English blogs

Summary Technological progress in energy, digitization and automation structurally lowers the marginal costs of production. Yet this increasing abundance does not automatically translate into broader prosperity or existential security. This article argues that the explanation lies in institutional friction: economic institutions were designed for a world of scarcity, while productive technologies are moving toward abundance. […]

The concept of a basic income has recently gained a lot of attention in the Netherlands. There is even an association and a political party established for it. The idea faces resistance primarily because it conflicts with the existing work ethic. Think of statements like, “Those who do not work shall not eat.” Some people

Yes, of course I too have been playing with ChatGPT, the new chatbot. And of course I have also followed the reactions to this chatbot with great interest. As expected, these ranged from seriously concerned to extremely enthusiastic. From a plea in one of our Dutch quality newspapers to restrict the use of ChatGPT, “because

Nearly everyone, over the age of fifty, knows the photo of the Vietnamese girl, Kim Phuc, who, half burnt, is running away after a napalm bombing by the Americans. At the time, this photo was an icon in the protests against the war in Vietnam. What has this image to do with a planetary consciousness?

New developments in medical science can keep us alive longer and longer. However, should we want to live longer? Perhaps it is necessary to draw a line somewhere in the (near?) future. A fixed maximum lifespan. Imagine we, as a society, determined the moment of death for everyone at 250 years old (for example). That

Will we remain human when we gradually start to incorporate implant more and more electronic devices in our bodies? Where is the limit? With a built-in pacemaker we still consider ourselves to be humans. However, there are already people walking around with brain implants that improve hearing, sight and even memory. Moreover, they can walk

In my presentations, I often tell the audience about the very plausible possibility that in the future some of us (or even most of us) will become very much older, maybe even immortal. I tell them, for example, about the escape velocity theory. According to this theory, immortality will come within our reach when biotechnology