Indoxicate Maarten Steenhagen

How do you make a decision with a group of people? In some activist circles a sociocratic method of consent* decision making has become popular.
But there continues to be confusion about the core idea behind this method. This core idea is the somewhat misleading concept of consent*. I will explain later why I think it is misleading, and dangerously misleading. But for now, it’s enough to highlight that the notion of consent* has taken on a close to mythical status. (Full text on: https://indoxicate.me/consent/)

The Dutch submission for Eurovision is a song called ‘Europapa’ by Joost Klein. It’s a cunningly catchy tune accompanied by a spell-binding and garish videoclip. The entire thing seems tuned to give uncomplicated pleasure and satisfaction, like candyfloss you give to a child. But it adds to that a sense of nostalgia and, ultimately, I think, nationalist angst. And that’s why it should put us on high alert.
Musically the song reminds me of the happy hardcore revivalism celebrated and perfected in the work of Danny L. (Full text on: https://indoxicate.me/europapa/)

‘No climate justice on occupied land!’ It was Greta Thunberg who chanted this, together with hundreds of climate activists in a large gathering in Amsterdam on 12 November 2023. Around 80,000 people had gathered between the Museums of Modern Art and Van Gogh to listen to Thunberg’s speech. She used most of her time on stage to express support for the Palestinian people, even handing the microphone to Sara Rachdan, a Palestinian activist, to let her talk about the atrocities committed by Israel: the olive trees burnt, the houses destroyed. (Full text on: https://indoxicate.me/climate-justice-palestine/)

To celebrate the end of the year, I’ve again gone through the songs and albums that I’ve played most during the last twelve months.
Looking back, I can detect some themes and fascinations that were distinctive of 2023. I hope the overview is varied enough to be interesting as well to a listener whose musical tastes don’t coincide with mine.
January Josquin des Prez, Petite camusette The vocal works of the European middle ages and Renaissance are traces of a highly disciplined and alien culture. (Full text on: https://indoxicate.me/music-2023/)

How people seem suddenly worried about ‘Artificial Intelligence’! It’s as if massive threats to human flourishing suddenly become acceptable if they’re cushioned by a soothing cloud of sci-fi speculation. Well, let me tell you, there’s a much bigger problem, and the current path of AI largely owes its existence to it. It’s capitalism that is the overarching threat we should be discussing.
So, what happened? A large number of people working in ‘Artificial Intelligence’ (AI) have begun to see that AI might actually turn out very dangerous. (Full text on: https://indoxicate.me/ai-risk-and-capitalism/)

In December 2010 I was a graduate student at University College London (UCL) working on what felt like an impossible number of essays, while at the same time teaching philosophy students about psychology and the legacy of Sigmund Freud. It was a cold month, but I loved the bustle of London. My days triangulated between seminar room, library, and a tiny studio flat on Gower Street, right behind the monumental Waterstones bookshop. (Full text on: https://indoxicate.me/marching-from-a-to-b/)