Reclaiming the civilisation of the mind
Source: The Star
Published on: 2026-06-20 23:03
POLYCARP, a holy man living in second century Smyrna, would frequently conclude his prayers with an unusual exclamation: "Oh Lord, what a century Thou brought me into!" Nearly two millennia on, I find myself echoing his sentiment. We are living through what social scientists call a polycrisis, a state where multiple system shocks interact simultaneously. The collision of a climatic emergency, a crushing cost-of-living crisis, violent political polarisation, and the hyper-accelerated onslaught of artificial intelligence (AI) has dissolved the predictable boundaries of our world. The effect on human psychology is profound and underappreciated. At the beginning of this year, I noticed a distinct struggle among my colleagues, my friends, and myself to think beyond the next few days. I found myself trapped in the suffocating stasis of an endless present, unable to envision a better future. ...
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