Category: Brain and storming

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Social time

What does the „social“ have to do with time. Well, time is a perfect case of a social construction or a fundamentally social construct. The definition of time as „Greenish mean time“ is nothing but a useful socio-political statement to synchronize time across the world, or previously an imperium. Points in time, as shown on a clock(s), can be helpful to synchronize human behavior. We might want to show up on the same point in time to start or end work. Of course there are thousands of ways in which such synchronization might go awfully wrong. This makes for splendid drama and movies have a long history to capture our attention on this matter. Social expectations, a social, psychological, and even a biological concept in extreme cases (Pavlov effect) make many of us to get a bit itchy, if time is getting short to meet other persons or an expected event is going to happen. A lot of social pressure is transmitted through the ticking away of time. The mechanism to internalize social patterns (for example prayer), via time and the clock, is quite powerful and has been used in movies throughout the history of the cinema. Even the individual endpoint in time is in almost all cases a shared social experience and turns into a kind of socially relevant time. (Take your time to watch The Clock by Christian Marclay).

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Art Utopia

Not all art is utopia, but a lot of it. A series of talks on the issue of utopia in art  (BNF) reminds us on the utopian projects many artists have pursued in the history of art. From a non-believer’s point of view, religious depictions belong to some form of utopian art. Much later art movements proposed to bring art closer to people’s lives by spreading decorative art to objects of the daily lives, like furniture, dresses, jewelry. Different forms of experimentation with materials or art styles reveal a taste for freedom of expression, sometimes of a utopian kind, at least at the time of experimenting. Abstract art opens up thought spaces which may appear like verylong shots into a very distant future. Science-fiction is of course a well known form of dealing with and representing utopian ideas to larger audiences. Maybe it is this curated space of utopia which many people seek when going to exhibitions and galleries. (Image: Giovanni Bellini, Resurrection of Christ, Gemäldegalerie Berlin). 

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Art Station

Mobility takes time. All people who travel frequently know the long waiting times at train stations. Be for commuting between places or long distance travel, we can hardly escape from the moments when time gets long and longer. The Paris train station Gare de l’Est has brought art in form of posters to the station as a kind of accessible micro-exhibition. The cooperation with the Petit Palais in Paris allows to give more people a taste or at least an appetizer to art work. Most people rush by, but some spend some minutes reading, inhaling exhaling, and continue to their destination or next date. In the battle for attention such initiatives like art in the station hold societies together. People with very different horizons cross each other for short moments in time.

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Words versus Balls

At the occasion of a visit to the “Deutsche Dom” in Berlin, which hosts the historical exhibition of the “Deutsche Bundestag”, I came across the memorable transcript of the speech by Bundespräsident Steinmeier (Image below), which he gave on 2022-2-13. The German President’s words come across as a forceful defense of freedom and democracy as a matter of mind and heart, and against the authoritarian leaders who keep constructing palaces of ice and golf resorts. (“Mögen die Autoritären doch ihre Eispaläste und Golfressorts bauen. Nichts davon ist stärker, nichts leuchtet heller als die Idee der Freiheit und Demokratie in den Köpfen und Herzen der Menschen!”, p.18). There is indeed an ongoing battle on which kind of diplomacy is more effective, words or playing golf together. Apparently the Finnish prime minister seems to be quite keen to play balls with President Trump on the golf course to ensure continued support of the 1000 km Russian Finnish border. Maybe, playing Ping Pong with the Chinese leadership might be more effective in balancing the trade books between Europe and China, just as much as golfing might do the trick with the current Trump administration. What’s your handicap in the golf and ping pong tournament of  international politics.

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Futures for Amazonia

Diversity is the treasure of humanity. This was and remains a permanent challenge as thinking in multiple perspectives is taxing our minds. Simplicity can be a value in science or mathematical proofs, but cybernetics teach is also about the usefulness of a “requisite variety”. The exhibition Amazonia at the Quai Branly in Paris takes us on a journey through richness of the Amazonas, its people, biodiversity and landscapes. First of all the curators Varison and Baniwa manage to accompany us in opening up our minds to non-western concepts, which have for centuries been considered as less developed, but only from a western point of view or imagined sort of cultural superiority. Even nowadays the West seems to be convinced that for the liberation of, for example Venezuela, only a western power can achieve this. The 300 different indigenous peoples of Amazonia have lived through hundreds of years of threats to preserve their cultures. They have managed and they have inherited and still develop multiple ideas about “futures” of the Amazonas region. In just 100 days this exhibition has reached more than 100.000 visitors. Most of them will be convinced of a future and, yes, futures for Amazonia. 

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Time – The Clock

Time keeps puzzling us. The 24 hours of concatenated clips from well-known cinema films are a bit overwhelming or even lengthy. However, this spurs lots of time to reflect on time, on a kind of meta level. We see the clock or clocks ticking in all sorts of situations and environments. Nearly all emotional states can be interpreted relative to a time stamp provided by a clock. Christian Marclay’s oeuvre is screened at the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin at a time when we feel multiple clocks ticking at the same time. For the sociologist, there is time on the macro-societal level, like overall socioeconomic development, but also individual time. A single person or a single moment in time may have very different macro-social implications. The possibility to live through the cineastic interpretations of ten to, as opposed to, ten past the hour, are interpreted by us with very different meanings. In a longer or historical sense, the timing of time does not matter that much. Point in time or time as duration, that is the question. Art in cinema can play with this like rock around The Clock. Don’t ask me how much time I spent watching, thinking and feeling through time in this movie exhibition, Should we always measure time with a clock.  Want it or not, we measured by our smartphones all the time and on multiple timelines.

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Between micro and de-facto state

In political science we distinguish between small, micro-states and territories or regions that are defined as de-facto states. Björn Boman (2025) has put the wealthy states of Monaco, Lichtenstein and San Marino into the micro-states category. On the contrary, Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Donetsk and Luhansk fall under the label of de-facto states with more controlled access as well as under Russian influence using brutal force to control the zone of Russian influence. Due to its size Ukraine as a whole has been able to resist the Russian forces to be degraded to a de-facto state only. The military and technical ingenuity of a well educated workforce allowed the Ukraine leadership to not only counter the Russian invasion, but also to mobilize enormous support from western democracies in form of weapons, financial and humanitarian assistance including millions of refugees over the last 4 years. Size of territory has entered the equation or balance whether to belong to a the micro- or de-facto state category. In the new multipolar international political arena “the sovereign state” has become a more hybrid concept as well. Micro-states have handled the difference between full internal sovereignty and only partial external sovereignty already for years, the new multipolar international arena is being transformed rapidly in this direction. Choose your camp or align with a sufficient number of countries to form an internal and external sovereign area.

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Konzerthaus Organ

In the Espresso Concert series we have had the chance to listen to young talented musicians. On 2026-1-7 Julian Emanuel Becker charmed the audience with 5+1 pieces in the “Großer Saal“ on the Jehmlich Organ (4 manuals, 74 registers, 5811 pipes). The program ranged from Bruhns, Bach, Mendelssohn Bartholdy to 2 pieces by Jehan Alain, which made for an interesting surprise. Mastering this huge Konzerthaus organ with impressive skills at just 20 years of age caught the attention of the Berlin audience including the tourists on visits. The enthusiasm of Julian Emanuel Becker for his instrument and the brief introductions he gave himself to each piece created a unique learning as well as musical experience for the entire audience irrespective of age and prior expertise. The „Espresso addicts“ of the Konzerthaus even took the chance to chat with the young organist to learn more about the marvelous instrument and the next steps in his promising career. The studies in Paris at the Conservatoire have been important steps in the careers of formidable pianists and composers for more than 200 years. Becker will surely return to Berlin to give concerts again. Try to catch a seat, if you can. (Image: Julian Emanuel Becker 2026-1-7 at the Konzerthaus Jehmlich Organ)

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Premium for silence

People are willing to pay a premium on housing prices for a more silent environment. In the study Enrico Moretti & Harrison Wheeler (2025) estimate that the construction of a silencing wall near a noisy traffic junction or road will increase prices for every decibel of noise reduction by about 3%. Distances closer to the noise shields get higher increases and this mechanism works even up to 400 meters away from the isolation. The investment in decibel noise reductions (not statistical noise) meets a willingness to pay a premium on housing prices. Investment in positive environmental effects (silence) have an obvious marketable premium value. This is most likely just the obverse effect that noise nearby housing is penalized and part of the social mechanism of gentrification. Housing prices and rental costs are known to be powerful drivers of gentrification as well.

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Metabolic harm

At the beginning of the 21st century the lack of physical activity for large parts of society has become a major risk of and cause of metabolic harm. We have become used to a sedentary lifestyle and the digital access to distractions and information have encouraged further immobility. Alex Broom et al. (2025) stress the importance to include social and governmental interventions into the many existing medical, pharmacological and technological interventions. The authors advocate a rather holistic approach to really make a difference. The obesity trends cause metabolic harm of an  unprecedented size. We have to rethink mobility patterns and other behavioral changes into our daily routines to bring back more stimulation to our metabolic system.

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Rotational energy

We all know rotational energy from our bicycles. lighting used to come from a small rotational energy source attached to a wheel (dynamo light) which produced sufficient electricity to lighten a front and back light. The use of rotational energy, however, is much older than the application on the bicycles, which have been largely replaced by batteries and LED-lights. The first so-called Post-mills stem from Normandy as well as the Rhine riversides around 1200. It took about 800 years to make a splendid comeback as energy source in the age of the „All electric society“ of the 21st century in the making. The „Deutsche Museum of Technology“ in Berlin has great examples of such rotational energy sources on display in the museum‘s park. You can walk a path through the past and future of rotational energy sources.

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Utopian Mobility

From time to time we have to reconsider our investments in mobility infrastructure. What seemed to make sense in the 50s,60s or 70s often makes no sense 60 years later. Highways, which separate city districts like walls belong to rather utopian visions about City life and mobility, progress and living conditions. These utopian individualized mobility solutions don’t seem to serve us as well as we believed, or were made to believe, more than half a century ago. Empty highways midday at the turn of 2025/26 tell their own story about liabilities from the past and outdated ideas of technical and social progress. Sharing solutions have become very popular and the younger generations adopt already different mobility patterns than older generations. Each generation adheres to its own more or less utopian mobility model, adjustments are likely to be made accordingly. 

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Vaim and the sea

Vaim is not a person, it is an imaginary place, somewhere next to the sea, rather small in size, and in conventional terms nothing much is happening there, aging persons go about their daily routines in their more or less splendid isolation, speaking to someone is a rare act of achievement, most of the talk is speaking to yourself not even really thinking aloud, just ruminating on and on for days, sometimes weeks or maybe years in a person’s life 

Okay, my exercise in “slow writing”, a wee bit attempting to copy Jon Fosse, kept me going for 10 lines before the end of my paragraph. Jon Fosse keeps going without the end of a sentence  punctuation for 66 pages in the German translation by Hinrich Schmidt-Henkel. Reading the three phrases of Vaim, each as an extended poem and an “homage” to life from three intertwined perspectives, resembles a cubist painting and, maybe, at least for me, each one like the novella “The old man and the sea” by Ernest Hemingway. It is also a triptych in the religious tradition of paintings, just as much as “Vaim” follows in the footsteps of “Waiting for Godot” by Samuel Beckett. For all those who don’t care about any previous literature just read Jon Fosse as an endless love story of platonic relationships, silence and romance,  next to the sea. Please, don’t pass on your copy of Vaim to school-aged children as they might become very creative about punctuation. The only allowed end of a sentence are occasional question marks, which is a nice philosophical twist in Jon Fosse‘s literal exploration of time and love. 

 

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Dystopian Utopia

Anybody who had warned about the disastrous effects of global warming 10 years before 2025 would have been branded as telling a dystopian tale. However, according to the report by the climate scientist and the “World Weather Attribution Network”, the year 2025 has been among the 3 worst years for humanity with thousands killed and millions displaced due to extreme weather events on our planet. It is all to easy to turn the page and focus on a New Year for those unaffected, but the costs of these man-made disasters have reached dystopian levels already, much faster than projected 10 years ago. 10 years after the Paris Agreement the efforts to cut emissions haven proven to be insufficient. The consequences of this failure hit the poorest people and regions the hardest. Beyond the importance to monitor and to keep track of the events the compensation for people who suffer the “externalities” of unrestrained emissions has to be addressed with international solidarity as a basic human principle.

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Utopian Antifascists

Next to the exhibition on “Global Fascism” in Berlin in 2025-12 there was a banner on the wall, which stated “Antifascism as Utopia” (see image below). This statement invites the question, whether an antithesis can serve as a positive utopian idea guiding large numbers of people. It is certainly necessary that all people who subscribe to democratic principles and human values should be able to unite under the banner of antifascism, but the ways to pursue this goal are manifold. This makes the claim of an utopian objective a bit more obvious and, at the same time, more plausible as a potentially overarching objective. The statement might well turn out to be the defining statement or key visual of the year 2026 with rising nationalist and in some places also fascist ideas and rhetoric. Thoughts and words might be only precursors of more such actions in the coming months. 

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Saint-Simon Utopia

Towards the end of the 18th century and during the early 19th century, the early signs of what the industrial revolution would mean for the working people became visible. Saint-Simon had lived through the ups and downs of the French revolution himself and had been to the Americas with La Fayette before he developed his utopian socialist vision of a unified class of working people, which for him included blue as well as white collar workers. At the advent of the 2nd industrial revolution through general and agentic Artificial Intelligence (AI) in 2025, we shall most likely witness a renewed interest in utopian scenarios and grand ideas of what the future of technology, society and humanity might be like. In 2026 we shall re-read Saint-Simon quite a bit in order to learn about ways to make sense of arising trends and how to come up with a positive utopia that can motivate people to thrive again for more equality within and between societies. 

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Q Q Utopia

Projections into the future, the painting of a futuristic image or an utopian narrative can be based on a quantitative or a qualitative approach. A quantitative projection into the year 2100, for example, is form of creating an utopian vision of quantitative developments. Projecting the small reduction of working hours into a very distant future will eventually approach zero hours (tous sublime). Alternatively, utopian scenarios for qualitative characteristics of work and employment range from full health and safety or “cure yourself by work” (?really, “Arbeit macht frei”) to AI and robots designed to solve major laborious tasks and challenges for us. It is important to differentiate between the qualitative and quantitative forms of utopian visions. The time frames matter, too. In politics various combinations of utopian perspectives have frequently been combined. The human mind’s capability to project itself into the future explains our tendency to come up with utopian ideas or scenarios irrespective of our ability for rationality. We better acknowledge these human characteristics rather than insist on an either, or image of ourselves.  

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Positive negative Utopia

We have been used to distinguish between a positive or a negative utopia. The idea of a paradise is usually associated with a positive utopia, however, from the perspective of mankind being unable to live together without the idea of God being the ultimate arbitrator, this is more like a negative utopia. The industrial revolution and communism as the utopia to spread wealth equally across generations and all people, have been turned into negative utopia by dictatorships and authoritarian regimes. The fascist ideas of superiority of a race has also turned into negative horror and Nazi-terror. Hence, skepticism is in order, if either form of utopia is advocated. There are numerous examples of unintended or not explicitly stated consequences that have to be considered as well. (Image: Extract from Salvador Dali, Looming Danger Alarm, 1934, Neue Nationalgalerie, Stiftung Pietzsch)  

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Future of work

The beginning of the 3rd millennium has brought about several fundamental changes of work and employment. What had previously been thought of as utopian in the realm of work, has become a normal feature of work. Just like in the historically grounded, utopian perspective described by Bernard Gazier “Tous sublimes” (2003) we have a growing group of employees and self-employed persons who enjoy privileged positions on the labor market with sufficiently high salaries and access to mobility on the labor market at their own discretion. In addition to these examples described in Gazier’s utopian perspective, the 2020s added permission of remote work from anywhere and use of AI-assisted technology and robotics. A previously utopian view of the future of work has become a reality for many more people nowadays. The utopian element no longer is the how this world of work might look like, but how many people will enjoy the benefits of the technological progress. With a substantial increase of the efficiency and productivity of work, the distribution and sharing of the fruits shall become even more important. We have entered into a new phase of “the brave new world” of work as of 2025. (Image: Graffiti Berlin 2025-12).

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Communist Utopia

Putin has not only killed thousands of his own people, but he he has also killed the communists’ utopia of a better world and future, if only private property would be replaced by a top down, one party rule of a leadership that pretends to act on behalf of the people. Young Russians have little choice than to follow orders, learn how to bribe superiors not to be sent to the killing fields or be sanctioned. Putin has put an end to the ideas of Glasnost and Perestroika in Russia and utopian ideas about communism as well. He must have sensed it during his time in Eastern Germany that without brutality the Soviet union will not survive for long. As soon as he came back to Russia he prepared the shameless abuse of his power and ideas about a law-based socialist system in favor of the return of the military state. Borders are for those who believe in a rule-based international legal system. Changed to this international legal framework are hard to believe by European nations, but have to be accepted as a new form of “Realpolitik” in the international arena. (Image: Graffiti in Brussels Mont des Arts 2022-3-1) 

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Make someone believe

Some people are very successful in making others believe they are or can be part of something very big. Selling grand, utopian ideas to people is an old recipe to get people to support a person who might have great ideas and appears to be capable of obtaining this utopian goal. The Romans built their amphitheaters for the people to keep them interested in the Roman empire. Nazi-Germany made Germans believe in the grand idea to build the new city of Germania in place of the city of Berlin. To fool people further they needed to come up with ever greater plans and the test drills and small beginnings where realized irrespective of the war efforts and terrible losses of lives. Utopian plans, a bit like MAGA-mania, need ever greater utopian designs so that followers still adhere to the basic utopia. It is amazing to what extent people want to be fooled rather than proceed in small steps. It has been dangerous for humanity in many respects, but the utopian sagas keep popping up.  (Schwerbelastungskörper, Berlin) 

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Perestroika – Glasnost

The extraordinary leadership of Michael Gorbatschow with his introduction and subsequent implementation of the principles of Perestroika and Glasnost has changed the lives of millions of people in Eastern Europe to the better. The independence of occupied countries became feasible. The aim to build a “socialist state based on law” (p. 86) and the belief in the power of the people without differentiation of what information is for all and what information is reserved to closed party circles and leadership were perceived as sweeping reforms. More than 25 years later there is little left over from these radical reforms. Putin and his narrow circles have locked in people and their freedom of expression again. The practice of Perestroika and Glasnost have been relegated to a distant dream again. (Image: book cover Gorbatschow).  

 

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Xmas as information sharing

In modern theories and tests of the importance of information sharing, social learning in groups and the spreading of information in social networks are known to be powerful mechanisms. Hierarchies and survival might be at issue. In the animal model based on mice it the scent that is the byte of information. For humans thinking of information or narratives are probably more appropriate. The story of Xmas has been spread rapidly and the kings arriving to bring presents testify to this powerful mechanism of information sharing in social networks even before the so-called social media existed. Ever since, written accounts of the story were added in addition to regular meetings of persons who continued to share the story. Add music and theatre to the transmission of the story and the mechanism reaches even broader audiences, and maybe devoted believers. As behavioral flexibility might increase as well, more than one interpretation or ritual of the same narrative is likely to arise over time. In the animal model food is the major reward system. For humans the reward systems are more complex with forms of delayed gratification. Information sharing about the importance of delayed gratification takes us into new spheres of humanity versus rational choice. (M-P Brussels). 

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Peak Refugees

The number of refugees in the world has stabilized at a very high level. According to the data from the UN Refugee agency (UNHCR) until mid 2025 the number stands at 36.6 million people. With slight decreases in the last 2 years, the challenges remain at a high level. The 10 top countries hosting the largest numbers of refugees are Iran, Turkey, Columbia, Germany, Uganda, Pakistan, Chad, Peru, Poland and Ethiopia (compare Fig 4 of report). It is particularly remarkable that this list of countries is relatively little associated with a country’s level of average income. Humanitarian concerns and being a neighboring country play an important role. We all hope that we have witnessed peak refugees and that an assisted and safe return will be a feasible option for many of them eventually. Although we know that many people suffer from authoritarian regimes and, for many years, don’t have a return option in sight. (Image: Documentation Center on refugees in Berlin) 

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Good or bad

We have been taught by Shakespeare “to be or not to be, that is the question”. In political science we have pondered the question in a slightly augmented form. “to be good or bad, that is our question”. The basic image of women and men in society has been a subject throughout the history of ideas. For those who believe in the good nature of mankind, they tend to find reasons to believe that eventually mankind will find a way towards a peaceful cohabitation on our planet (there is no planet B yet for humans). On the other hand, each outbreak of violence and war are considered as a confirmation that mankind will always recur to some form of violence, even after extensive periods of peaceful cohabitation. According to the evidence presented by Meller, Michel, van Schaik, referring back to Kant, trade between people and nations is likely to prevent more violent relationships (p. 330). One of the major conclusions over the long term view of mankind is, that the periods of war have been far shorter and more rare than a focus on the last 3000 years seems to suggest. Maybe, “to be good or bad” is just a question of demographics of being too many at the same time in the same place.  Population growth and population density might be a powerful driver of “being good or bad”.  (Image: Delacroix, Last words of Marc Aurel)

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How could this have happened

The latest thorough reflection on how the Nazi-terror could have stopped or being prevented remains an important question in our time. The more we see countries descend into the authoritarian regime types, the more we have to know our lessons from previous historical experiences. Götz Aly made a great contribution to this literature. He points our attention to the collective euphoria the Nazis (NSDAP) managed to make people believe, by at the same time blaming others for the past crises. People just wanted to believe the fake narrative of a promising future (p. 175) for a society based on social exclusion. The pattern, unfortunately, seems to find its replication in other parts of the world nowadays. This is a very slippery road which often leads to disaster rather than relief. Easy or catchy answers are preferred by many people rather than the nuances of well-informed differentiated options. Patience in social development is a collective virtue, but often misunderstood as a form of conservatism, which is is something very different.

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Birds nutrition

The winter diet for birds is less varied than during the other seasons. Human assistance seems to be appreciated as well even if food supply in inner cities appears to be abundant with huge amounts of wasted food in streets ans backyards. The different diets of different species are not easy to cater for. It is a two way learning and adaptation process. With a narrower range of birds feeding in cities, the task is easier than it used to be. Bringing back more diversity of birds in general starts with offering different nutrients as well. A long way to go.

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Documentation Inclusiveness

If we don’t measure it, it will not improve. Many public institutions and private organizations make great efforts to improve inclusiveness in day to day operations, but many barriers are still all around us. Both need monitoring in form of data bases and visual documentation. In a Berlin museum inclusiveness appears to be the most natural thing, nothing to worry about or to call out “wokeism”. Just small improvements in basics and everyone feels welcome.

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Rilke’s Advice

One of the poems by Rainer Maria Rilke is entitled “You don’t have to understand life”.
And the first line of the first paragraph just repeats the programmatic sentence of the quite revolutionary romantic movement. Following a century of the enlightenment, which narrowly developed and focused on rationality and Kant’s “Critic of pure reasoning”, the authors of the romantic movement were eager to explore the world beyond reasoning again.
“Du mußt das Leben nicht verstehen,
dann wird es werden wie ein Fest.”
Rilke brings back the exuberant, Dionysian element into literature and captured the new spirit of his time. After a period of fast innovation in the sciences and applications of them in day-to-day life, Rilke revels in the innocent days and years during childhood, where youth is simply asking for more without hindsight. In doing so: “Life will be a like a feast”. So be it, we should like to add. (Rilke wrote a poem « Das Karussell » with subtitle Jardin du Luxembourg, Image below)

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State capitalism

It is the 2025-12-17 edition of the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) that touts President Trump’s governance as “state capitalism”. Through a listing of recent state interference into the functioning of the economy, the branding of this as state capitalism by the capitalist-owned press is without precedent. The President’s office has obliged NVIDIA to pay 25% of revenue from its China business on advanced semi-conductors to the Trump-run government. We might call this a kind of kick-back or blackmailing, if you want to expand or keep your business with a specific client. Major institutions like the Central Bank (Federal Reserve in the USA) are tackled to follow state orders rather than keep an eye on their independent assessment of facts about the economy. Nomination of governor positions have been subject to persistent interference from the president’s office rather than the government taking a moderating role of divergent interests, competences and lobbying.
The medium and long-term inefficiencies of an “at-will economy” have several examples, many in South American economies. The US economy is moving South in several respects, with the loss of the value of the $ compared to the €, maybe even devaluation is used as a strategic economic weapon. (Image: Ballroom in Chateau Vaux-le-Vicompte, France)