Monthly Archives: June 2014

culture decanted June 21

How are our brains changing in the Modern Era?

Our brains are changing size and we are getting stupider?   It’s enough to give you a brain-ache. Do any search on the human brain today and there is a lot of contradictory information about what we know about it. Some believe it’s getting larger, others that it’s shrinking. We’re getting more intelligent or getting […]

Culture Decanted June 16

ARE ROBOTS TAKING OVER THE WORLD?

ARE ROBOTS TAKING OVER THE WORLD? “Nothing is so painful to the human mind as a great and sudden change.”― Mary Shelley, Frankenstein   In my last post, I was exploring why we are scared of the future, a fact that emerged is that there is no one word or phobia to cover ‘fear of […]

Culture Decanted June 13

Opening a Window to the Future [Part 2]

Why are we so negative about the future?: Future Part 2   “The future is like a dead wall or a thick mist hiding all objects from our view’ William Hazlitt, 1822   Cultural Metaphors of the Future One of the manifestations of the authenticity trend in society today is the cherry-picking what parts of […]

June 11

Why are we so scared of tomorrow? [Part 1]

Why are we so scared of tomorrow?   To paraphrase the British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, ‘humankind has never had it so good’. Well it’s probably more accurate to say that in many ways our collective-cultures have never been so advanced, with the potential of helping so many. So why do we find western culture […]

Are carrots natural? June 07

What is a real carrot?

What is a real carrot? About a week ago, I was speaking to a mum and the topic of shopping in supermarkets came up. It was a wide-ranging conversation and the benefits and concerns she expressed about shopping were similar to what other mums have talked about. In summary, supermarkets are convenient, good value and […]

June 02

What does a beard mean? [ Beards: Part 2]

“We have now for many centuries triumphed over nature to the extent of making certain secondary characteristics of the male (such as the beard) disagreeable to nearly all the females – and there is more in that than you might suppose” C.S. Lewis Hair has a rich depth of symbolism that dates back to the […]

June 01

The Hipster Beard [ Beards: Part 1]

‘Trust the man who hesitates in his speech and is quick and steady in action, but beware of long arguments and long beards’. George Santayana     Beards are very topical at the moment, with the rise in popularity of the Hipster Beard. It’s probably worth attempting to explain what Hipsters are, although they may have […]