The Great Enclosure - Part 2: The Tollbooth Economy and the Loneliness Epidemic2 March 2024·662 words·4 minsHistory and Critical Analysis Neoliberalism Privatization Economy Social Isolation Policy and Critique Social Dynamics Development and Inequality Systems ThinkingExamining how privatization creates tollbooth economies and leads to social isolation.
The Great Enclosure: How Neoliberalism Turned Citizens into Consumers1 March 2024·304 words·2 minsHistory and Critical Analysis Neoliberalism Politics Economy Critique Systems-Thinking Policy and Critique Social Dynamics Development and Inequality Systems Thinking Political EconomyA systemic X-ray of neoliberalism, turning citizens into consumers, a tollbooth economy extracting rent from essentials, and shifting blame onto individuals. The fix, a restoration story built on cooperation, commons, and participatory democracy.
The Great Enclosure - Part 1: The Blank Slate and the Birth of the Consumer1 March 2024·690 words·4 minsHistory and Critical Analysis Neoliberalism History Economy Critique Policy and Critique Social Dynamics Development and Inequality Systems ThinkingExploring the origins of neoliberalism from the Madeira deforestation to the 1938 Paris conference.
The Invidious Engine – Part 3: Honorific Waste and the Sabotage of Utility4 February 2024·553 words·3 minsHuman Systems and Behavior Waste Utility Inequity Economic Efficiency Consumer Psychology Decision-Making and Bias Social Dynamics Policy and CritiqueInvestigating how honorific waste and spiteful consumption undermine economic utility and efficiency in modern society.
The Invidious Engine – Part 2: The Positional Treadmill and the Biology of Rank3 February 2024·652 words·4 minsHuman Systems and Behavior Status Biology Positional Goods Consumption Consumer Psychology Decision-Making and Bias Social Dynamics Policy and CritiqueExamining the biological basis of status competition and how it creates a treadmill of perpetual dissatisfaction in consumer behavior.
The Invidious Engine: How Corporate Emulation Fosters Perpetual Demand2 February 2024·269 words·2 minsHuman Systems and Behavior Consumer Psychology Envy Status Consumption Corporate Strategy Consumer Psychology Decision-Making and Bias Social Dynamics Policy and CritiqueA series exploring how corporate exploitation of envy drives perpetual consumer demand through status competition and psychological manipulation.
The Invidious Engine – Part 1: Engineering the Perception of Lack2 February 2024·703 words·4 minsHuman Systems and Behavior Envy Consumption Status Marketing Consumer Psychology Decision-Making and Bias Social Dynamics Policy and CritiqueExploring how companies exploit envy to create perpetual consumer demand through social comparison and status signaling.
The Carbon Illusion – Part 5: From Minas Gerais Furnaces to Hamburg’s "Sustainable" Subway17 January 2024·794 words·4 minsSustainability and Future Sustainability Development and Inequality Policy and Critique Trade and Supply ChainsFollowing the Industrial Footprint #
The Carbon Illusion – Part 4: Certification Compromised: When Audits Ignore Violence and Water Loss16 January 2024·772 words·4 minsSustainability and Future Sustainability Development and Inequality Policy and Critique Trade and Supply ChainsThe Assurance of the Green Seal #
The Carbon Illusion – Part 3: The Myth of the Monoculture: Why Native Savannah Stores Triple the Carbon15 January 2024·747 words·4 minsSustainability and Future Sustainability Development and Inequality Policy and Critique Trade and Supply ChainsChallenging the Plausibility of Industrial Reforestation #