razor.blog: where philosophy meets the road.

Freedom Without a Price Tag During Covid, I learned something about freedom.

Swiss Problems: Switzerland Dispatches Police After Child Loses Booger While wars continue, governments quarrel and international institutions struggle with the usual catalogue of human misery, Switzerland faced a problem of its own this week.

Real Life Not long ago I came across an Instagram profile in which someone wrote that they were interested in real life.

Ukraine: Where Are the Children of the Rich?

When the Solution Invents the Problem We like to think that institutions exist to solve problems, and very often they do.

Meta-Montaigne: The Eye Cannot See Itself I love Montaigne.

My Life Is My Hobby People occasionally ask me what my hobbies are.

Not Next Time After Covid, a lot of people eventually said something you hear surprisingly often once something is over: Next time, we won’t do it like that again.

Growth Through Friction Mandeville had an uncomfortable idea: a society does not live economically only from its virtues, but also from its imperfections.

When Dissent Becomes Conformity Modern Western societies have a peculiar relationship with dissent.

Your Thing Is Kind of Slow A few days ago, the timing chain on my motorcycle snapped.

The Product Is Shopping Too Not long ago, I went on a date with a woman.

Throwing Snowballs at the World When I was living in Kenya, I read Ivo Andrić’s Bosnian Chronicle, and one of its characters stayed with me.

Replacing God With Followers Leo Braudy describes in *The Frenzy of Renown* something much older than Instagram.

A Hierarchy of Seriousness There are things in life that deserve to be taken seriously.

Talk to Strangers!

What Do I Know When the Machine Knows for Me?

The Chätsy Effect Mark Twain once wrote: “All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence; then success is sure.”

On Using Tinder for Executive Research There are sentences that should be kept in museums.

Freedom Has No Reset Button I had another one of my weak moments and opened a tabloid.

Multiculturalism Needs a “We” The best vision of a multicultural society is not one in which people erase their differences.

Change the Context A few days ago, I bought a second-hand wetsuit for almost nothing.

Moral Theatre There are professions in which you are asked what you can do.

I’m tinkering with a new project.

The Sleepwalkers Today, on a Sunday, I only wanted to buy a few yogurts.

Context Is the Real Product A few weeks ago, the first 24-hour Migros store in Switzerland opened in my town.

The Courage to Intervene One of the first things I learned as a social worker was that techniques are overrated.

The Pilgrimage I have been listening to a lecture series by the historian Teofilo Ruiz.

Oversteering Yesterday, while I was on holiday in Istria, Croatia, a man suddenly collapsed in the restaurant where we were having dinner.

Switzerland Should Not Exist Years ago, while studying in Zurich, I wrote a paper about William Tell.

The Question Nobody Wants to Ask At some point, I realized that I am often preoccupied with a different question than most people.

The Goal Is Not Obedience One of the first disappointments of childhood is discovering that your parents do not know nearly as much as you once believed.

The Dreamer There is a bakery near where I live.

The Bible Shelf The other day I visited Aligro, a Swiss cash-and-carry supermarket.

Beyond Authenticity Authenticity is one of the great ideals of our time.