Loss of Rationality: Kant, Consumerism, and Democracy

06/10/2020

My current read is Net Privacy: How We Can Be Free in an Age of Surveillance, written by Sacha Molitorisz, which is unexpectedly intensely philosophical in its approach. At little over the halfway mark, whilst it seemingly hasn’t answered the question posed by the subtitle, it has still been a fascinating book that I would recommend. Although I do intend on writing a piece on it relating to the commodification of data and privacy, here I want to jump on a bit of a tangent. Molitorisz references Immanuel Kant a number of times, and it is one reference to “rational beings” that I am homing in on.

Because in the modern world, Kant’s rational beings are seemingly dwindling.

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I Boycotted Amazon; You Should Too

30/09/2018

Amazon recently became the second company in the world (following Apple) to reach the $1 trillion mark. This is, of course, USD; the conversion to AUD is a frighteningly high number. Suffice to say they have done quite well for themselves. But if Amazon’s worth has peaked $1 trillion, and Bezos alone is worth over $160 billion, why are so many of the company’s workers living in poverty?

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