Wisdom in fragments

People who haven't benefitted from decades of neo-liberal prosperity are right in their assessment that democracy does work for certain people, but not for them.

Scottish Writer, Broadcaster & Anti-Poverty Activist & Poet

It's a very precarious situation we're in right now; and the biproduct of our current policies is that a tidal wave of radioactive social problems is coming. I worry that we'll just repeat the mistakes of the past where drug addictions, drug related deaths, alcoholism and suicide spike out of control.

Scottish Writer, Broadcaster & Anti-Poverty Activist & Poet

Today's politicians can't lead public opinion, because they're frightened of it – and we're so consumed by constitutional crises, that there's just no real chance that politicians can give these issues sufficient thought.

Scottish Writer, Broadcaster & Anti-Poverty Activist & Poet

Currently, public services are extraordinarily hostile to those in poverty; a doctrine we've seen clearly in how the Home Office has handled the Windrush generation. This ideology believes people will respond positively to being treated with hostility; but that only works for emotionally regulated people who didn't grow-up in adversity. Our public services are emotionally illiterate.

Scottish Writer, Broadcaster & Anti-Poverty Activist & Poet

What really characterises the experience of poverty is emotional stress. Stress is a natural human response to emotional strain, and whilst it can be useful in short doses as a catalyst, a motivator, a wake-up call, in the long term it can impact development, damage relationships and lead to self-defeating compulsive, addictive behaviours.

Scottish Writer, Broadcaster & Anti-Poverty Activist & Poet

It can be understood as the undermining of the human will. It starts with distraction in the moment where our ability to focus is fragmented – but then it runs deeper into how it distracts us into living according to certain habits, values and norms.

Distraction is one of those epidemics that we didn't realise existed until quite recently. At a societal level, it's inevitable that our distraction will be impacting our ability to communicate with each other, and will lead to a lowering of focus and attention across our whole population.

Our technological distraction is a first order political problem, worldwide. If digital media has become the lens through which we understand and engage with others, we need to figure out how to make that the right kind of lens.

The concentration of power in technology corporations is a moral and political problem that we simply don't have a precedent for. More people use Facebook than speak English for example, so the implications of Facebook, as just one platform, are at the scale of language itself.

Our apps and platforms are addictive by design. We know this both because the tech titans behind them have admitted it publicly, and because the dominant apps and social media platforms use the same suite of techniques that are well-proven to ensnare us.

Psychologist & Author specializing in behavioral psychology and irrational decision-making

It's taken for me to get into my 30s to realise I am more than the media told me I was- I have more to say, so do my friends. We are intelligent, we are strong, we are multi-faceted, we are vulgar and we are funny.

Actress & Mental Health Advocate; Host of "The Good Place

There's a deliberate strategy and direct correlation between how much we're being attacked regarding our looks, and how much the beauty industry and cosmetic surgery industry are booking. These are companies growing into the tens of billions in revenue across countries and continents.

Actress & Mental Health Advocate; Host of "The Good Place

I've described celebrities as being 'double agents of the patriarchy,' and whilst things are getting better- and language is changing, we are still not always calling out those who fat shame or age shame women.

Actress & Mental Health Advocate; Host of "The Good Place

To fight back, you have to first identify the enemy and right now, the enemies are corporations and the culture of consumerism. Brands work on the principle that if you break down people's confidence, they will be much more vulnerable to advertising, and much more likely to go out and consume.

Actress & Mental Health Advocate; Host of "The Good Place

It's disappointing to see the amount of people who choose to profit from the pain and self-consciousness of teenage girls without even thinking about it. If you are motivated to constantly talk about your image, your weight and to guide people through ridiculously unhealthy juice fasts- then you are already poison; you've drunk the kool-aid.

Actress & Mental Health Advocate; Host of "The Good Place

I'm a school drop-out that is now teaching professors and doctors around the world; all because of a naïve woman's wish for her child to live.

Extreme athlete known for ice exposure & breathing technique methods