The Pendulum of Life

Sometimes it’s easy to forget, but the Philosophy of Balance is not merely intended to be a blog. I’m writing a book on the topic as well, but its aspirations go even beyond that.

The other day I was discussing with my wife about the idea of opening a webshop too, with merchandise for the Philosophy. Part of it is my commercial brain speaking (as an independent author, I sometimes need to find creative ways to support myself), but it would also be a genuine attempt at marketing this philosophy that I actually believe in.

Why does a philosophy require marketing? That’s a valid question, of course. While the lessons of the Philosophy of Balance start with the improvement of the self, they also extend all the way towards the shaping of a better society for all. In my opinion, that’s something worthy of a little marketing.

But the next question then becomes what such a society should look like. I’m glad I’m not a politician, but yes, I do have opinions on the matter that I’m happy to share so that those so inclined may actually pick these up.

Last year I was in China, and while I was there I was ironically (or not) inspired to write a post about Rethinking the Values of Democracy. It was before I had officially started working on my Philosophy of Balance, but when I started this blog, it became its very first post.

While reshaping political structures is surely outside of my league, something that’s a little closer to my heart is the use of technology in our society.

I’m a person with a green heart, and for the longest time I was hoping a green future could be married with advanced technology. But while I still hold such hope in the abstract sense, I sincerely believe we cannot create a better future as long as the corrupt tech elite is burning up the planet for their own personal gain.

As I wrote in You Don’t Always Need to Make the Right Choice, retribution does come for all of us, and let’s be blunt here: the American continent is going through a phase of aggressive retribution.

It is my hope and expectation that the AI market is going to come crashing down pretty soon now, especially the toxic LLM craze. When it does, American markets are going to take a severe beating. NVIDIA is going to face a reckoning, as will all the billionaires who staked their fortune on technology and oppression. Not even the libertarian accelerists who put their wealth into cryptocurrencies will be safe anymore. (Please remember, this is a philosophy blog, not financial advice…)

I know it is easy to sit in my comfy chair in Europe and cast judgement upon others. I’m in a wildly privileged position to live in one of the few places where true freedom of the press is still allowed, even though we are also in danger of religious (self-)censorship.

So yes, I merely do the little things I can do. I let my pen do the fighting for me. (Or rather, my keyboard — technology isn’t going away anytime soon.)

As I wrote in The Emancipation of Men, I’m not a fan of political activism. But I cannot begrudge the people who are actually brave and putting their lives at stake to fight oppressive regimes. I salute the brave women and men in Iran too.

For my own part, even when my pen takes a rest, I still try to set a good example. For myself, my family, and hopefully for a greener future.

And yes, maybe I’ll engage in a little guerrilla marketing.

I was having this idea of selling mugs in our webshop. Maybe with a little poem on them:

Love, Arend.