PEPIJN VAN DIJK
living out loud
Dit is een heerlijk boek, alleen al omdat het veel vermeende zekerheden (transparantie is toch altijd goed?) doet wankelen. Centraal staat de notie dat “het geheim” noodzakelijk is voor de vrijheid...
Pretty lousy actually, as this short World Economic Forum article about our past attempts illustrates. To me, the historic examples also demonstrate that we tend to think in incremental changes (rolling...
Sarah Palin is back: whatever you may think of her, she gives a fascinating endorsement speech. Enjoy.
Vroeger gingen we eerder dood, waren we armer en lelijker. Kinderarbeid was nog heel gewoon, net als poepen op straat. Bovendien behandelden we dieren als gevoelloze machines en geloofden we dat...
In many articles about ISIS/ IS/ ISIL/ Daesh, I came across the name of William McCants, fellow and director of the Brookings Institute, and his book on Islamic State. As he...
In this essay on Tolstoy, philosopher Isaiah Berlin argues that there is a fundamental distinction between those who are fascinated by the infinitive variety of things (foxes) and those who relate...
This unique 75-year long Harvard research followed more than 700 men from teenager to old age, with one simple goal; to understand what makes them happy and healthy.The short answer is:...
What is to become of Europe, now that it is in the midst of a perfect storm of several crises: recovering from a deep recession, coping with an unprecedented number of...
Dit boekje belooft ‘alles over de Amerikaanse verkiezingen’, wat enigszins overdreven is. Wel is het een leuk en nuttig overzicht van de smerigste campagnes (de allersmerigste is die van 1856), slimste...
Indeed a marathon (4,5 hours is by all means long), but our perseverance was rewarded. Visually beautiful, invoking most of our senses (including video, dj, countertenor) this vintage ‘Van Hove’ proved...
Sometimes it seems all innovation is disruptive and all start-ups will change our lives, but as this HBR article explains the term is often wrongly used and can be misleading. And...
Interesting Politico piece arguing we don’t really care about the truth, the reason why so many politicians get away with lies. We are inclined to believe them unless we have a...
Whenever I see big masses of people cheering for a cause, like now with the COP 21 treaty (beware of the lofty rhetoric!), I get suspicious. Combined with my skepticism of...
A chilling inside report of Al Nusra, the Syrian branch on Al Qaeda. Al Nusra is fighting Bashar Al-Assad’s forces and the Islamic State. What broke my heart was watching 8 year olds...
Gidsje waarin Van Dis ons meeneemt langs plekken in Parijs die bepalend zijn geweest voor de eerste periode dat hij er woonde. Met aantal rake observaties, zoals die over verschil met...
Since the horrendous attacks in my beloved Paris I’ve been increasing my reading on ISIS, the attacks, jihadism and the Middle-East. Here’s a selection: A Vox article on the gap...
Most important take-away: don’t take ‘experts’ too seriously, especially not the famous ones. They are very prone to looking at the world through the lens of a so-called hedgehog: there is...
Forget Business School, just watch these 10 TED Talks. Some interesting talks on leadership and innovation.
A set of stories about the surreal world Russians, Ukrainians and other former Soviet peoples live in. A world wherein everything and everyone is suspect, where the abnormal is normal and...
Thousands of people have been killed by drones in the last 14 years: in Afghanistan, Syria, Somalia and probably many other countries. This is how such a remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) is...
