Frames of Mind
This is the way the world changes – not yet with a bang, but already with a whoosh. A rapid movement of events and communications. A rushing sound and fury signalling the sandstorm of data. Streaming sandstorm, which never dies. Nomads in desert caravans could survive sandstorms. They and their camels could dream of an oasis with water, palm trees, peace of a relaxed body and a focused mind. They could hope for slow food in sheltered spaces under the blue skies. We can not—no space, no time, without social media, personal bots and individual bubbles. No space, no time without the AI assistants, advisors, friends and fellows, mates and co-citizens. No holiday from the data streaming by, spotified or netflixed or brainwashed into our neural networks. No relief, no shelter from the whirling and shrieking clouds speeding up the endless clusters of info and knowledge, of wisdom and experience. No pause. The ever-present quintillions of these grains of informative sand duly surround and overwhelm. To communicate or not to communicate? To be or not to be online?
The answer seems easy. To communicate. Censorship is wrong. Political correctness kills. To be online. Physically online with our neighbours and fellow citizens. Virtually online with our political representatives and those who manage our taxes and savings. To watch what happens. To oppose monopolies of political power, of financial exploitation, of media brainwashing. Monopolies invite moving fast and breaking them down. They deserve to be broken. But how? What do we know? Which knowledge do we trust? Well, we have to design, to compare, to negotiate.
Imagine a football match. After ninety minutes, the score is announced. Imagine nobody leaves the stadium. Fans of both teams send their representatives to the centre of the playing field, and so do the football players and the referees. They discuss the entire game with replayed close-ups of the dubious situations. After the discussion, the entire stadium votes in an immediate popular referendum on whether to accept the score or to revise it. Would our sports become more democratic, desirable, educational, and morally uplifting?
Haarlem, February 25, 2026