
Finance and Economy - Making Money - Social and Self-Help
Why Relationships May Outlast Hierarchies in a Changing World
Hierarchies and Human Connection For most of human history, societies have leaned heavily on hierarchy to keep order. From monarchs and generals to managers and mayors, people have organized themselves […]
Finance and Economy - Making Money - Social and Self-Help
Can Capitalism Ever Be Ethical?
Every so often, someone suggests that capitalism can be saved if we just give it a good scrubbing. Wash off the grime of corruption, ring it out, hang it in […]
Finance and Economy - Health and Wellness - Making Money - Social and Self-Help
From Neighbors to Corporations: How We Lost the Directness of Living
I sometimes think we’ve all ended up working for a sort of ghost. Not the rattling-chains, moaning-through-the-wall kind, but something maybe worse: a superior who doesn’t even bother to haunt […]
Finance and Economy - Making Money - Social and Self-Help
Could Your Neighborhood Survive on Social Capital Alone? Some Do.
I sometimes imagine what it would be like to live in one of those tiny Alaskan bush towns. Not the postcard version with moose sauntering down Main Street and auroras […]
Finance and Economy - Making Money - Social and Self-Help
Marcel Mauss’ “The Gift” – A Summary
Marcel Mauss’ The Gift manages to be both deeply academic and strangely intimate. Initially, it seems like an anthropologist’s survey of exotic rituals in far-off places; potlatches among the tribes […]
Making Money - Social and Self-Help
The Weird Trick That Made Me Instantly More Liked (and Happier)
I have taken to playing an interesting sport, though I doubt anyone watching would recognize it as such. It requires no ball, no net, and not even the faintest hint […]
Finance and Economy - Making Money
The Rise of Abstract Money: From Coins to Invisible Ledgers
There was a time when money had weight. It clinked when dropped on a table and carried the cold glint of metal or the soft polish of worn shells passed […]
Finance and Economy - Making Money
A Look at Lyn Alden’s Book; Broken Money
Reading Lyn Alden’s Broken Money feels a bit like having a long, eye-opening conversation with that one friend who somehow makes complicated topics make sense. She digs into the story […]
Finance and Economy - Making Money - Social and Self-Help
Why Great Leaders Don’t Walk Too Far Ahead
another rumination from a conversation with friends. When leading, one must carry both the vision of the horizon and the weight of those who walk beside. The temptation to stride […]