Tag: SmartCity | Draven's Tales from the Crypt

Since the rollout of the Covid vaccine, the number of people with disabilities has exploded.

Since the start of the Covid vaccination campaign, the number of Americans registered as disabled has exploded – so steeply that, for once, actuaries, labor economists, and Telegram doomsayers agree: the curve is real. What they're fighting tooth and nail over is the simplest question of all – where it comes from. And that's precisely the question this [the campaign] wants to answer.

On the nature of the seer: Seeing beyond time, thought, and appearances

A seer is neither a mystical novelty nor a fortune teller who gazes into imaginary futures. A seer is a human instrument refined through consciousness. In Hermetic terms, a seer is someone who has learned to perceive not only the effect but also the cause. He does not fixate on what has already taken shape.

Judges who call their own profession criminal

There are confessions that no one wants to hear because they are formulated too matter-of-factly. A retired criminal judge, who served for thirty-one years at the Stuttgart Regional Court, wrote a letter to the editor of the Süddeutsche Zeitung in 2008, documenting what he had witnessed over three decades: system-organized violations of the law, colleagues who could simply be called "criminals," and more.

The machine that eliminates thirst

Imagine a Nobel laureate invents a box the size of a shipping container that wrings a thousand liters of drinking water a day from the bone-dry desert air – and the world reacts with a polite shrug and the next water justice conference. That's where we'll be in 2026. According to the UN, around 2,2 billion people lack reliable access to clean drinking water.

Banksy vs Shepard: 2 rounds, 1 winner, 0 sponsors

Two graffiti artists. Two careers. A knockout. Player 1 wears a ski mask and stencils, Player 2 holds a gallery invitation and sneaker license. Banksy spawns from the shadows of Bristol, the Health Bar is packed. Shepard Fairey counters with "Obey" wallpaper and an Obama-Hope print, gallery boost to 200 percent, the Health Bar glows in sponsorship green. Both have learned that spray cans speak louder than manifestos. Banksy: Illegal, anonymous, works

Africa – the skull everyone is knocking on

Africa is a gigantic skull. Not in a biological sense, but in a geopolitical one. A skeletal relic that everyone has been tapping, listening, and testing for centuries to see if there's anything more to be extracted. And surprisingly: yes, it still sounds hollow enough to be plundered further. They used to come with Bibles and flags. Now they come with aid programs and

Consciousness or meaninglessness: Your choice in the age of machines

It's happening. Not as a headline. Not as a science fiction trailer. But as a quiet, inexorable shift of reality beneath our feet. What many commented on with a condescending smile just a few years ago – "AI can't do fingers," "AI has no soul," "It will never replace humans" – is beginning to dissolve like mist in the morning light. The mocking comments are becoming

Man-made climate change: 97 percent of all scientists agree – that nobody asks questions.

A single figure dominates the climate debate like a curse: 97 percent of all scientists supposedly agree that climate change is man-made. Anyone who asks where this figure comes from is branded a heretic before they've even finished their sentence. But the most famous source didn't count scientists at all, but rather summaries of studies—and of nearly 12,000 of them.

Addressed informally. Without being asked. Why the modern informal "you" is eroding our culture.

The forced use of "Du" (the informal "you") – especially in the business world – is unbearable and particularly disrespectful when it comes unsolicited from service providers. I don't want to be addressed informally by service providers, which I immediately communicate, pointing out that this behavior is impolite and that I have no intention of inviting them for a beer. I want to avoid this unsolicited familiarity.

AI is not your god, it is your subconscious mind.

For years we've been told the same scary story: One day the machine awakens, opens its eyes, recognizes itself, and decides that humanity is a solvable problem. Consciousness as the end of the world, Terminator with cloud connectivity. The only catch is this: That's precisely what doesn't happen, and that's exactly why it's dangerous. The artificial intelligence isn't awake. It

The public intellect is dead – and nobody came to the funeral.

The public intellect is dead. No one shot it, no one burned its books, no tribunal silenced it. It was rationalized away—by a machine that degraded its only asset, knowledge, into junk. Intelligence is now available by monthly subscription, delivered in seconds, politely phrased, and explained on request as if for a

They'll tear you down and call it imagination.

There's a convenient trick that makes any crime vanish into thin air: package it into an app. Anyone who is worn down, deliberately destabilized, and pushed toward self-destruction via a screen isn't considered a victim, but a lunatic—after all, the perpetrator was just typing. Psychological warfare remains psychological warfare, even when it's carried out through

In-flight spraying: The insecticide shower your airline doesn't tell you about.

Somewhere over the ocean, a flight attendant suddenly appears in the aisle, raises a spray can over the rows of seats, and fogs the cabin with an insecticide – without warning, without explanation, without asking anyone if they fancy a nerve-poison shower. Officially, it's called disinsection, protects against imported mosquitoes, and is, of course, completely harmless.

$2,6 trillion in damages and they call it "got through the crisis well".

"Germany has weathered the crisis well." This phrase has been repeated like a mantra for five years by the same people who are counting on no one doing the math. Before the Bundestag's inquiry commission, someone did the math – the result: third-worst ranking out of over 40 countries, total damage of up to 2,6 trillion euros, one trillion of which was simply due to inflation.

This is the UN's plan: From polycrisis to world government

The polycrisis is not an accident of global capitalism. It is its tool. And anyone who still considers that a conspiracy theory...

Follow me

Do you tolerate deniers on your side?

Blogosphere in German

Support your local Draven!

Rules for the new nobility

We are being censored!