Alternative hedonism
Imagine if we all wore the same clothes, lived in the same sort of house and drove the same sort of car. Social scientists…
Money & Consumerism
Essays, interviews and ideas from New Philosopher.
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Prosperity paradox
Picture for a moment a world where technological innovation and industrial automation have finally brought us an era of unprecedented material prosperity. Picture it…
Are you your job and nothing more?
What do you do? I’m a mechanic; I’m a horticulturalist. It’s the first question we ask others, and the way we define ourselves. What’s…
Happiness is hard to find
I have been happy. I hope to be happy again. But I am yet to feel something I’d call “happiness”. As a noun, it…
Cake, sex and fame
Cake, sex and fame. Their lure is strong. If something pushes our sweet, sex or status buttons, we spark right up. Why? Because, ostensibly,…
Money or happiness?
I know a rich man who buys properties. He decorates them, fills them with consumer goods and then leaves them unattended for most of…
I did it their way: consuming our way to freedom
“I’ll scream”, the priest muttered as he left the funeral, “if I have to listen to ‘I Did It My Way’ one more time.”…
The identity toolkit
Sum yourself up in a couple of words. Users of social media do it to introduce themselves online. “Surfer, father, writer, film director.” “Yogi,…
Achieving good work
If I were to ask people around the world what they admire, I am confident that high on the list would be two items:…
