Social Science – Schoemann

16/01/202615/01/2026

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).

14/01/202613/01/2026

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.

13/01/202612/01/2026

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.

12/01/202611/01/2026

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.

10/01/202609/01/2026

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.

08/01/202607/01/2026

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.

07/01/202606/01/2026

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.

06/01/202605/01/2026

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.

05/01/202604/01/2026

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.

02/01/202601/01/2026

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.

01/01/202631/12/2025

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.

31/12/202530/12/2025

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.

30/12/202529/12/2025

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)

29/12/202528/12/2025

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).

26/12/202525/12/2025

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).

23/12/202523/12/2025

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)

22/12/202521/12/2025

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.

21/12/202520/12/2025

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.

20/12/202519/12/2025

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.

18/12/202517/12/2025

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)

17/12/202516/12/2025

Generation Hope

The whole of Europe has good reasons to take a careful look at the stunning protests organized by the young generation in Bulgaria (Le Monde, 2025-12-13). With spectacular repeated demonstrations in the center of Sophia, the young people attempted to stop a government that is likely to sink further into corruption. It is this generation of young people that have experienced and/or lived in other European countries or in other Western-style democracies around the globe that have enough of corruption in politics and social systems more generally. The well-educated Bulgarian youth has managed to overthrow a government that had been subject to pressure from corrupt forced. It is not easy to get rid of corrupt politicians and powerful business interests as a system based on merits rather than ability to pay remain fragile in the first few years of such a transition. It needs a sizable “Generation Hope” as I would like to call these young enthusiasts of democracies. The message reaches well beyond Bulgaria and gives hope to all those whose political systems deteriorate into authoritarianism across the globe. It took 20 years to build this “Generation Hope” and mobile youth that takes home the messages and learnings from other democracies. Based on statistics from Eurostat we know about the strong in-migration from Turkey and Russia into Bulgaria. Youth is particularly likely to leave authoritarian regimes to seek a better future in democracies, for example as part of the Generation Hope” in Bulgaria. (Image: Cour constitutionel Paris)

16/12/202515/12/2025

БЪЛГАРИЯ Bulgaria

The expectations of the entry of Bulgaria into the EURO-Zone are high towards the end of 2025. On the 1^st of January 2026 we have new coins circulating in the Euro-countries. The addition of a country to the European currency yields insights into this country’s own cultural heritage. Piece by piece we learn, if we want to, to take a closer look into the more and more obsolete practice to handle currency in form of coins.
I cherish some of the coins with specific meaning to me (see image below, city of Trier, Willy Brandt, Chalk coast on Baltic sea). My small collection of coins from Greece allow me to refresh my Greek alphabet, words and historical landmarks of democracy. The circulation of Euro-coins with Bulgarian inscriptions in the Cyrillic alphabet will broaden our horizon again. Beyond the national features, we cherish the regional or federal organization in some countries, that feature their regional hotspots within this European cultural heritage. With a highly mobile Bulgarian population, not only within the EU, we shall soon see more Eastern Euro-coins with Cyrillic letters in our pockets and collections. … can’t wait for it … Ukraine in 202x, maybe 203x.

12/12/202511/12/2025

Konzerthaus Espresso

Classical music in classicist architecture sounds like a perfect match. The audience is packed with people mostly 60+ years of age. One of the spectators happily admitted that without the espresso before the concert she would have a hard time to follow closely because after lunch at 2 p.m it is time for a rest rather than excitement.
The series of short concerts at lunchtime suits particular audiences. It is probably the only concert series where the queue in front of the toilet of men is equally long than the one for women. The short concert program allows for more experimental formats as well. Musicians who develop a solo program of shorter than standard concert hall duration can appear in high reputation locations and gain experience of performing in such prestigious settings.
With a “Zugabe” from the performer, but also in form of a small piece of chocolate for the audience at the exit, 21st century, classical Berlin knows how to charm its aging audience and population. Young performers learn that the mature audiences don’t bite any more. In case the sound and peaks become too modern they just adapt sound level of their hearing aids. It is perfect for all generations.

11/12/202510/12/2025

Make Russia pay

The initiative from the European Parliament to make Russia pay for its destruction in Ukraine could use about 200 billion Euro of frozen assets from Russia. Until a peace agreement is reached that sum could serve as a guarantee for infrastructure rebuilding in Ukraine already during the war by Russia on Ukraine’s civil infrastructure, like energy supply, airports and railways. It is an accomplishment of transparency to be able to trace the Russian assets. The largest amount is stored in Belgian banks according to the material distributed by the European Parliament. All these funds make up for a substantial effort that otherwise tax payers of other European countries will have to spend. The cooperation in the EU and beyond is at yet another test. Belgium plays a rather strange role in this respect as it benefits the most from many European Institutions and lobby groups being based there.

05/12/202503/12/2025

Digital Environment

We get accustomed to our digital environment through the routine use of applications without even thinking about it. Over years of just using only one browser or office package, we forgot to make conscious choices in companies and our private computers. However, digital sovereignty asks us to take back our control of these computer systems before they take control of us. The AI-boom will make a lot of things easier for us, without knowing much about the technology behind them. Just talking to your smartphone you will be able to achieve many tasks or searches without many of the other steps that were necessary before. The knowledge to command a typewriter or keyboard will be more and more obsolete unless you really need to change something profound on your computer, like the operating system or an expensive office program. Keep exercising yourself with alternative and new software and you’ll stay the master of your digital environment.

04/12/202502/12/2025

Installation Guide Linux

Use the info available in various help forums, maybe videos.
Optional: Check size of your hard disc for backup.
Why not renew your backup on an external drive or USB-stick now?
Test your system loading interruption key combination.
Upon RESTART on most systems you use press Power-up key, follwed by either ESC or DEL or F1, F2, F10, F11 key, while power-up runs to load your BIOS.
Have an empty! USB sticks (4 GB+) ready.
Download the for example the latest Linux Mint 22.2 on it (and flash it using etcher on USB from hard drive, if downloaded to hard disk).
Power-up computer with loading system from USB-key not hard drive. (Select option!)
Remember it has English keyboard as default when you connect your WLAN.
Basics are ready!
Keep starting from USB or after some further tests of components install Linux to the hard disk and say goodbye to a slow and costly Windows and Office packages.
Donate to whoever supported you. Perhaps your local repair shop.
Spread the word and help others.

03/12/202502/12/2025

Sustainability in computing

As the huge size of data centres become visible for everybody we begin to question the sustainability of computing infrastructures as well. The need for energy and water resources (for cooling) grow in line with the growth of data centers, the whole issue of input of resources and global trade has to be re-assessed. Based on European trade data, we know that computer software is heavily imported from the US, whereas we import the hardware to run the software in even higher shares from China. In view of the AI boom, this risks to worsen the European trade balance in the coming years. European digital sovereignty suffers as well, if we do not act upon it (compare Figure 8 in Eurostat report).
An easy fix is the shift to more computing-efficient software, which does not need or rely on more processor and memory imports from China for the hardware and imports of services like operating systems or office software from the US.
Just changing to Linux and OpenOffice lets you keep your hardware for several more years. Sustainability in computing isn’t hard to do. It is just a matter of determination. We can do it, if we really want to do it. The more rare earths become rare and more expensive, the larger the amount of people and businesses, who shall think twice about this.
European Digital sovereignty can work as a driver of sustainability in computing as well.