Category: society

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Archi health

The links between architecture and human health are manifold. There are direct effects of healthy versus unhealthy materials in construction. For the purpose of making buildings fire proof or more resistant to heat asbestos had been used for decades which still causes health hazards nowadays in the removal of this cancerous material. Paint has to be chosen wisely as well as isolation materials. Indirect or second round effects of materials have to be considered additionally. Cement in construction uses a lot of energy in its production and has only been recycled since a few years in significant amounts. Room climate or even psychological effects of architecture have been considered to be important more seriously in recent years. A new discipline entitled “neuro-architecture” may be developed soon. Schools, sports facilities, hospitals or community centers benefit from healthy architecture. Cost benefit analyses which take into account long term effects and even recycling of materials shift the balance much in favor of health considerations also in architecture. “Fast and dirty” will be much more expensive than “slow and healthy”. Future generations will be thankful. (Image: Spreewald Primary school Berlin).

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Marx Home

The home of an influential philosopher, economist and political scientist is not easily presented like a home of a musician, a composer or an author. However, the home of Karl Marx in Trier on the Moselle river succeeds to present the biographical links of growing up in a historic city, the bourgeois upbringing of the young Marx and his formation as an independent and even revolutionary thinker of the economy and society. In 2025 the home is a museum supported by the Friedrich Ebert Foudation with a great online guide and access to additional scientific material. For authors like Karl Marx it is always of interest to follow not only the origin and evolution of the thought process, but also the shifts in the reception of his writings by subsequent generations. This part of the exhibition and an audio guide (downloadable as App).

In 2025 with an apparently ruthless capitalism at work in the biggest economy of the globe, the reminder that the economy is best to be understood as a political economy, which focuses on self-interest and profitable business deals, we find in Karl Marx still a worthwhile reminder of economic development even in the 21st century. The note-taking and studies in Exile in London are well documented in the tiny home and museum. Studying the misery of exploitation in supply chains and international commerce remains a topic of continuing interest as well. 

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Liszt home

In Budapest we can visit one of the longer living places of Franz Liszt or Ferenc Liszt as some Hungarians would insist to call him. The Beethoven trained Carl Czerny offered piano and music classes free of charge to the young Franz Liszt in Vienna at the age of 11. In the biography by Klára Hamburger she describes the Paris years of Liszt from 1823 until 1839 as the most important ones for the pianist and particularly for his later compositions. Born in Hungary, the son of 2 Austrian parents he was trained in Paris by amongst others the Czech professor of the Conservatoire de Paris Antonin Reicha just like Chopin, Flotow or Offenbach. Writing an opera was the “must do” for a composer who aimed for the highest possible career at the time. In a letter to George Sand, Liszt (published 1937) complained already about the social status of musicians in society as servants to the higher ranks of society. Similar to Ravel many years later Liszt was rejected as official scholar by the Conservatoire de Musique and his wish to marry a daughter of noble decent was rejected early in his career. Such experiences probably contributed to his leaning towards the romantic form of expressions in music during most of his compositions. Literature, paintings of the French romantic period and the traveling artist “voyages et pèlerinages” became influential in his creative process. The competition between composers must have been fierce at the time and despite ample opportunities to perform in public and private venues making a living from music wasn’t always easy at the beginning. More than 100 years after his death his compositions are still a challenge for all pianists and the Hungarian Rhapsodies probably his greatest homage to his early childhood.

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Beethoven Home

The home of Beethoven in Bonn is nicely preserved and full of objects related to his life and his creative work. For the musician and composer musical instruments have accompanied him throughout his life. The visit of his home of birth offers a chance to dive into the extraordinary accomplishments of this great figure of the late 18th and early 19th century. His 9th symphony is strong as ever and the European anthem has just more than 200 years since the first performance now. The visit of the museum is still the highlight of Bonn and the App of the Beethoven House offers unique insights into and listening of his manifold compositions. Handwritten notes and a pocketbook of preparations for the symphony demonstrate the all encompassing nature of music for Beethoven. From romantic letters to the romantic music pieces, the museum has it all. Even it is a rather tiny house from the outside the inner life is as huge as it can be. It is advisable to take at least half a day for the visit much more than you would usually take for visit of a museum. The link between the biographical information and listening to linked musical pieces with a chronological context are a unique experience. This spurs the interest to listen or listen again to some of the romantic masterpieces. The App is great also to listen directly to some of the music.

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Sovereignty of People

In France the judiciary has made an influential decision to ban a politician from the possibility to be elected after conviction of fraud. This is just what is to be expected from the 3rd power in the organization of a democratic state. It is surprising that there was a political debate about a person convicted for a crime to be eligible for public office. Several eminent scholars published columns in major newspapers to support the judicial decision. Pierre Rosanvallon focused both on the justification of the verdict and the constitutional role attributed to the judiciary to operate as a kind of memory of the “general will of the people”, the ultimate sovereign. In the struggle of power within a state the judiciary defends individual rights as well as moderates between the executive and the legislative branch. In the theory of democracy this creates a double bind situation in which the individual has a right to be defended against the state and individuals who ask for judgment of cases one against another one. Eric Halphen has also argued in favor of the often neglected role of the judiciary to stand up for the “general interest”, a notion which is not easy to define without historical references in each country and its historical trajectory of democracy. The short debate about the role of the judiciary has strengthened the defensive capacity of the French democracy. Other, even mature democracies may turn their eyes on the decision of the judges involved not to shun away from unpopular decisions. The independence of the judiciary is part of the sovereignty of the people and non-negotiable part of it.

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Owners Dispute

Renovations of housing with distributed ownerships can be a challenging experience. In Berlin you can find a few places with visible long-term disagreement about what kind of modernization should be done. More luxurious additions like balconies or triple window isolation and so on are sometimes hotly debated and contested in courts. For most buildings you cannot spot disagreements on the outside, but some constitute exceptions to this rule. One size does not fit all preferences. In a metropolitan city there is a place and a space for all such exceptions to the rule and most people after years do no longer think about such kind of diversity in preferences or budgets available for modernization. Cities put our level of tolerance to a continuous test. You probably learn to love this or eventually you leave the inner city. There are subtle differences in urban versus rural lifestyles. In the social sciences we continue to try to understand the attraction of cities as on a global scale millions of people flock to cities.

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Own Production

The 21st century has seen many innovations. Solar energy has been around for at least 3 decades now, but the wide spread application and adoption of it through consumers has taken quite a while. Nowadays you can buy a reasonably priced solar panel in your local shop selling gardening tools and home appliances. Solar panels have moved from a niche product to become an ordinary home enhancement product. Previously, the production of energy was highly regulated and restricted to business activities. Hence as producer and consumer of your own energy you became a “prosumer” of energy. Just refrain from selling the energy to your neighbors and you will be happy monitoring your own energy production and your energy consumption throughout the day as well. Suddenly, you might make a few behavioral adjustments to your daily routine. Throughout the day when the sun is shining bright you start to think of what kind of energy consumption you might want to switch on at the time. Charging mobile phones, cooking meals and washing are the obvious candidates that do the trick. Charging a battery of a bicycle(s) is also a good idea. The excursion of the evening or cycling to work the next few days is feasible with this as well. There is a slight danger to check the energy production frequently to optimize the return on your investment. In this case it might be expedient to invest also in a battery to store the energy  for a longer time. No stress for consuming your nuggets, but initial investment costs are substantially higher, albeit prices for batteries have come down significantly in the last few months. “Prosit prosumers”.

 

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Sun power

Statistics of hours of sunshine in Germany and many European countries show an extraordinary amount of sunny days in March 2025 compared to previous years. This opens up a window of opportunity to produce electricity already in a month previously less likely to yield a lot of energy. With more likely 8 months of decent electricity production the efficiency of investments in solar energy reach break even points earlier. Time to think of expanding the share of renewable energy even further. The cost effectiveness is improving in rather unpredictable ways. Economists, of course, consider opportunity costs in this case the alternative to use oil or gas despite the higher levels of CO2 emissions. As the prices are currently lower as well, without an easily predictable trend, solar alternatives are a valid option.

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Retirement Plans

There are debates about the best organization of retirement. The major fault lines lie between public pension systems and systems that are built based on mainly private provision. Retirement plans in either system are subject to constraints. The recent stock market turbulence has increased the amount of uncertainty people face who invested in 401K plans in the US. Some had to take an unannounced hit to their retirement savings due to the loss after Trump’s back and forth policies on tariffs (OECD Pension Outlook). High volatility of stock market prices creates an additional constraint that you are less inclined to retire when your retirement investments have overall a reduced value. You are a bit at the mercy of capital markets even in your retirement decision, irrespective of the difficulty to predict what your retirement funds will yield as returns. Quite an important lesson to keep in mind when comparing retirement systems in OECD countries. It has been all too easy to blame public pension systems for maybe lower short term interests on pension savings. Being subject to an American president concerning your retirement plans is probably not what many countries would like to have. Trump’s choices on tariffs may have consequences we did not expect to affect us so directly.

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Tariffs Trade Deficits

US Tariffs target the US trade deficits across the globe. For a start on the topic it is helpful to take a look at the data. The US bureau of census publishes this time series regularly. Currently, you can compare monthly or annual data across countries from 1985 to 2025. The worsening of the trade balance is obvious just looking into some examples like trade with the EU, China, Japan, South Korea or Switzerland. we might calculate some rough indicators of trade deficits of the US with countries by the size of the country, which would make Switzerland look really bad relative to many much more populous countries. This probably explains why Switzerland is threatened by higher tariffs than the EU. However, this hints towards the “hidden” agenda of tariffs on countries. The major targets are multinational companies that produce in countries outside the US and particularly in those with low corporate taxes, like Ireland and Switzerland. Importing products from such countries worsened the US trade balance over decades.

Another factor to study more precisely is the sectoral pattern driving the trade deficits with countries. Exports in for example health-related products have soared due to Covid-19 pandemic starting in 2019. Where did the US buy face masks, ventilators, medicines and pharmaceuticals?  These countries will now also be penalized by higher tariffs. The tariffs topic is a complex interconnected business issue, which is not solved by blunt measures. The real danger is that with each month trust in US will erode further. For decades this has been an underestimated currency of international business. Eroding trust is likely to be the major fallout of the tariff and trade deficit nexus. It takes decades to build, but can be destroyed within a few days or weeks. (Image: Mont des arts Brussels February 2024, celebration of surrealism).

 

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Deus DEI

In Latin the declination of deus = god starts with the genitive form “dei”. In the world of universities and labor markets the abbreviation “DEI” stands for diversity, equity and inclusion. These 3 topics have ensured for years that a university campus looks a bit more like society at large, even if biased towards younger generations. The MAGA saga of the USA in 2025 starts to turn the clock back on hard to accomplish advances in DEI-hiring and promotion. This likely to reduce the number of international students on US campuses and will make campuses look WEIRD again. Moreover, lots of talented students will seek DEI campuses in other countries to avoid discriminatory hiring practices and arbitrary risk of visa denial.  Europe is likely to benefit from this kind of brain drain and skill shortages might be substantially reduced due to such unprecedented shifts in US policies. The cuts of billions of grants to renowned universities for political reasons will leave a yawning gap of talent in the US in a few years time, the latest. Early movers will move very quickly to anticipate the exodus of talent.  It is puzzling to watch how quickly years of DEI policies might be undone with thousands of people and projects at a loss. Scholars of American history are reminded of the McCarthy era of political prosecution or the dismal period for science under the Nazi-rule in Germany. Americans seem to get much worse and extreme policies than they thought they voted for. “Deus Dei” also means “god of god” and in the current American political context the judgement of a god by another god has maybe a historical meaning. In the table of the Estonian town hall in Tallinn the inscription alerts rulers to beware of being judged as well. Sounds like a timely reminder to overly ambitious politicians.

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Warming consequences

The live of honey bees is rather busy and well organized. Global warming necessitates new risks and new opportunities for honey bees. The flowering season starts earlier in Europe and bees start earlier ro their collection of nectar and their service of pollination to other flowers. In early April 2025 in France near Paris we observe wild bees already in their daily routine. However, the risk of cold nights is still there, albeit those building their homes below the surface are a bit less at risk during a frosty night. Seeking a clever shelter is a good strategy for survival particularly at times of global warming. Some kinds of wild bees seem to sense this already changing homes from one season to next one. Humans remain their toughest enemies as they restrict their choices quite severely. Man-made pollution and herbicides are beyond bees’ control and cause havoc in the ecosystem of bees. Apiculture is an interesting science also for social scientists as this forerunner species of the matriarchy has evolved into a well-organized productive society. They are a bit harsh to each other and communication is rather unidirectional, but an interesting social cosmos of its own kind.

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Journalists Scientists

In the theories of democracy journalism has entered the stage mainly in form of a controlling mechanism that is part of an extended checks and balances system of democracy. Independent journalists serve as effective multipliers and critical commentators which are an essential element of a well functioning democratic society. Social media’s ability to reach large audiences without adherence to independent journalists’ principles pose challenges to the way journalists are perceived by the public. The border between journalism and influencer marketing of products and opinions is continuously under pressure. Voices not heard,  underrepresented or those with few resources for large scale communication face difficulties to communicate their views in a market flooded with information and marketing. 

Another challenge to journalists is the fast evolution of scientific research and knowledge which at times derives from complicated theoretical and/or empirical methods. Hence, the relationship between journalistic reporting and scientific rigor and need for details in reporting are hard to reconcile. This necessitates a continuous dialogue between scientists and journalists to be aware of potentials and limitations to the co-evolution of the two disciplines. In order to avoid a self-referential subset in each discipline, the demonstration of successful cooperation between the two disciplines reveals the complementary role in many real-world instances. Investigative journalists often rely on additional scientific expertise and scientists who uncover manipulations of any sort in their work have to cooperate to inform society about the topics. As with global warming or PFAS risks scientists get drawn more and more into the checks and balances role within democracies. Therefore in addition to the separation of powers claimed in the political literature of the enlightenment (executive, parliamentary and judicial) we added already the 4th one of journalism and should include (5th) independent scientific research and reporting into the essential principles of well functioning democracies. The conference at the BNF in Paris on the 28th of March has raised these timely questions in the best tradition of the ongoing process of enlightenment.

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Tariffs trumped

Economists are used to differentiate between micro-and macro-level effects of tariffs. For each buyer of a car, import tariffs raise expectations about prices for a product. Many consumers will then decide to buy lower quality at the same price or postpone buying a new or replacement product for some time. For cars it might mean that many people will then decide to buy rather later than sooner. If thousands of people do so, the market will fall into recession overall and it will take months or years to come back to the same or a higher level. A political economy perspective has taught us that eager politicians are in favor of a short recession immediately after an election which increases the chances of re-election once the economy gets back to normal or catches up on lost growth. 

The US under Trump apparently gambles with such an economic rationale. Short term inflation is already rising, interest rates stay high before the upheaval caused by tariffs starts to settle. 

There is, however, another alternative mechanism at work as well. Thorstein Veblen long ago hinted towards what is not called in economics the Veblen effect. Some fancy cars for example can raise prices well above others because of their cleaving image. Just because they get even more expensive the buyers of such products gain additional attention as part of a social class which does not have to care much about their additional spending. The consequences of tariffs will most likely widen the gap between those saving dearly and those able to splash out cash despite increased tariffs. The most felt consequences, therefore, will be on social inequality within the US (compare WSJ 2025-4-24 A2 by Juliet Chung, “Richest of Rich Gain §1 Trillion”).

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Design skills

The is a huge B2C or C2B market in connection with home design and adaptations. Nowadays people are inspired by instagram, pinterest, YouTube and TikTok. Additionally, many play around with Apps to create their own images of how they would like to arrange or rearrange their home. Some have taken first steps to include measurements of their home in the design. The compatibility with professional software of the construction sector, however, is a drawback that delays or leads people to go to enterprises that take into account the prior efforts of young lay designers. It is a little bit like an own contribution in home building quite popular among new home builders to alleviate the upfront cash needed for first home acquisition. The younger generation could offer some of their “digital native” skills to bridge the gap in construction and home design. Of course, reworking and precise measurements on the location will still be required as construction has a lot of legal liability issues involved. Cooperation is a form of burden sharing to advance faster and/or with lower costs.

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Great Petit Palais

The Petit Palais in Paris was built together with the Grand Palais for the World Exhibition in 1900. The great architecture of both buildings is complemented by great interiors. The Petit Palais has also been the home of donations to, as well as commissions by, the city of Paris since 1870. This means that a sizable collection of sculptures and paintings has accumulated since then. In spring 2025 the visit of these collections is free of charge and gives honor to the donors and artists exhibited. Over time the collections spread more than 2500 years of art history similar to the exhibition at the BNF gallery Mansard. In the 21st century the exhibition of a piece of art, which stems from the North of Syria reminds us that art is a treasure that can last even if the civilization has been lost or at interrupted for many centuries. This is an important aspect of taking a long term perspective on international politics and history. The breadth of the collection allows a stroll through art history in a splendid setting. Romanticism and impressionism receive a little bit of attention, but the architecture of the Petit Palais invites you to delve into lesser known territory. This, probably is the specific merit of the joint presentation of otherwise necessarily eclectic collections of donors across centuries.

(Image: Anse de chaudron Syrie du Nord 700 years before our time, Petit Palais Paris).

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Biography Memorial

Some biographies take the form of a memorial. Marie-Luise Conen and Zdravko Kucinar have erected a memorial for the researcher, author and Social Demokrat “Milian Schömann” from the “Moselle” region near Traben-Trarbach and Lösnich. The biography reads like a narrative of crimes, which goes without punishment, before and during the Nazi-terror and the power grip in rural areas in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Milian Schömann achieved his university entry qualification A-levels in Traben-Trarbach before he moved on to study German literature and philosophy in Heidelberg, Bonn and Berlin.
His studies and political engagement were driven by a humanist approach and his letters and publications as literary critic as well as his contributions to philosophy are partly reproduced in this biographical account. This allows to follow in the footsteps of the curious and open-minded person of Jewish descent. As a contributor and speaker at meetings of SPD-members and associated political movements, he risked and eventually lost his life for his humanitarian convictions in 1942 near Belgrade.
It is the merit of Marie-Luise Conen and Zdravko Kucinar to let Milian Schömann live on in our time through the reprinting of some of his work, which is embedded in a  well-written historical account of the political and family setting at that time. The professional psychological training of Marie-Luise Conen helps to reproduce the anxious atmosphere Milian Schömann has lived through, albeit he remained a productive writer despite the economic hardship and living in exile.
This biography accomplishes in a rather unique way to enter into the mind and thinking of the author Milian following his very personal perspective on the “history of ideas” and inner call to action. Similar to the appreciation of Viktor Ullmann in the Jewish Museum in Berlin, where the music of the composer lives on after his death, the writings of Milian Schömann survived extinction, despite that he was murdered. After more than 80 years we still feel the loss of potential other contributions to philosophy and literary studies. The recognition extends to Milian’s academic and personal mentors Oskar Walzel and Arthur Liebert, important sources to understand the reasoning and motivation of Milian.
(Image: Extract from Marie-Luise Conen and Zdravko Kucinar (2024) Milian Schömann, Paulinus Verlag, Trier, p. 139)

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Berlin Mind

For a long time now, I have been asking myself the question: What is like to be in a „Berlin state of mind“. The exhibition of the 2 photographers of the Berlin Landesarchiv as part of the Berlin activities of the EMOP contributed to understanding and more precise description of the „Berlin state of mind“. As we shall celebrate in 2025 the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Europe, Germany and Berlin from Nazi rule and terror, we have seen endless reconstruction and reshaping of the city. The ever growing need for housing and space-grabbing office buildings bring about a permanent feeling of change, of becoming, of under construction. The years of the separated city as well as the building and taking down of the Berlin wall created many new opportunities for developers of the city and its structure of quarters, arrondisements or „Bezirke“ and „Kieze“ within the districts. 

Due to the continuous urban renewal also of basic infrastructure Berliners have the impression that there is construction work all around us all the time. With the abundant construction works come the construction fences. They too have changed. Some fences show digital prints of virtual worlds of the Berlin living in some future time. However, the promises often mask the reality that fences will be replaced by concrete walls and inaccessible buildings for most people of the neighborhood as gated business space or city blocks grab the space to form and reform the metropolitan landscape. The construction fences themselves become the contested areas where different strata of society interact or intersect. The „Berlin state of mind“ is one of becoming. Longing to become something else, something aware of the overwhelming historical duties, but still rising from the ashes. The experience to see a wall come down between cold war enemies liberates a belief that we can overcome frontiers. However, this in-between state of mind has brought us multiple fences of all sorts. Construction fences are only the most visible ones that surround the many spaces under construction. In the imagery of Berliners and visitors beyond the wall, fences are continuously on our minds in the „Berlin state of mind“.

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Digital Visions

Urban planning has been digitalized for a long time. 3D modeling of places and buildings including their interiors are state of the art. As urbanization is also about investment, speculation and anticipation, digital imaging has entered the public spheres in form of cover up of building sites behind fences and in form of large digital prints for information, curiosity and advertising purposes. The inner cities are frequently an avantgarde and microcosm of societal developments. Some dream of full or total flexibility for office spaces (see image below), others experience the inner cities as the spotlight of inequality in society. The best paid executives are catered for by the worst paid delivery personnel. The photographers of the Landesarchiv Berlin, Grönboldt and Wunstorf, brought together a documentary exhibition entitled „Pixel aus Beton“, pixel made of concrete.

With a bird‘s eye view they reveal past, present and future details of how Berlin is experienced and envisioned by investors, architects and people living through the seemingly endless construction going on in the city. The keywords list as part of the exhibition creates a link to scientific literature and to the TU Center for Metropolitan Studies. Photography and even more so digital photography offers a social science perspective to the digital images exhibited. Cities are data spinning areas and a formidable place for digital visuals and visions.

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Suicide Prevention

The annual mortality statistics and special reports on suicidal tendencies are a tough reading. OECD Statistics give a at least an approximate, comparative perspective. Reporting routines and medical confirmation of a suicide or suicidal behavior still vary quite a bit between countries. Nevertheless, the usually reported incidents per 100.000 persons remain rather abstract.
Absolute numbers speak a clear language. For example in Germany there were about 10.300 recorded suicides in 2023, France had to mourn about 9200 in 2022. To put the size of the problem in perspective it is helpful to know that in Germany all other not aging related causes of death like traffic accidents, drugs or murder make up for around 7.000 deaths per year. The targeting of resources and prevention efforts on these vulnerable people seems inevitable. However, we see only limited additional efforts to curb the problem.
A more detailed analysis of the frequencies reveals the gender and age differences. More men commit suicides and older (very old) people have higher risks. The oldest age group of men is most at risk.
Since the Covid-19 pandemic young women show rising trends in many countries again of suicidal attempts and self-inflicted wounds. Despite a continuing effort of research (Links) there is no single cause to explain the occurrences.
As a working hypothesis, which awaits empirical tests, I would look into societal factors that stigmatize persons who are made to believe or feel like they are beyond the normal spectrum of society. The lack of acceptance of diversity concerning gender, age, ethnicity, body shapes or mental states like anxiety. Poverty might cause immense distress and suffering. Large shifts in wealth in both directions cause additional risks.
It seems as if our minds and society are constantly in a kind of „regression towards the mean“ posing challenges to those furthest away from the average or perceived norms. Percentile ranks or percentile scores are commonly used to express a person’s position in a frequency distribution. For example you are better/lower than 90% of persons of your age group. Such statements might cause further distress for persons. However, summarising across several (psychological) measurements, they may yield encouraging indications as well. Actual and perceived positions in such percentile ranks add another “social risk” as perceived positions may govern behavior.

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Betrayal Politics

Most economists would hold that in free market economics there is no room for moral statements. Betrayal, therefore, is left out of most standard text book economics courses. However, more advanced courses that include strategies based on so-called “game theory”, where actors may breach prior commitments, betrayal has entered economic science. A “tit-for-tat” strategy is frequently the best “game-theoretic” solution to such strategic behavior to deter also repetition of defecting on agreed rules or bargaining outcomes. For real world applications beyond the simple strategic advice, the maths involved are quite challenging. We’ll check soon, how AI is changing that game.
Another popular economic theory is one of “gift exchange”. You gift a sum of money (or weapons for self-defense to a country) with no explicit consent that the money should be repaid (through rare earths) in peace time. A betrayal occurs, if a country suddenly asks things in return for the previous gifts. For politicians that understand themselves as “market marker” and “deal maker”, there will be a tendency to claim back a gift in order to come to some kind of gift exchange rather than an altruistic donation.
William A. Galston wrote in the WSJ (2025-2-26) naming the US political action of the 2nd Trump administration a “betrayal of Ukraine and American values”.
If free markets mean making ruthless use of “tit for no possible tat” and “gifts are always a gift exchange”, we move back to mercantile and medieval practices, where settles could claim land at gun point.
What way out of this? Adam Smith, champion of classical economics, wrote before his famous book on “The Wealth of Nations” a lesser known, precursor book on “The Theory of Moral Sentiments”. Actually, he was convinced that the one would not work without the other.
Maybe, going back to classical economics is much better than a Trump administration version of neo-classical economics in a new era of political economy 3.0.

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More BRICS

The move towards a multipolar world order is in full swing. With the USA retreating from a primordial international role discarding UN institutions and the defense of major elements in the fight for individual freedom, the diplomatic order of the last 80 years has changed. The liberation of the concentration camps in Germany and the 80 years of the end of the 2nd World War on 1945-5-9 had forged an alliance in which the common enemy was defeated and the the next major confrontation in Europe or on the globe had to be warded against. 

The evolution of peace in Europe has been marked by the Cold War and a bipolar world order which confronted the USA and Russia at various places. The rollback of Russia has seen its high time with the Northern and Eastern extension of the EU and NATO. This goal of US strategic interests has been largely accomplished. 

In the shadow of this bipolar relationship the BRICS have moved towards greater economic power and therefore influence in the international arena. Economic data on the biggest economies in the world over the last years show the rise of the BRICS, bit mainly China and India. Their population sizes create enormous and largely shut off internal markets. All these developments create new challenges to the previously relatively stable world order. Technological advances have been narrowing more rapidly than before since the access to the best available knowledge spreads fast and more equally across the globe through the internet. 

The ugly face pf imperialism is returning front stage and attempts to change the previous versions of imperialism into a new hegemonic world oder. Updated views of economic power and influence zones let us look with a rational perspective on the new power play. Due to the containment of Russian influence, the USA has China as the major power to confront, a major shift as of the 2020s. The China-driven Silk road project with strategic landing points across the globe has „trumped“ American efforts to align BRICS to human rights values over the last decades. European diplomacy will have to recognize that we entered another phase of „Realpolitik“ due to major economic shifts over several decades. (Image: extract from Max Klinger, The walkers, ambush, 1878 in Berlin SPK).

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Antique Drama

Modern drama and performances have their roots in antique drama. This is evident in literature from the time and some rare artefacts that have survived until today. Masks and statues give an amazing impression of the high standards already attained more than 2.000 years ago.
Many performances have been linked to mystical rituals and religious ceremonies, but beyond those instances there has also been a depiction and interpretation of for example the Greek mythology. Dionysos inspired many artists and people of that time and philosophers equally found inspiration in performances and the representations in temples, arenas and market places. The treasures of the BNF in Paris, galerie Mazarin and rooms next to it like “la salle des colonnes” (Image below), allow to travel back in time into an antique setting in the room of columns.
Taking the world as horizon is the title of the rotating exhibition from the treasures of the BNF. The beginnings of philosophy and major milestones in arts and mysticism across the world figure in this exhibition. In the spacious setting it feels like travelling back in time for a while, just to build on these foundations.

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Endless Questions

The winner of the Niépce prize 2024 has been awarded to Anne-Lise Broyer and features prominently at the BNF in Paris. The exhibition of the professional photographer reflects by way of photographic “still images” on the historic fate of the mediterranean basin. Each and every image has no answers, but keeps posing questions. In the long alley of the BNF in honor of Julien Cain, we walk through history of more than 2 thousand years in photographs up until today and even beyond. Let’s keep asking the most fundamental questions again and again. The exhibition entitled “Est-ce-là que l’on habitait ?” invites us to ask ourselves about the historic origins of so-called Western culture in the mediterranean basin. Ancient philosophy and arts are the foundations even of our current ideas of democracy and freedom.
However, what has become of this in the 21st century? The original statue of freedom has suffered badly. What has become of the freedom of mobility at a time of barbed wire fences rising between countries that influences each other over thousands of years? How about nature? How about religion and freedom of expression? Where is progress? Where is regression?
For centuries we have sought answers in libraries starting from the Library of Alexandria to the treasures of art and knowledge of today across the world. Let’s make more intensive use of these treasures where we shall find answers to most of our questions of the past, to the past and of future interest.

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Nazis bipolar

Thanks to the exhibition « How Nazis photographed their crimes in Auschwitz 1944 » in the Mémorial(Link) of the Shoa in Paris, the biased photographer’s view of what happened in Auschwitz is evident. The inhuman, factory-like organization of these concentration camps were constructed and managed with the primary aim of humiliation of Jewish people and other inmates. Careful reading and interpretation of these images is necessary to spot the sometimes small signs of resistance to be taken on photo by a Nazi photographer.

The revelation of a kind of bipolar disorder of the Nazi murderers shows up in the seemingly normal family meal of officers in their nearby homes. You might be surprised that many of these family members even decades later report on normal and comfortable lives despite their pitiless exercise of mass killings by the Nazi officials and their hired staff. Bipolar disorder is maybe the result of such split personalities, although we already have ample evidence that doing drugs was quite common at the time as well.

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HTML Mindset

The hypertext markup language (HTML) allows us to navigate on the internet. No matter which Browser you use on your device, it interprets the HTML-text for you in a specific way. This means: HTML defines headings, normal text, placeholders for images, actionable buttons and referrals to more text, images, or videos. A good HTML enabled textbook for pupils, students or any lifelong learner, for example, will embed easily images, sound recordings or video demonstrations in the e-book. This additionally embedded content asks for a different mindset for content creators: the HTML mindset.
Just like in most learning environments, learners proceed with different speed and interests. HTML allows for additional options to dig deeper into a subject, return to a previous stage, lead on from where you left off before, jump to some other content or listen to a translated paragraph.
Due to the bringing together of content from different technical formats, the HTML mindset has an interdisciplinary touch to it. Blending text and image is our usual way to process information at most exhibitions. In Hypertexts we are “walking” along our own chosen track through the knowledge space or content archive. For web creators, therefore, it is common to use so-called “content management systems” to arrange structure and present content.
The learning of HTML is enhanced through many learning tools (w3schools.com). This helps you to get into the HTML mindset of content creation and a better grip on the interlinked world. (Image: extract of HTML code of this blog post on www.schoemann.org).

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Victims and Perpetrators

In addition to the annually proclaimed “We shall never forget the concentration camps and the murder of 6.000.000 Jews”, we should add: “We shall not be silent”. Silence about a crime can be interpreted as the “latent” continuation of hatred. Silence might just be a pretended ignorance of the genocide and the holocaust. We have to keep very alert amidst the spreading falsification and numerous falsification attempts of historical facts surrounding the ideation about the Nazi-time and Nazi-terror from the 1930s onwards culminating in the Shoa and systematic mass killings of civilians and any actual and deemed opposition.
Particularly in Germany there is a renewed need to go beyond the “Stolperstein-Initiative” and continue also sometimes own personal research of family histories in order to understand the logic and power of perpetrators. Some spectacular legal cases like “Klaus Barbie” or “Rudolf Eichmann” or the Nuremberg trials became historic events, but the crimes of many Nazis during these times remained below the radar of wider public attention.
In view of many disrespectful utterances of some politicians and even some business men the old and new perpetrators of antisemitic propaganda and acts should have to face more fierce opposition. This needs the commitment of the silent and sometimes shamefully indifferent people across the world. (Image: list of concentration camps, sign in Berlin Schöneberg, Richard von Weizäcker Platz).

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Ukraine Chanson

The Russian war in Ukraine is not limited to the military killings. From the earliest period in 2014 already Russia initiated a war on Ukraine culture and Ukrainian cultural heritage. Therefore, it is great to witness the efforts by Ukrainian musicians not only to retrieve their rich heritage for example in the field of chansons, but to develop traditional songs with new formats. Jazzy versions of children’s songs have been sung with an admirable soft voice by singer and composer Viktoria Leléka and her band.
Most people might think of children’s songs as an insignificant niche of music. The importance of singing songs for children and babies is a scientifically well documented finding. Early bonds are created and a sense of belonging and comfort, particularly during difficult times of life. Comforting music is also an intergenerational issue. Transmission of emotions and values across generations is the very fabric of societies. The recent album “Kolysanky” and the song “Ne Zhal” is a great reminder that it is the children that count not the, maybe, broken cradle.
During the war time with many absent fathers, chansons can bridge the emotional hardships. The movie “The Chorist” had demonstrated the power of children songs for children, their parents and all generations involved. Chansons have a much longer “half-time of life” than war.
From an unknown French composer the cradle song “Fais dodo Colin …” and Brahm’s Wiegenlied are classics many people in Europe will remember from their childhood and still transmit them today. Great news that Ukraine continues this tradition with new, innovative adaptations of their own lively cultural heritage.
(Image: extract of lyrics Ne Zhal’, from webpage)

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Corridorisation Connectivity

In some cities, “I love Paris” (Jazz Song), we admire the “breath-taking” large corridors, right in the centre of the city. This has been the outcome of the urban planning in the 18th century. Haussmann designed large parts of Paris with huge corridors despite the medieval narrow streets in some of the arrondisements”. Ease of traffic, fewer riots and representative housing became the new mantra of urban planning and superb boulevards.
In the 21st century it is about time to question the notion and social process of corridorisation. This has been accomplished in a paper by Fatima Tassadq et al. (2025). Modern infrastructure like fibre-optic cables, energy or water networks are easiest to deploy in urban spaces with large corridors than the complex narrow inner cities with supposition of different kinds of network layers. The grand ideas of the 18th century should be questioned from time to time and some districts that have escaped the corridorisation might well have a particular charm about them, maybe just because they seem to escape the rational approach of making and structuring space by means of large corridors. Large corridors separate city districts and they are a major driving force of gentrification.
The rationality of corridors has some roots in maths or physics of complexity. A recent paper by Shanshan Wang et al. (2024) reports the surprising finding that the transport corridors in several cities across the globe allow for a 1.3 times the distance of transport networks compared to the so-called direct linear “bird’s flight line”. Hence, corridorisation is (has been) a rather pervasively applied model of urban planning.
Alternative approaches advocate in favor of the 15-minutes walking distance city. All amenities like shops, schools, maybe work and services should be reachable within a 15 minutes walk. This does include “walking corridors” that facilitate (social) connectivity in inner cities. Cyclists also claim their corridors or fast lanes across cities, which underlines the pertinence to take corridorisation seriously and apply the concept with care.
In any case, social connectivity is key. The big social media platforms operate similar to the traffic infrastructure in the 21st century and provide huge corridors to knowledge and people. We only realize this once a service (for example tiktok) or the internet altogether gets disconnected. We have moved from (social) categorisation to (social) corridorisation as technology and rationalisation have taken the upper hand to structure our (social) lives.

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Cheatflation

There are many ways to study inflation. You may start by looking through your collection of bills. Economists like to swear by the consumer price index or indices, if you are even more into inflation. In textbooks like “economics for dummies” we learn about rational behavior and price adjustment mechanisms through the “invisible hand” to find some sort of equilibrium.
Advanced economics courses will teach you about strategic behavior inspired by game theory and the effectiveness/ineffectiveness of cheating. For advanced economists it is, therefore, inevitable that “cheatflation” should be part of the economists’ vocabulary. Of course, a profit maximizing entrepreneur is likely to way the risk of being found out contributing to cheatflation against the potential gains.
How to cheatflate? Too easy. Any producer of a product can cheat by using, for example, other ingredients than those printed on the product label, usually cheaper ones. Instead of fruit juice (wine) you may just sell colored water with lots of sugar (ethanol) in it, but still label it fruit juice (wine) and get away with this, until a consumer protection group makes a fuzz about it. A more sophisticated way is to sell investments in ESG-rated funds, but then include dirty stocks without proper notification in the fund, which probably increases profits based on wrong labels.
There is a specific quality to cheatflation, which makes it different from shrinkflation or enshittification. The drive to “obtain unfair advantages” through cheating across a whole country or region makes cheatflation an economy-wide process and subverts general fairness rules as well as trust in a society.
(Image Saccharometer, DTM Berlin 2024)