Many cities countries all around the world now have bans on single-use plastics: disposable plastics that are only used once before they are thrown away or recycled. They include items like plastic bags, straws, coffee stirrers, soft drink and water bottles, and most food packaging. Single-use plastics have been creating an environmental disaster in terms…
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The ‘Earthship’ – or ‘Earthship Biotecture’ – is an architectural concept that arose in the 1970s, formulated by the architect Michael Reynolds. His aim, which underlies the concept, was to design and create a home that would do three things: first, it would encapsulate sustainable architecture by relying on local materials or recycled materials; second,…
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Cosmic Pessimism (2015) is a collection of aphorisms, fragments, and prose poems by the philosopher Eugene Thacker. Thacker, who is also Professor of Media Studies at The New School in New York City, offers many unique thoughts on pessimism and the human condition in this very short book. He explores various themes of pessimism: futility,…
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Justin Bower is a Los Angeles-based artist who creates oil paintings that have the appearance of being digitised, yet they are, in fact, entirely hand-painted. His portraits feature anonymous subjects with expressive, glitchy faces, attesting to our close relationship with technology. His exhibit “The Humiliations” is intended to show how we are losing our free…
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It is possible for anyone, regardless of his or her religious or metaphysical beliefs, to have a mystical experience. These mystical states of consciousness have been accessible since time immemorial. You can find accounts of profound altered states in ancient Hindu and Buddhist scriptures and in the descriptions of the Eleusinian Mysteries, those secret rituals…
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