or, why Soylent is A Good Thing

Humans evolved mainly to be active during daytime and to rest and sleep when it’s dark — the duration of those “days” and “nights” being fixed in ecuatorial Africa long ago. The natural thing for us, humans of the 21st century, would be to go to bed around sunset, and get up when the sun rises.

However, not all humans can do that, all the time. Someone has to watch museums, factories and streets at night. A&E needs to be staffed. Someone has to work in the wee hours to bake the bread you eat for breakfast. People live in high latitudes, where nights are very short in the summer and very long in the winter. People travel and have a hard time adapting their sleep cycle to a new time zone.

Playas casi desiertas de roca volcánica, balsas de arena blanca y agua turquesa. Un verano moderado, pero pegajoso y eterno. Paseos solitarios en bicicleta por estrechas carreteras asfaltadas que serpentean entre arbustos semitropicales. Pasar la mañana en una cala expuesta a la brisa, y más tarde echar la siesta a la sombra de cañas de azúcar, en la cala al otro lado de la colina. Platos de pescado servidos con respetuosa humildad en los pocos restaurantes que uno encuentra por el camino.

No es Hawaii ni Costa Rica. Tampoco es Cabo Verde. Ni siquiera es el ecuador a su paso por el sudeste de Asia. Es Japón; ese país que habitualmente asociamos a geishas, androides ultrarrealistas, cerezos en flor, pantallas luminosas ocupando fachadas enteras y oficinistas trajeados que desfilan en formación por calles atestadas.

En contra de la obsesión victimista y etnocéntrica por identificar privilegios, y a favor de un feminismo de la equidad

En 2017 todos vivimos en burbujas de pensamiento, más o menos reducidas, que en cualquier caso cuesta esfuerzo agrandar o reventar. Por eso, leo y escucho casi con más interés a los feministas de género (los de la interseccionalidad y el heteropatriarcado, la identidad sexual vaporosa y la justicia social, para entendernos) que a las voces heterodoxas con las que me suelo identificar más: feministas de equidad, liberales en su sentido viejo, pensadores que ponen siempre al individuo por delante del grupo y que incorporan las conclusiones de la psicología evolutiva y de la ciencia en general.

Entre los primeros, Barbijaputa se ha ganado una posición como referente español en los últimos años. Su vertiente del feminismo sintetiza algunos de los aspectos que — en mi opinión — están más alejados de un feminismo moderno, realista, científico, humanista y con vocación global.

Politicians often manipulate and abuse electors and taxpayers (instead of working for them) to serve their own interest first, and then the interests of their cronies (eg, powerful businesspeople).

Businesspeople often manipulate and abuse investors, employees and customers (instead of working for them) to serve their own interest first, and then the interests of their cronies (among them, politicians).

In the wake of a certain Trump presidency

1. Electoral systems are borken​

Clinton’s delegates got ~59,923,000 popular votes; Trump’s, ~59,693,000. So, Clinton got ~0.39% more than Trump. Clinton should win the presidency.

However, it is estimated that Trump will get 306 delegates, and Clinton 232. There will be 24% fewer delegates voting for Clinton than voting for Trump.

George Steiner on El País’ “Babelia” magazine, last weekend (in Spanish). A modified version is online:

“People are like, ‘oh, he lives in Russia.’ But that’s only partially true — the reality is that I live on the Internet. Where I always have. I’m a child of the Internet. It helped shape me, it helped to give me my values. It’s simply a way of bridging geography, it’s a way of crossing space and ending the tyranny of distance. We’re creating bonds of fraternity, new communities, we’re crossing the span that divides human hearts. In new ways — but they are real. And no less real than you and I sitting across the table right now.”

China is like Switzerland.

One country is 9,600,000 km² large, and contains almost one fifth of the world population. The other one is a mere 41,000 km², and has slightly more than eight million inhabitants. One country tops The Economist’s Where-to-be-born Index, while the other ranks #49.

“Great Yurikamome”

Last night I rode the Yurikamome line from Odaiba to Shimbashi Station after spending the evening at Ōedo Onsen Monogatari with friends. I recorded in video part of the trip.

Today, I thought I should 4× the video, find a fitting CC-licenced soundtrack for it (thank you, Jamendo), and upload it somewhere — for my future self, if for nobody else.