In political and corporate communication, vacuity is often rewarded over insight. Research in media studies demonstrates that message repetition, even without substantive content, significantly increases perceived credibility and importance (Hasher et al. 1977). Political scientists have shown that rhetorical confidence is often taken as a proxy for expertise, regardless of factual accuracy (Petty and Cacioppo […]
In 1947, B.F. Skinner conducted a simple experiment with pigeons. Grain was released into a food tray at timed intervals, independent of the birds’ behavior. Yet the pigeons developed elaborate rituals: some turned three times, others bobbed their heads or flapped their wings. They came to believe that their peculiar movements summoned the reward. The […]
If you think politics is the solution to a world deeply problematised by entropic gradients of political turbulence, you’re either an idiot or you’re evil. Politics doesn’t solve problems, it feeds on them. It sustains itself by displacement — shuffling costs, hiding contradictions, weaponising blame. Nothing fundamental ever changes because the system isn’t built to […]
Christmas Eve: a lonely walk around my neighbourhood where I captured these glorious sunflowers basking in the last rays of one of those long slow Summer’s afternoons that seem to sidestep evening and slide straight into night. It’s been a spectacularly difficult year for everyone and while I can’t see this changing at scale in […]
Daedelus Kite 