What I'm thinking about

This page serves as a snapshot of ideas, questions and curiosities currently orbiting my mental space. Some ideas will develop into essays and others will remain just that, snapshots. Check out the now movement, the inspiration for this page.

Is multiculturalism a failed project?

For a society to be successful, does it require a substrate on which its populace can tether themselves to? If the answer is yes, then: How many subcultures can you meaningfully build on top of that substrate before divergence and explicit othering? How much leeway does each subculture have to fend off attempts of erosion? In other words, how do you control tribal tendencies? Because if anything, history has taught us that we are tribal creatures.

An example of a substrate can be religion or language. Whatever it is, it has to be strong enough that no matter how many group identities an individual within that society associates with, it can extinguish any tribal tendencies that might arise as consequence of identity politics.

If a society doesn’t require a substrate that holds everyone together then how much wisdom is left in the proverb: When in Rome, do as the Romans do? What arguments can hold against it? Every corner of the world seems to be addressing a variant of this question and I think modern Africa is an interesting case study because the aforementioned proverb probably never applied.

By default, African countries (post-colonialism) are multicultural societies and the failure of governance in most of them is a multifaceted problem, but, how much of it is a consequence of either the substrate not being strong enough or failing to identify one in the first place? Nigeria has 520 distinct languages, arguably 520 distinct sub-cultures (distinct if the differences outweigh the similarities), and most African countries have a similar setup. How do you unite such a force towards peace and progress when there are so many dimensions on which conflict can arise?

Crime and Punishment

I finished reading the book early this month and one thing is certain: it is the type of book that lingers around in the crevices of your consciousness and refuses to be forgotten.

There are three main ideas that stuck out to me and will eventually force me to read the book again: life is full of suffering, it’s a truism that sometimes lacks appreciation when life is going smooth and usually blown out of proportion when one discovers that hell has a basement i.e. anything can be justified to escape hell; the human heart is as evil as it is good and the lack of awareness of one’s own malice is dangerous; and the third, the commitment to life cannot be sustained by rationality, the very nature of tragedy is irrational and so are some of the most beautiful parts of humanity.

This was my first Dostoevsky book but I can’t recommend him enough! If you are ever curious what true literary work reads like, pick up Crime and Punishment.

The Dark Forest by Liu Cixin.

This is the second book in the Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy. I have just started it and there are two main questions that have captured my attention so far: How do authors actually conjure up fictional universes? A single character, sure, but a whole universe that can hold hostage the imagination of the reader? Witchcraft I say! Second, the morality of serving future generations at the expense of people currently alive or vice versa, who should be prioritized if the situation demands a sacrifice?