ANATOLY IVANOV / PROSE / CATEGORIES / SOCIETY

SPECIAL OPERATIONS

CINEMA / POLITICS / SOCIETY / ESSAYS / 2022-03-01

You know what’s “special” about “an operation”? It’s when it CREATES something new. A piece of art: a film, a book, a soundtrack. A scientific discovery. A technological breakthrough. A medical procedure that allows us to walk hours after appendectomy. A business that transforms us  + 

HOW TO SPOT SOMEONE SERIOUS ABOUT YOGA?

HEALTH / PSYCHOLOGY / SOCIETY / SPIRIT / ESSAYS / 2022-02-10

They: don’t go to a “studio” — they practice at home / office / traveling… daily, wearing whatever or semi-naked (no “yoga” apparel) sit in siddhasana / padmasana casually “because it’s comfy” while talking / eating / typing — optimize for meditation, not circus acrobatics  + 

UNDERSTANDING NEUROTYPICALITY — BY UNKNOWN AUTHOR

SOCIETY / ESSAYS / 2022-01-24

“Neurotypicality is a pervasive developmental condition, probably present since birth, in which the affected person sees the world in a very strange manner. It is a puzzle; a enigma that traps those so affected in a lifelong struggle for social status and recognition. Neurotypical individuals  + 

DRESS LESS FOR SUCCESS… AND A PAIN-FREE LIFE

HEALTH / SOCIETY / ESSAYS / 2021-08-06

We, humans, have a physical body problem. And it’s not a postmodern “obese body positivity” problem. It’s a “people are either over-clothed (men), or under-dressed (women)” problem.  + 

QUICKLY GAUGE A PERSON BY INQUIRING ABOUT THEIR OPINION

ECONOMICS / HEALTH / PSYCHOLOGY / SOCIETY / ESSAYS / 2021-03-19

These days, you can super-quickly gauge a person by inquiring about their opinion on: Covid-19 vaccines climate change religion (especially Islam) UBI (Universal Basic Income) equality of outcome (especially gender issues) body fat over 30% Superb predictive power, eh?  + 

VACCINATION IS THE ONLY WAY OUT

BIOLOGY / HEALTH / POLITICS / SOCIETY / ESSAYS / 2021-03-02

7,8 billion people currently live on our planet. Only 114 million have been confirmed as infected by Covid-19. That’s less than 2%. The virus will keep eating through the remaining 98% for years. As most governments… or, more accurately, we don’t care enough about others  + 

HOW TO USE INSTAGRAM TO LEARN ABOUT SOMEONE

PSYCHOLOGY / SOCIAL MEDIA / SOCIETY / ESSAYS / 2020-07-02

Instagram is a great tool to get to know people. Open a profile and: Scroll through their posts — sample their taste (or lack thereof), attention to detail (feet cut off, random branches in the frame, etc.) Pay attention to the number of selfies —  + 

MEN ALSO TEST THEIR WOMEN

PSYCHOLOGY / SOCIETY / ESSAYS / 2020-06-24

There’s this idea that only women “test” their men. Nah. Men test their women as well. And it’s OK to test early, test often. Even testing to failure. Like we do in engineering. But what’s really important is the quality of those tests. Because the  + 

DO YOU CHOOSE SAFE OR STRONG?

PSYCHOLOGY / SOCIETY / ESSAYS / 2020-05-19

Strong is an active capacity to interact, rebound and grow in adversity (emotional, intellectual, physical). Strong is seeking out adventure and challenge, people that disagree with you, mentors that pinpoint your fallacies, nature that humbles your invincibility. Strong is giving your best to build new  + 

YOU MAY THINK WHATEVER NONSENSE YOU LIKE… TILL REALITY KNOCKS YOU OUT

PSYCHOLOGY / SOCIETY / ESSAYS / 2020-05-06

It’s real simple. The brain is an organ which, like any other organ in the body, maintains an acceptable state of balance to remain alive. Your consciousness is a (small) part of this organ’s activity. To keep the brain in balance, the consciousness creates stories  + 

I WANTED TO FEEL SAFE

PSYCHOLOGY / SOCIETY / ESSAYS / 2020-04-17

“I wanted to feel safe. So I went to a safe college, my parents told me it’s for my job security. I didn’t go alpine climbing. I didn’t travel to India. I never rode in a helicopter. I never sailed offshore on a sail yacht.  + 

WE KNOW ABOUT THE BAD THINGS WELL IN ADVANCE

HEALTH / PSYCHOLOGY / SOCIETY / ESSAYS / 2020-03-16

Just to be clear. As a civilisation, we knew about the current viral pandemic, the 2008 crisis, terrorist attacks beforehand… and we know perfectly well about the next climate-change related disasters. Have we done anything to avert “the situation”? Nah, not really. Very similar to  + 

EXPONENTIAL VS LINEAR THINKING IN RESPONSE TO COVID-19

BIOLOGY / MATHEMATICS / PSYCHOLOGY / ESSAYS / 2020-03-09

The people most alarmed about the coronavirus seem to be people accustomed to thinking exponentially — people in tech, finance, and science. People least alarmed are those used to thinking about problems linearly. The problem isn’t the virus itself. It’s the under-provisioned healthcare systems and  + 

COMFORT, PREDICTABILITY, SAFETY AND FUN

PSYCHOLOGY / SOCIETY / ESSAYS / 2020-03-05

Work? 35 hours a week, with counselling and coaching. Travel? Only to pre-approved and reviewed AirBnBs. Sex? Only with inclusive, body-positive people who’ll repeat how gorgeous you are. Not too physical, though. Heart rate below 90 BPM. Drugs? Only comfortable to use, safe to buy,  + 

DOES YOUR COMPANY KNOW HOW TO LIVE FOR ITS CLIENTS?

MANAGEMENT / SOCIETY / ESSAYS / 2020-02-20

The French art the vivre? Sure. For yourself. Not your clients. That’s one the main reasons why so many American companies win in Europe. Amazon, Netflix, Apple, 3M, Starbucks, Tesla, UPS… bust their asses to serve.  + 

STUCK IN THE MIDDLE AGES?

CINEMA / SOCIETY / ESSAYS / 2020-02-17

Judging by the popularity of movie / series franchises, humanity is stuck in the middle ages. Swords, magic, religious sects… Marvel’s super-heroes with gems, hammers, bows and arrows; Star Wars / Mandalorian; Harry Potter; Game of Thrones; The Witcher; Lord of the Rings. The futuresque  + 

PEOPLE PREFER TO DO SOMETHING RATHER THAN NOTHING, EVEN IF IT’S PAINFUL

PSYCHOLOGY / SOCIETY / OUTSIDE NEWS / 2019-12-10

A team at the University of Virginia’s Department of Psychology meta-analysed 11 studies, and “found that participants typically did not enjoy spending 6 to 15 minutes in a room by themselves with nothing to do but think, that they enjoyed doing mundane external activities much  + 

DEATH ON SCREEN

CINEMA / PSYCHOLOGY / SOCIETY / ESSAYS / 2019-11-29

We view death countless times on screens, daily. People exploding, shot, bleeding-out, run-over, cut to pieces in so many “creative” ways. And yet, how many of us think about the inescapable fact that at some point in the future, possibly very near future, we’ll be  + 

FAKE EVERYTHING

RELIGION / SOCIETY / ESSAYS / 2019-11-20

Fake food. Sugar and salt and glutamates. Fake faces. Make-up, lighting and Photoshop. Fake breasts. Silicone-gel. Fake diplomas. For the rich. Fake furniture. Veneered particle boards. Fake vacations. Staged and edited for Instagram. Fake feelings. Benzodiazepines and SSRIs. Fake songs. Auto-tuned studio and live recordings.  + 

PEOPLE LOVE CYCLIC AND REGENERATING STORIES AND UNIVERSES

PHYSICS / PSYCHOLOGY / SOCIETY / ESSAYS / 2019-07-28

People love cyclic and regenerating universes — reincarnation, royal / superhero families of father to son, extreme quantum fluctuation initiating a new Big Bang, etc. — because they appeal to our sense of narrative. They also appeal to our intuition for causality seen in most phenomena  + 

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