Category: Life course

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Polychrome tree

Maybe it is just a matter of taste whether you prefer a tree polychrome i. e. in full colors in spring or more monochrome during winter in almost black against a white background. Others might argue that it is not a singular version or time of the tree’s growth cycle, but the steady change. In any case the same tree never looks the same before and after rain. The only certainty is “the times are a changing”, so do our preferences. They are changing as well from time to time. Few persons have similar preferences over the life course and business, marketing and societal changes drive such changes. Often we hardly notice them. Trees are a perfect point of reference to check your personal preferences. Our smartphones track our preferences just by analyzing frequencies of photos taken over months or years. They have a very differentiated polychrome view of us. The reasons to take ugly pictures might confuse the AI-assisted exploitation of our polychrome or monochrome preferences. 

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Tree as sculpture

Nature has lots of treasures to offer. A tree is just a splendid sculpture if we take the time to look at them. Over years, decades, sometimes even centuries, a sophisticated sculpture arises due to the imprints of sun, wind and rain over time. There are so many trees around us if we take care of them a little bit better . The simple appreciation of nature’s beauty can be the start of a longer journey. Many people remember a specific tree (Lindenbaum) that had some importance during their childhood or adolescence. Some even choose a tree to be buried nearby. Our life course reflects the growing of a tree. In some cultures you are considered an accomplished human being only if you have planted a tree. Examples of a miniature version of a tree are bonsai trees from the Japanese tradition. The real treasures of life might be just in your neighborhood.

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Bob the AI-enhanced builder

Most kids today and GenZ youth have come across the TV-series “Bob the builder”. Baby boomer parents have been worried about the work ethos which might be the hidden agenda of the videos. In 2026 we can now draft a new episode called “Bob the AI-builder”. Many episodes could be re-written when Bob and his team have access and get training with AI toolboxes. The study published by ActivTrak (2026-3-11) reports that companies make on average use of 7+ different AI-tools, up from 2 in 2023. This constitutes a hint that complexity at work is increasing as each tool has to be managed and the boundaries of its use need to be respected. As most search engines offer an AI-short cut to search it is not surprising that now 80% of the workforce use some form of AI in 2026. The productivity increases in quantitative terms as more output can be achieved in the same time or slightly shorter work days. However, workload is moved even more to weekends now.
The upcoming challenge through AI-tools is the reduced “the AI users’ focus time”, which suffered 9% compared to non-users. For Bob the AI-enhanced builder this means “AI is being used as an additional productivity layer, not a substitute for existing work”. The overall workload is not reduced by AI. The intensity of work increased between 2023-2025.
There is still a puzzle in the data. Multitasking (+12%) and collaboration (+34%) both increased, but the duration of an average focused session and focus efficiency dropped. The challenges for employees increase. Handling simultaneous processes and keeping an open mind to collaboration are key competences for Bob the AI-enhanced builder.
(Image: LEGO-shop in Paris 2026-2)

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Trust or not to trust

… that is the question. The social science research on trust, distrust or corruption is expanding rapidly. As in some other fields of research the increase in research itself becomes an issue of trust in science as the uncontrolled use of AI has produced an inflation of pseudo-scientific papers as well (Link). However, the finding by Spadaro et al. (2020) that interpersonal trust (trusting beliefs and behavior) is influenced by a general feeling of security as well as trust in institutions is supported by experimental and interview-based research.
There are still many challenges to the research in this field. The “feeling of security” has an overall component, but also several subcategories like the objective or subjective feeling of job security, which is dependent on national and collective systems of employment protection legislation. Economic security or security of a sufficient retirement income might be at times considered more important than (in-)security in cities or the countryside. Differences of the mechanisms by gender and age have to be studied in detail as well, which necessitates large data collections on the issues. Churches that used to be considered as trustworthy institutions or the police forces have been accused of abuses of the high trust placed in them in the last few years. These 2 examples demonstrate that trust itself is a dynamic issue with ups and downs over time, rarely constant over time. Game theoretical considerations add further to the view that trust might be used as a strategy just like economic power. (Image: Cathedrale de Meaux) 

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1000+ entries

From time to time it is useful to review whether a project is still on track or has developed biases, which may run for some time without reviews. Just like the United Nations Strategic Development Goals (SDGs) have been set 1bout 10 years ago, I do scan my own publishing project whether I still cover the SDGs in a larger spread. The goals need monitoring and I shall redo my own review as well.
As the number of blog entries on a daily basis has reached 1000+ entries, a review becomes a bit of a statistical exercise. As a kind of anniversary reward, a publication of more collections beyond the AI-reader or the Paris Olympics 2024 reader should be fun. However, there is so much work with checking and updating links, that the e-book, pdf and epub publications have become a time-consuming effort.
The search function implemented on this digital publication format is so fast and powerful that I am myself delighted again and again about the digging up of previous entries, concepts and evidence retained.
Time is a treasure and a value in its own right. Test it!

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Being On Time

“Being on time” has a different meaning,  depending on the society and culture you are living in. Of course, this tends to reinforce stereotypes and raises expectations about the punctuality, the respect of time as a means to effectively synchronize human behavior and its interaction with technology. Train or bus services are commonly referred to in this context. However, our interest here is with the wider margins or, statistically speaking, the normal or not so normal distribution around a specific point in time.
Colloquially we refer to these time periods as being late (more common) or as being early (less common). Add to this perspective that you may be very late (early) or too late (early) and we are going to really deal with the spice of life. Just think of the last instances when you were late, very late or too late.
The same rationale of a “statistical view of time” can inform the sociology of technology. Some innovations can come too early for society to be ready to deal with it, or they may come too late to save us from disaster.
Genetic engineering of human cells is an issue in this regard, both too early for wider applications, but too late for persons in need of curing a specific diagnosis. There is an additional social-psychological aspect to the cognitive process of being on time. It is the cognitive dissonance of what you expect from yourself or somebody else and the actual experience of not being on time which causes stress. Societal norms of being on time can contribute substantially as well to the overall mental load associated with time. Take it easy.  

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Holistic public health

Based on case study in Queensland Australia, Boocock et al. (2026) propose the wider application of holistic public health laws. Due to effects of global warming the local burden of disease may rise due to larger scale floods and subsequent growth of for example mosquito populations that transmit infectious diseases. It will be necessary for societies to understand the processes behind the growth of mosquito populations and what can be done to prevent and protect oneself from the consequences. This is not only an environmental issue, but also an issue of continuous learning across all strata of society. Neighborhoods tend to suffer the same impact of chemicals used or the spreading of diseases like Dengue or malaria. The case study makes a convincing argument about the intrinsic relationship between the social and environmental processes at work. 

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Time horizons

There is an interesting stream of research in psychology that investigates the future time perspective of individuals. There is a considerable variation across the life span (Katana et al. 2020) where older persons report shorter time perspectives in such studies. At the same time we know that older persons think more about and how to transmit to following generations. Additionally, there exists a less well understood link between shifts in future time perspectives and overall societal, demographic and biological life expectancy. Taken together this allows to discuss  time horizons more generally on the level of social development. In political science it is customary to assume the future time perspectives of politicians to be the next election unless there is ineligibility after repeated terms in office. If politicians start talking about a time horizon of 1000 years like the Nazi-regime in Germany than the time horizon is likely to be abused as an excuse for atrocities in the present or near future. Beware! (Image: Exhibit in « Deutscher Dom » Berlin on NS-State, 2026).

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Exercise and neurons

The neurons in the brain have an active part even in training effects of physical exercise. Morgan Kindel et al. (2026) have accomplished a rigorous test that demonstrates the involvement of brain neurons when mice were exercising repeatedly. Training effects were larger if the neurons of brain cells were involved as well. The cell’s learning ability encodes the experience of exercise and is prepared for a repetition of the exercise. This is roughly what happened in their experiments in my own words. Runners might know the effect that running on track or treadmill uses up less calories than running cross-country where the brain is more challenged to avoid missteps or loss of orientation. However, the latter are different tasks whereas the former experiments demonstrate that the brain is involved in physical exercise even if we do not notice it. Exercise might spur brain plasticity just by doing it. Hence, just do it.  

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Time in Leadership

We identified already the importance of monitoring in democracies. The same theoretical considerations hold for an analysis of leadership irrespective of the organizational context, be it a government, governmental organization, non-governmental organization, association or private enterprise. In democracies, it is in most cases a constitutional rule that leadership positions are limited in time and it is “best practice” to have clear rules about renewable terms of office as well.
In private enterprises this seems to be of lesser importance, but the issue deserves more close scrutiny, not only by shareholders in case of a shared ownership or stocks. A particular person in the leadership position might be a good match for a company at times of growth or scaling of a start-up, but the same leadership is less likely to be an equally good match for the period of eventual stagnation or shrinkage.
Therefore, as an alternative hypothesis it might be wise to adopt leadership rules similar to filling leadership positions with politicians. Fixed-term and 1 renewal could be worth testing at the leadership level (like in presidential republics, USA or France), even if this does not preclude close monitoring of leadership processes. As a starting point for empirical research, Vogel, Raes, Bruch (2022) offer a toolkit to assess organizational energy and leadership trajectories. Learning from democracies as well as democratic procedures might be a worthwhile leadership model to follow. (Image: ceiling painting in chateau  Vaux le Vicomte)