Originally published: August 2017

Note: I wrote another article about Malta in 2022, sharing my latest views and feelings about the situation there.

A few years ago I decided to leave my home country and try my luck abroad. This wasn’t a spontaneous decision at all, rather it was the result of many years during which my disillusion and frustration with Malta had been growing and growing until I felt I had to take action or I would fall into a very negative perpetual state of mind.

Of course, I have many friends and dear family back in Malta, but honestly, I don’t miss living there. I make it a point to visit at least once a year and I usually have a good time catching up with friends and spending time with my family, but I don’t feel like I would like to go back and live there.

As you can imagine, several friends and family members ask me why this is so. I’ve finally found some time to really list the reasons for my moving away from Malta and why I don’t feel as comfortable living there as I do in other places.

While this post will be very honest, I’m afraid that some readers will find it too negative or downright offensive. Please keep in mind that is an honest outpouring of my thoughts and feelings and is no way meant to attack anyone or show any lack of appreciation. I did grow up in Malta and received many good things, I was blessed with a great family and a good education and also had lots of great experiences. However, as I grew older I started to feel that this was not the place where I wanted to spend the rest of my life in, and this is an attempt to describe why.

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I’ve been meditating in various forms since my teenage years, albeit with many on and off periods. Lately, I seem to have found a style that suits me very well, and I’ll be sharing some background on that today.

Essentially, I’ll be describing zazen meditation.

Zazen is primarily a seated type of meditation. There are several types of meditation, including ones that involve walking or even lying down. Zazen is considered the heart of Japanese Soto Zen Buddhist practice.

The aim of zazen is that of suspending all judgmental thinking and letting words, ideas, images and thoughts pass by without getting involved in them. Of course, all this is done while being immersed in sitting meditation.

In Zen temples and monasteries, practitioners traditionally sit zazen as a group in a meditation hall, usually referred to as the zendo. The practitioner sits on a cushion called a zafu, which itself is usually placed on top of a low, flat mat called a zabuton.

Before taking one’s seat, and after rising at the end of the period of zazen, a Zen practitioner performs a gassho bow to their seat, and a second bow to fellow practitioners.

The beginning of a period of zazen is traditionally announced by ringing a bell three times (shijosho), and the end of a round by ringing the bell either once (houzensho).

Long periods of zazen may alternate with periods of kinhin (walking meditation). In such cases the bell sequence will be a bit more elaborate than what I just described:

1. Three rings to start zazen
2. Two rings to end zazen and start kinhin
3. One ring to end kinhin
4. Three rings to start zazen again
5. One ring to end zazen

If you go to a zazen meditation center you will most likely take part in a longer session that will be punctuated by breaks of walking meditation, so you will hear the bell sequence I just described.

There is no need to use music while practising zazen meditation. It’s not common to have any background music at the zendo. At home, you are free to use whatever works for you.

This practice might seem difficult, but daily practice is very effective in increasing your sense of self-awareness and intuition. While the practice of zazen typically awakens a certain energy and sense of wakefulness in us, there is no need to set any objectives or aims to achieve anything. It simply consists of concentrating on the posture and the breathing as well as the mind and the thoughts it gives rise to.

You will need a zafu and zabuton, as we already mentioned. These can easily be found on Amazon. Here’s a picture of the Calming Breath set I got; I’m very happy with them. The zafu also doubles as a foot rest while working, which is great.

Let’s take a deeper look at each of these three pillars of zazen meditation:

Posture

Sit on the zafu (cushion) cross legged, with the zabuton beneath you for comfort.

There are several poses you can use:

• Full Lotus
• Half Lotus
• Burmese

If you can sit in Full Lotus without serious pain, then it is by far the most stable of all the cross-legged postures.

Place one foot on top of the opposite thigh then lift your other foot up onto its opposite thigh. The soles of your feet should be facing slightly upward and outward. If you experience pain, try going back to one of the easier postures while you continue to work on your mobility for this pose.

Many people who cannot manage Full Lotus can sit quite comfortably in Half Lotus.

Place one foot on top of the opposite thigh. Your other foot should be resting on the floor just under the opposite thigh/knee. Try it both ways. You may find that one side is considerably easier than the other. If that’s the case, then consider some yoga stretches to work on the imbalance so that eventually you can alternate sides and work on Full Lotus.

The Burmese Pose is ideal for those who aren’t flexible enough to comfortably stay in the Lotus poses. For this reason, it’s currently my preferred pose for meditation.

Put the sole of one foot against the inside of the opposite thigh. Put the sole of the other foot against the shin of the opposite leg. All of both your legs and feet should be in contact with the floor. It’s not an easy position but does offer a really stable platform for those that can manage it.

The weight of the body is placed on three points: the knees pushing against the ground and the perennial muscle which presses against the zafu. The spine is straight and vertical. The back is flexed, and the shoulders are relaxed. The chin is tucked in, the back of the neck is stretched. Push the top of your head up towards the sky. The mouth is closed and the tongue touches the upper palate and the inside of the two front teeth. This calms  “interior chatting”. The eyes are half-closed and look down towards the ground, about one meter in front, without focusing on anything in particular.

Breathing

The rhythm of the breath is very important in zazen meditation.

Breathe calmly through the nose, remaining totally conscious of it, meaning being attentive to each breath, like a tiger on the watch. Breathe naturally and breathe out calm, long, deep breaths all the way under the navel. Don’t judge your breathing – if it’s slow or rapid – it is just the way it is.

Little by little, with practice, breathing out becomes soft, slow, peaceful, long and deep; pushing the abdominal mass downwards and creating a concentration of energy in the zone which is called the kikai tanden (ocean of energy) located under the navel. At the end of the breath, breathing in is done naturally.

State of Mind

Once you have the right posture and the breathing rhythm in place, you can start noticing your state of mind. In the first practices of zazen you will most likely get distracted easily, and you will have many thoughts going on. Once you settle into the practice, however, you will notice that you start to take control over your mind and you start to adopt a stronger, more centered state of mind.

At the end of the day, Zen is very simple, but at the same time very hard to comprehend. It’s a question of struggling and practicing repeatedly, much like life itself. In this seated position of zazen, without doing anything special and expecting nothing in return, if our posture, our breathing, and our mental attitude are in harmony, we will begin to understand the authentic Zen.

If you don’t feel comfortable with zazen, I would recommend that you adopt the pose itself and use a more mainstream kind of meditation. You can use apps like Calm or Headspace for example, which are excellent introductions to the practice of meditation.

Whenever I want to do a quick meditation I still revert to Calm. For example, at times when I don’t have time to do a full zazen meditation session, I’ll just pop in my noise canceling earphones and use Calm to do a 15-minute meditation. You don’t even need a mat for that, you can do it sitting down anywhere.

Further reading and viewing:

A five-minute instruction introducing the correct positioning and breathing for the Zazen style of meditation:

A ten-minute zazen session:

A longer explanation of Zazen and posture:

An introduction to meditation in general, including why it’s beneficial and how to make it a daily habit:

• Dojo Zen Barcelona Kannon
• Association Buddhiste Zen d’Europe

Dealing with Irritation

By nature, I’m quite easily irritated and frustrated, and I am constantly working on improving this part of myself. I know exactly how it feels and how it manifests in my body. I clench my teeth, I can feel my heart beating rapidly, my legs get restless, and everything else in the world seems to fade away as my whole being zooms in on the discomfort and injustice of the situation. It’s a dark place to be in and not conducive to any good result especially when interacting with people.

This sense of irritation and frustration is easily triggered, but a very typical trigger is when I have to call customer service for any big company. Here’s a recent one from when I had to call my bank. As usual, I had to navigate my way through a series of automated questions and subsequent questions, which is enough to trigger some frustration and “don’t waste my time” feeling. Add to that the fact that I was calling due to a mistake the bank had made with my account, so I was already charged going into the call. As I was put on hold and left alone with the elevator music, I noticed stress in my stomach and tension in my body. I stopped, realizing this irritation felt familiar. I know I have this tendency to get frustrated and I didn’t want to strengthen it.

It was an opportunity to tap into my practice. So I took a few deep breaths and helped my mind and body relax. I made a commitment to myself that when the customer rep would come on the phone I would express no irritation and treat them warmly. When she asked if I was having a nice day, instead of projecting my irritation, I said “I am, thanks. How are you?”. The conversation then proceeded calmly, it was indeed their mistake and I had to explain what happened, wait until I was put on hold for a few more minutes, and then have them acknowledge the mistake and rectify it. In this situation there was nothing I could do to influence things, they made a mistake and it needed to be fixed, following all their standard procedures. The only factor I had under my control was my response before and throughout the conversation.

Since this is a challenging scenario for me, when I hung up the phone I had a sense of triumph. If we remain grounded and mindful in situations where we can easily become irritated, even if we don’t get what we want we release the stress and irritation that we are carrying. To me, that in itself is a victory. The way Thich Nhat Hanh describes it is that every feeling is a field of energy; a pleasant feeling is a feeling that can nourish, irritation is a feeling that can destroy. Under the light of awareness, the energy of irritation can be transformed into an energy which nourishes. So basically, our choices directly strengthen the qualities within us. If we practice patience, we strengthen patience. If we get swept away by irritation, we strengthen irritation.

It’s up to us which quality we wish to strengthen.

Building Resilience

During a recent session of meditation I came across this insightful quote by the 8th-century Indian Buddhist monk Shantideva:

Where could I possibly find enough leather to cover the surface of the thorny earth?

Yet leather on the soles of my shoes is as good as covering the entire earth.

Likewise it is not possible for me to restrain the external course of things.

But if could I restrain this mind of mine why would I need to restrain all else?

Too many times we get angry and distressed at what’s happening around us. To be sure, we are never going to be short of things to pick on in this crazy world that we live in.

Shantideva tells us that it is hopeless to try and control the many aggravations of our daily lives. Yet is it possible to change our way of experiencing life instead?

Of course it is! Life is a subjective experience. As I think about this quote, I remember my 93 year old grandmother, who maintains an incredibly positive and cheerful state whatever comes her way.

She’s lived through the Second World War and the early death of her husband amongst many other hardships, but I can’t recall a single time when I found her in an angry, stressed or depressed state.

Unfortunately I haven’t inherited her natural gift of defaulting to having a positive outlook on the world around us, but I know through experience that I can continuously retrain the mind to achieve the same state.

Daily meditation is an essential tool for this purpose. It builds awareness and helps increase our resilience to the challenges and obstacles that we encounter.

Meditation helps remind me of the impermanence of things; the natural ebb and flow of life. It’s a great way to culture feelings of forgiveness, love, and kindness toward the world and fellow humans.

If you have never meditated or have not made it a daily practice, I highly encourage you to do so. For help in getting started, you can check out my favorite meditation app: Calm.

Music is a very important thing in my life; I listen to a wide range of music styles, have experience in DJing, and play basic guitar and piano. In this article I will focus on music styles and apps that help me immerse myself in work and shut the rest of the world out.

Research on Music’s Effectivity

There is some good research done with regard to music and concentration:

Music stabilizes mental, physical and emotional rhythms to attain a state of deep concentration and focus in which large amounts of content information can be processed and learned. Baroque music, such as that composed by Bach, Handel or Telemann, that is 50 to 80 beats per minute creates an atmosphere of focus that leads students into deep concentration in the alpha brain wave state. Learning vocabulary, memorizing facts or reading to this music is highly effective. On the other hand, energizing Mozart music assists in holding attention during sleepy times of day and helps students stay alert while reading or working on projects.

Music Streaming Services

Music streaming services have revolutionized the way we listen to music. They offer vast libraries of songs and albums, personalized recommendations, and the ability to stream music on multiple devices, making it easier than ever to discover and enjoy music on demand.

The size of the music libraries offered by Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Play Music, and Apple Music are similar, with all four services offering over 70 million songs.

While all four services have a vast library of songs, the specific selection of music may differ between the platforms. Some songs or albums may be available on one platform but not on the others, so it may be worth checking the libraries of all four services to see which one offers the specific content you are looking for. Additionally, the pricing and features offered by each service may differ, so it is important to compare them and choose the one that best meets your needs and budget.

For general background music, I like to discover new music from the following styles:

• Instrumental Jazz
• Instrumental Bossa Nova

I don’t have any favourite jazz or bossa nova bands so I rely on Spotify to find new albums whenever I get tired of what I’m currently listening to.

Ambient music works really well for tasks such as programming and tech related work. Here are my recommendations:

• Brian Eno
• Tycho
• Jens Buchert
• Emancipator
• Kraftwerk
• Jean-Michel Jarre

While remaining in the electronic realm, trance and electro sometimes work well for me, especially when I need music that packs more punch and infuses a sense of urgency to what I’m doing. This can turn out to be ideal also in the afternoon when I generally tend to feel a bit sleepy. I don’t have too many favourites here, although I do love to listen to the album Berlin Calling from Paul Kalkbrenner every now and then. The Tron soundtrack is also awesome, as is that of The Social Network.

When I need to be really pumped up and I don’t mind lyrics I turn to my favourite music in the form of euro dance and rock. I have an extensive euro dance collection from the late 90s and early 00s and that’s what I put on in these occasions. My favourite rock band is Queen and they are usually the ones on my playlist when I need some comforting music to help me through some menial work that I would be dreading doing.

You can also check out classical music such as Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. Many people work well with classical music. It’s not my favorite for working but I do use it at times when I’m tired of everything else.

At times all I need is some background noise; I might use some white noise collections on Spotify, Coffitivity, or Noisli.

Spotify

Spotify is a digital music, podcast, and video streaming service that provides access to millions of songs, albums, and other audio content. It was founded in 2006 in Sweden and has since become one of the largest and most popular streaming services in the world. With Spotify, users can stream music on demand, create playlists, discover new music, and listen to podcasts.

The service is available as a free, ad-supported version, as well as a premium version that offers additional features, such as offline playback and higher quality audio. Spotify also provides a platform for artists to share their music and reach a large audience, and it offers a variety of tools for music discovery, such as curated playlists and personalized recommendations based on users’ listening habits. Overall, Spotify is a popular choice for people who want to access a large library of music and audio content from anywhere, at any time, and on any device.

I use Spotify (€9.99/month in Spain, or €6.99 in Malta), and they have geographical pricing in play, see this interactive chart of Spotify prices around the world. Most other services have similar regional pricing schemes.

Amazon Music

Amazon Music ($9.99 or $14.99 for a family plan) is a music streaming service offered by Amazon. It provides access to a vast library of songs, albums, playlists, and podcasts, as well as live radio stations and original content. Amazon Music is available as a standalone service or as part of Amazon’s Prime membership, which includes other benefits such as free shipping, access to Prime Video, and more.

With Amazon Music, users can stream music on demand, create playlists, download songs for offline playback, and access personalized recommendations based on their listening habits. The service also provides a platform for artists to share their music and reach a large audience. Amazon Music integrates with Amazon’s Alexa virtual assistant, allowing users to control playback using voice commands. Overall, Amazon Music is a popular choice for people who are already Amazon Prime members or who are looking for a music streaming service that is closely integrated with other Amazon services.

Apple Music

Apple Music (€9.99 or €14.99 for a family plan) is a music and video streaming service developed by Apple Inc. It allows users to stream over 70 million songs, as well as a large collection of music videos, live concerts, and exclusive content from artists. Users can also create their own playlists, listen to curated playlists and radio stations, and access expert recommendations based on their listening history.

In addition to music streaming, Apple Music also offers music downloads, allowing users to store music locally for offline playback. The service is available on Apple devices such as iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV, as well as on Android and Windows devices through a dedicated app. Apple Music also integrates with Siri, Apple’s virtual assistant, allowing users to control their music with voice commands. Overall, Apple Music is designed to provide a comprehensive music experience for its users, combining the best of traditional music services with cutting-edge technology and a focus on artists and their work. The new Apple Music Sing feature allows you to turn off voice tracks, converting any song into an instrumental piece, potentially suitable as a background for focused work.

Music and Sound Therapy Apps

These apps provide audio content, such as music and soundscapes, aimed at promoting relaxation, sleep, focus, and well-being. They use various techniques, such as binaural beats, psychoacoustics, and neuropriming, to create personalized audio experiences that are designed to have a positive impact on the brain and body.

This type of technology is often referred to as “music therapy” or “sound therapy” and is gaining popularity as a tool for improving mental health and overall well-being.

Brain.fm

Brain.fm is a website and app that offers audio programs designed to enhance focus, relaxation, and sleep using sound patterns and music. It is based on the principles of binaural beats and other sound frequencies that are believed to have an impact on the brain and promote various cognitive and emotional states.

Brain.fm claims to use artificial intelligence and scientific research to create soundscapes that can help users focus, sleep better, or reduce anxiety and stress. The app provides access to a library of audio programs that users can choose from based on their desired outcome.

Focus@Will

Focus@Will is a website and app that provides music specifically designed to help people concentrate and increase their productivity. It is based on the concept of “neuropriming,” which involves using specific types of music to stimulate different areas of the brain and enhance focus.

The app features a library of more than 50 channels of music that have been specifically selected and composed to promote focus and minimize distractions. The channels range from classical music to nature sounds and ambient soundscapes. Focus@Will claims to use science and research to create its music and states that it has been tested and proven to increase focus and productivity. The app allows users to customize their listening experience by adjusting the volume, tempo, and type of music, and also includes a timer to help users stay focused for a set period of time.

Endel

Endel is a mobile app and web platform that provides personalized audio for better sleep, focus, and relaxation. Endel uses a proprietary algorithm to generate real-time, adaptive soundscapes based on specific parameters like the time of day, weather, and user’s preferences. The soundscapes produced by Endel are designed to enhance sleep quality, improve focus and concentration, and reduce stress and anxiety.

The app offers a variety of sound profiles that users can choose from depending on their needs, and the audio adapts in real-time to provide a personalized experience. The app is based on the principles of psychoacoustics, which is the study of how sound affects the human brain and body, and is aimed at helping people improve their well-being through sound.

Alternative Music Apps

Digitally Imported

Digitally Imported (DI.FM) is a web-based music streaming service that specializes in electronic dance music (EDM) and other dance music genres. It was established in 1999 and has since grown into one of the largest online music streaming platforms for electronic dance music fans. DI.FM offers over 80 channels of hand-curated music from a wide range of dance music genres, including trance, house, techno, and more. The service also offers personalized recommendations, song information, and a user-friendly interface.

In addition to its web-based service, DI.FM also offers a mobile app for iOS and Android devices, allowing users to stream music on the go. The service offers both free and premium subscriptions, with the latter offering ad-free listening, higher-quality audio, and offline playback. Overall, DI.FM is designed to provide a comprehensive and immersive music experience for fans of electronic dance music and other dance music genres.

Coffitivity

Coffitivity is a mobile app and website that recreates the ambient sounds of a coffee shop to boost creativity and productivity. It provides users with a background soundtrack of café noise, including the sounds of people chatting, espresso machines, and gentle background music, to create a calming and inspiring environment for work, study, or relaxation.

The idea behind Coffitivity is that the moderate level of background noise in a coffee shop can help people focus and be more productive, while also reducing stress and improving mood. The app is available for both iOS and Android devices, as well as on the web. Users can choose from a selection of different coffee shop sounds, or create a customized mix of sounds to suit their preferences.

Noisli

Noisli is a Chrome browser extension that provides ambient soundscapes to help you focus, relax, or sleep. It offers a variety of sound options, including white noise, rain, thunder, wind, forest, and coffee shop sounds, among others. The extension can be used for productivity, to reduce stress and anxiety, or for background noise while working, studying, or reading. You can customize the sound mix to your liking and save your favorite combinations for later use.

YouTube

I’m including YouTube as an alternative app as it isn’t strictly for music, but many still use it as their main platform for listening to and discovering music.

I typically use YouTube on my secondary monitor to listen to DJ sets from the channel Cercle and some similar ones.

Hope this is helpful and I’d love to know what music you all listen to while working!

A few years ago I watched the documentary produced by Leonardo di Caprio: Before the Flood.

I was fully convinced by the movie that climate change is the biggest threat facing humanity today and saw it as a perfect showcase of the extent to which politics and greed have destroyed this planet.

Here’s what I had written back then.

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So what can we do about climate change? We can, of course, support politicians and groups that are working to stop this wanton destruction of our environment. Moreover, we can vote with our money. What I mean is that the purchases we make help influence the supply chain of products.

If we continue buying meat, for example, we will encourage the big industrial agriculture companies to continue to rear the animals that give us this meat.

Did you know that the global livestock industry produces more greenhouse gas emissions than all cars, planes, trains and ships combined?

It might sound strange because we tend to think of pollution and climate change as being caused by machinery and means of transport. While those are certainly causes of pollution, the livestock industry is a bigger cause of concern.

Appetite for meat is rocketing as the global population swells and becomes more able to afford meat. Meat consumption is on track to rise 75% by 2050, and dairy 65%, compared with 40% for cereals. By 2020, China alone is expected to be eating 20m tonnes more of meat and dairy a year.

These are crazy and unsustainable figures. To put things into perspective, take a look at the chart below showing land use, freshwater consumption and emissions from agriculture and production for plant-based vs animal-based foods.

Diet shifts could have large benefits in terms of global warming, apart from being good for you.

I’ve always tried to stick to a healthy diet and lifestyle, but knowing the above I will now make further tweaks to my diet.

Entrepreneurs like Elon Musk are also working on the climate change problem. In this documentary, Di Caprio visits Musk’s Gigafactory in the Nevadan desert. The Gigafactory is the latest project of Tesla founder Elon Musk. Once at full operation by 2020, the vast factory aims to be producing annually 500,000 electric vehicles and batteries/cells equal to 85 GWh/yr. A hundred of these factories would produce enough sustainable energy to power the entire world.

Bravo Elon Musk, I love what he is doing and we need more entrepreneurs with grand visions like his.

Coming back to the topic of food, which I believe is where our choices can have most impact, here’s what action I’m taking.

I have decreased my consumption of beef; eating it at most once a week. I’ve also eliminated dairy completely apart from the occasional yoghurt.

I’ll also be trying to eat locally-sourced foods as much as possible. In this global economy of ours, food is transported over thousands of miles to reach us. This causes pollution from the means of transport, and of course, also means that that food is not as fresh as locally sourced food.

It’s good to see that change is happening, and I’m excited to be part of this change myself. If you love the documentary and want more material to dig into, I can suggest a great book that I’ve just finished reading myself: This Changes Everything by Naomi Klein.

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I like to look back at how my beliefs change over time. I’ve been growing more and more skeptical about hyped public opinions over the years, and the COVID mask and vaccine-mandate bullshit really illustrated beyond any doubt that most people are sheep and most politicians have perverse objectives, so one needs to be very careful when examining big ideas like climate change.

While my consumption of beef has always remained fairly moderate, and my lack of dairy consumption these days has more to do with optimizing my diet than saving the planet, I’ve come to revisit my opinions on climate change, and honestly, I’m not that sure of things anymore.

There’s one thing that stands out to me as being full of shit, and that’s climate policies. Here’s a podcast that addresses the issue. Another key things that springs to mind is that while there is a lot of talk about renewal energy, we are still ignoring our cleanest source of energy – nuclear. All this because people are scared of it and therefore politicians don’t want to touch the subject because they know they will lose votes.

It seems evident to me that the subject of climate change is a deep and nuanced issue so you need to spend a lot of time researching to have a strong opinion on the topic. I look forward to reading more myself, so if anyone has any good links to books or other materials feel free to drop them here. I think everyone should be interested in the topic both from an investment angle and as a more general future of humanity one (in our lifetime and those of our children).

I’m also old enough to have been through several climate change scares and narratives. This post is basically what I would have written myself about the topic so I won’t be repeating it. But as a reminder to myself, as a child we were indoctrinated to believe that:

• a 1-degree Celsius rise in global temperature would irreversibly damage our global climate
• a massive hole in the ozone layer is threatening our survival
• we need to curb our usage of fossil fuels because we will run out of them shortly after the end of the millennium
• forests were being depleted at an alarming rate

While all points had some element of truth, there was an alarmist attitude that I’ve grown to despise over the years. I love going into the weeds with any topic that I feel is relevant to my life (and the survival of our species would definitely count as one) but I don’t like being preached at with exaggerated claims just to be coaxed into whatever action governments wants me to take. And that’s my big issue with the climate change movement.

On the other hand, there is no question that the investment landscape has been affected by climate change policies, as highlighted in the podcast I mentioned earlier. On that front, I think one could find some juicy investment opportunities based on the policies that have been or will be implemented to prop up some industries and sectors. One could also be rightly incensed at the misinformed opinions about topics like Bitcoin mining, where climate change is unjustly used as a weapon to attack Bitcoin to further another agenda.

From a lifestyle and future perspective, it could inform our decision on where to live, also planning for our children’s future life. We’ve already seen some climatic changes over our lifetime that have made some areas more dangerous/troublesome to live in, so it makes sense to think about that. And on a more long-term vision, I think we could also spend time thinking and researching about our transition to an inter-planetary species. Climate change or not, I think humankind is destined for this move and I hugely respect Elon Musk’s thinking and vision in that area.

People who are very vocal about climate change will immediately point out that people like Mr Peiser in this podcast are climate change deniers. This is typical nonsense that you also hear as soon as someone expresses any concern about topics like vaccines. They are immediately labeled an anti-vaxxer. Peiser doesn’t come across as a climate denier to me, although it is also true that he is not a scientist and therefore that’s a valid perspective to keep in mind. He says as much in the podcast, but I also fished out an excerpt from a previous interview of his: “there is a general agreement on CO2 and greenhouse gas: that we are pumping CO2 into the atmosphere and that this will have a warming effect. This is agreed by everyone so that is not the real issue. Even the skeptics agree to that. So, this is a red herring, because no one denies the basic physics, no one denies the basic facts.”

We are living in an increasingly polarised and short-sighted political environment where popular opinions trump skeptical and more nuanced views, and there is absolutely silencing of non-popular opinions as well as the extreme pushing of certain agendas that might not be wrong in themselves, but become problematic when politicians take control and start the brainwashing engines. So it pays to be an independent thinker and move towards being self-sovereign in as many ways as possible.

To reiterate, on this particular topic of climate change, I’m keen on learning more about all the relevant angles, so I welcome suggestions on how I can deepen my knowledge on the subject.