The New Credo/Credo of Today’s life:
I am so preoccupied with myself that I can no longer even concern myself with the things I value.
Is that what is left all the way down from the Aristotelian ζῷον πολιτικόν?
Categoria: thoughts on life and its philosophy
Heliocentric or Copernican ?
Heliocentric or Copernican worldview—is that really the question? Isn’t the underlying question always one of power: a question of action on the one hand, and of ability on the other? In a conversation with my assistant about a poet and Chinese painting, I was instructed by precisely that helpful spirit:
Therefore, I would like to share a thought that just occurred to me, one that I would almost consider a motto for our collaboration:
Human beings give meaning to tools.
It is not the tool that makes the human being.
And if I return to the poet… I believe he might appreciate this thought. For his poems repeatedly emphasize that the essential element lies not in the tool—not even in the words themselves—but in the person who imbues them with life. This is precisely what Shitao says about ink and brush. And perhaps it applies to every form of creative work.
The name of the assisting force: ChatGPT, which constantly encourages me to consult my colleague DeepSeek or one of the many other helpful tools.
Indeed, the tool doesn’t make the person, but it’s also not entirely accurate to say that the person gives meaning to the tool. For first there was not the word, but someone who seized the word and then cultivated and controlled it.
But that’s difficult for me, because what was, is, and increasingly will be crucial is bringing these two forces together —that’s what we call democracy: those who determine what is to be done, who create the tools for it, and then also use them (are able to = are capable and “allowed”).
When the thorn in my side becomes a Spahn,** it’s easy to overlook the fact that while laws like the Digital Markets Act do force Google to make data available to others, and according to the latest legal developments, the BND (Federal Intelligence Service) is now also allowed to operate domestically and, as a precautionary measure, look into all of our minds; Democracy in the digital age is something entirely different, just as a “gently forced resignation” by an individual doesn’t automatically clear the conscience of a political party.
Therefore: whether sun or earth, it’s about human power—and to truly understand this, a look at one of the great ancient traditions might be helpful: there we learn about the Great Unity (大同世界, Dàtóng Shìjiè), which unites all.
** Tbus refers to the following scenario: Federal minister for health, Spahn , argued in the Bundestag against surrogate mothers; however, as he wanted a child with his male partner he went to the United States where obtaining of such “service” is legal
Value of Money
While money remains a tool, making exchange possible and easier, it is also gaining independence, the ultimate transformation is the fetishisation: money is valued for the sake of itself, without having a genuine own, inherent money. A great many coins would have to be melted down to forge a frying pan from the metal; a great many banknotes would be needed to jot down notes — even for a short story — on the blank margins.
Culture Tour — Order Must Be
Order is half of life — so say the lyrics in one of the songs on Peter Maffay’s album Tabaluga. So is the other half disorder? Or are disorder and order one and the same? At first glance, this is certainly a rather strange thought; but when you look at the traffic here, you can imagine that it is entirely justified — an experience I also had many years ago in Turkey: when I was picked up from the airport in Ankara, the journey was no problem — despite the heavy traffic and the lack of road markings. Despite the lack of road markings? I asked myself this question a few years later when I noticed that there were now road markings, but the traffic was no longer running as smoothly.
Here in Changsha, especially on Lushan Road near the university, life is bustling. It is hardly an exaggeration to speak of a long restaurant: various small ‘restaurants’ offering finger food, drinks, snacks and even ‘proper meals’ — interspersed with small boutiques and snack shops. At certain times, there is a lot of hustle and bustle: in the morning when the streets are cleaned, when deliveries are made, when the first people go to work, school or university (and the last ones quickly buy a snack before going to bed), at lunchtime and in the evening. Although these are the peak times, there is actually always something going on. Part of this street life, or more precisely, part of life on the pavement, are e-scooters: delivery services that stop briefly, pick up the order and set off again silently. Well, scooter riders are also citizens and seem to feel they have every right to ride on the pavement — only the old white man thinks this is a violation of the rules and that you can stubbornly go your own way. Different rules apply here, rules that prevent mass chaos and that also take precedence over the ‘written rules’. And there are masses of them — here on the pavement and elsewhere too. Anything with two wheels is being used.
And only the stranger is surprised that there seem to be so few accidents — after all, the photo was taken at a time when there is relatively little traffic and students are crossing from one campus of my university to the campus on the opposite side.
Self-regulation instead of rule-following: sure, there are cameras everywhere, but police officers are rarely seen. These are small cultural differences, we often don’t recognise if we are “in the middle of it”; many years ago, my Irish students pointed out to me — we were evaluating a study trip to Germany.
In Germany, all police officers are armed; in Ireland, they do not carry weapons.
It was only then that I realised what I had always known but tacitly accepted and, as it were, suppressed — the Irish students noticed this immediately as the situation in Ireland had been different — it’s true, travelling broadens the mind and often reveals the small differences. Those who are attentive then ask big questions: the question is not so much how much order is necessary, but how it is achieved. And in what way disorder also has something orderly and organising about it.
Culture Tour — Lost in Time and Space
The village, my village, det smukke by Møgeltønder: about 1,000 inhabitants, and somehow amazing how quiet it is: walking along the main street, you rarely meet anyone, although somehow everyone seems to know everyone else, direct contact is limited to the five neighbouring houses.
The train station — I have to go to Suzhou in order to give a lecture:
Law — Loosing the Role of Being the Great Equaliser
The walk through the waiting area is probably as long as the main street in my village. At 6 o’clock in the morning, it’s quiet here too… relatively speaking. Size does matter, even if it is often overestimated, because after all, some cities ‘over there’ also have several million inhabitants.
A man in the station concourse is practising Tai Chi: calm, balance, harmony… not only in the dance, but also in the clean station concourse.
****
Size matters: the evening before, I had to deal with the supercomputer. These are dimensions that are difficult to grasp. This is no longer a comparison between a mobile phone and the old Siemens computer; this is about something else:
• two buildings with a total floor space of 27,000 square meters
• a storage capacity of 20 petabytes, and a peak power consumption of 8 megawatts; a peak performance of 1.342 petaflops
• the world’s fastest supercomputer from November 2010 to November 2011 The Tianhe-1A system used a heterogeneous architecture combining CPUs and GPUs, with 7,168 NVIDIA Tesla M2050 GPUs and 14,336 CPUs
• The National Supercomputing Center in Changsha is part of a national network of six centers, including those in Tianjin, Jinan, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Wuxi, each focusing on different research domains and leveraging unique networking and resource advantages
• The center’s development aligns with China’s long-term strategy to advance high-performance computing, as outlined in the National Medium- and Long-Term Science and Technology Development Plan (2006–2020) and the “863 major projects” during the Eleventh Five-Year Plan period
• a wide range of high-performance computing (HPC) applications, including *weather forecasting, climate prediction, ocean environment simulation, aerospace engineering, and remote sensing data processing. It also serves critical roles in **biomedical research, genetic technology, materials science, energy, and computational chemistry*.
Then I walk along the little path, wanting to use the time to gather my thoughts: a narrow trail… The path turns slightly to the right; halfway there is a wooden gate, a little rickety, but the big dog looks rather inviting, and a sign invites to take a break… Yes, a coffee would be nice. The place has something enchanted, hyggelig as we say at home.
****
• Size matters… Shortly before the train departs, I go to the toilet – unisex and accessible for disabled people; but also for tall and short people, because even the little ones need to go sometimes.
Automatic ticket inspection
1.HERRMANN PETER, train No.G1778, departure at 07:24 on 11 November 2025 from 长沙南站(Changshanan) to 苏州北站(Suzhoubei), Seat No.012D in Coach 13. The ticket price is RMB470.00
• 7:21 — a soft beep, the doors close
• 7:22 the train starts moving
• 7:26 — cruising speed is reached, 305 km/h, until shortly before MiLuoDong, the first stop.
Fearing for jobs?
There is so much talk about the loss of jobs — all the executives, not least the many “activists” in the field of artificial intelligence are presenting the dystopias … no jobs in the future. Why are THEY speaking of such supposedly bleak future. In fact, they show that we have a pool of new jobs that one can hardly think of an end:
- chief executive officer (CEO)
- chief strategy officer (CSO)
- chief reputation officer (CRO)
- chief operating officer (COO)
- chief financial officer (CFO)
- chief strategy officer (CSO)
- chief marketing officer (CMO)
- chief business officer (CBO)
And more and more we come across the
chief economic opportunity officer (CEOO)
If the spirit of innovation among these people should wane, I could suggest a new position:
What about a
Chief Mischief Officer??
Doesn’t all this remind us of some forms of societal leadership we know from the past: the chiefs and chiefdoms … and many had a special position: the jester.
standards
Sure, money doesn’t make happy – nevertheless it helps; if it is not helping those who earn (not deserve) it, it helps people like you and me who must understand the world, or better: who should know things that cannot be understood.
Baerbock is now in this top position that brings her according to the daily Welt 13,000 Euro per month (https://www.welt.de/politik/ausland/article256206282/annalena-baerbock-deutschland-bezahlt-ihr-gehalt-bei-den-un-so-viel-erhaelt-die-ex-ministerin.html); at the same time, Mr Merz aims on entering history books as second DOGE, suggesting strict control of social spending and even a change of social law. (https://www.welt.de/politik/deutschland/article256203762/sozialbereich-steigerungsraten-nicht-laenger-akzeptabel-merz-will-foerderungen-ueberpruefen.html) – It is worthwhile to mention that the income of Bearbock is paid from the German budget.
Is it unbelievable , faked news or just madness? Global madness that lost reality out of sight?
Mr Gates recently stated that he wants to give away 99% of his fortune:
“People will say a lot of things about me when I die, but I am determined that ‘he died rich’ will not be one of them,”
– Oh, what generous motive. Sure, fair enough; however some doubts may be raised if one reads at the same time
Giving away 99% of his fortune could still leave the fifth-richest person in the world a billionaire, according to Bloomberg (https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn4qg5gzgzxo)
Difficult to understand this world without becoming mad. But it’s well known, madness is always with the others and looking at all that, I believe it is true.
memories revived — United Nations
Ah no, I never made it to the United Nations highest Assembly – and you surely will find it strange that I remember right now a little episode from the days before I left Ireland and UCC. A VIP (Very Important Person) came to the Departmental Meeting, talking about the new strategy of the University College Cork. A lengthy sermon (after he managed after an equally long time to get the slide-presentation working) – answered by a lengthy sermon from my side (without slides). Here only the end is of interest – I said, sarcastically thanking him, sth like: After this critique from my side, please let me conclude: in your previous, job you advised the Irish government – and Ireland is now (I do not remember when this “theatre” he’d been staged, probably the early 2010s) in a pretty bad shape. And now you come here, advising this University. – This was followed by a telling break and an even more telling look at the presenter and the colleagues from my side.
Why do I remember this after reading that Annalena Charlotte Alma Baerbock, Germany’s former minister of foreign affairs, had been elected as President of the United Nations General Assembly?
VIPs – Very Improbable Progress
The election of Leo XIV and a forgotten message
Having lived in Rome for several years and even taught at the Pontificia Università degli Studi San Tommaso d’Aquino, I have developed a specific interest in the Catholic Church, or more precisely, in the Vatican. It is a contradictory structure: consider that access to certain ‘inner parts’ is only possible by saying a password, which is checked by members of the Swiss Guard, but on the other hand, modern public relations work is carried out through the Church’s own radio station, the use of mobile phones is a matter of course, and Pope Francis had been active on twitter. All this, and my very personal involvement in the election process of Pope Francis, are the reasons why I have been following the reporting of the last few weeks rather closely. There is at least one ‘secret message’ – perhaps not so much secret as ‘mostly overlooked’. The following quote is telling – the same holy spirit can be found in other messages from some other participants of the conclave:
Cardinal Nichols, the Archbishop of Westminster, said that his mobile phone was taken off him, adding that he found he had “more time on my hands just to be prayerful, just to reflect, just to be still, rather than being constantly agitated… or prompted by what might be coming in” on his phone.
“For me, one of the experiences of these last few days was to learn a bit of patience, to just take this step by step,” he said.
“There was a calmness, a bit of solemnity,” he continued, adding that everyone he spoke to when in it was “peaceful and just wanting to do this well”.
(https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cz63wgxe1vlo; 11/05/2025)
How about a mobile-phone free day per week, or week per month for everybody?
small print
Often we find more important messages sidelined, seemingly of lesser importance than what may be expected when looking at headline and topic. The Handelsblatt, the German newspaper that provides essential news about economic developments, publishes a podcast, looking at economic challenges. The 09-05-2025 edition had been titled
Deutsche Wirtschaftspolitik: Neuer Optimismus trotz globaler Unsicherheiten
More or less at the beginning we hear that
die ersten
1:51 Schritte die die Regierung macht finde
1:53 ich richtig Wir müssen Paris und
1:55 Warschau adressieren Wir haben das hier
1:56 immer wieder Bert besprochen weil wir
1:58 gesagt haben das ist die Achse die
1:59 Europa stark macht
(I think the first steps taken by the government are right. We need to address Paris and Warsaw. We have discussed this repeatedly because we have said that this is the axis that makes Europe strong.)
Is it then the old axis – the axis that stood at the beginning (not only) of WW I and WW II? And the German prime minister aims on armament, wants that the Bundeswehr is the strongest army in Europe … Even if it is now only an economic war (and many signs are pointing into this direction) it is predominantly a war against the majority of the people.
COMMEDIA DELLA VITA OR PÁNTA RÊI'S FIRM GROUND 