We won 't get a healthier planet with lifestyle programmes and new technologies if we don 't understand the psychological mechanisms behind overconsumption. Today there is food and Netflix, tomorrow is uncertain. Politicians let companies invest in smart technology, smart houses, robotics, AI, so that …

In our large-scale, organized existence, we are not only mass consumers, but also mass products. Higher education has become a (mass) approach to “produce” global citizens who are able to work with smart technology, follow geopolitical issues and have sufficient communication and language skills (roughly …

Democracy is still organized according to an ancient model. Democracy has become a tradition where populists feel at home. Real politicians (game changers) must also dress up as puppets, so that they too can enter the populist political puppet show with one-liners and clinchers during election time. Technology …

We humans have characteristics of both prey and predators. As mammals, great apes are also roughly in the middle of the food chain, although technology (fire, leverage and language) has enabled us to manoeuvre ourselves upwards on our own. Digital (mass) communication technology helps us to strengthen …

Een bijzonder bericht in de krant van dinsdag: vooral de grotere markten hebben het moeilijk en de kleinere buurtmarkten doen het goed. Markten die afhankelijk zijn van buitenlandse bezoekers zoals de Amsterdamse Albert Cuyp draaien slecht.

If you try to kill a mosquito with an entire army force, everyone 's going to think there 's something terrible about that mosquito. The press and government treats the Dutch public like idiots, this evokes exactly what one is trying to prevent: people are becoming suspicious and believe less in the …

Breaking the comfort zone has always been close to my neurodiverse brain; a walk through the supermarket for groceries is sometimes quite a torment. But now that I 'm constantly in the comfort zone, I miss life 's awkwardness. The most beautiful memories in life are often moments when everything turned …

The column focusses on the question: Does the fact that we are co-molded by our digital twins - our quantified self, our abstract existence created by BigTech for advertisers, government agencies, etc. - also mean that some of our individuality and uniqueness is being taken away from us? The answer is …

The neurodiversity movement advocates seeing autism as a variation on cognitive information processing rather than a disorder. Healing practices related to homosexuality and other forms of sexual identity (trans, bi, etc.) will become punishable. Will trying to cure a neurodiverse person from autism …

In 2050 moet de Nederlandse economie volledig circulair zijn: alles wat we willen maken, behalve voedsel, wordt dan vervaardigd van bestaande grondstoffen of onderdelen en hergebruikte materialen. In 2030 moeten we halverwege zijn, maar ook dat gaat hoogstwaarschijnlijk niet lukken.