Loneliness is something that I have been grappling with lately, and I have noticed an up-tick in think-pieces about technologies effect on social relationships between people and a loss of community. The connections people have with others has been a perennial interest of humankind.

I am asking this question because the UN has identified a set of development goals such as equal access to education and eradication of poverty that it made me wonder if we as citizens of the world can truly achieve these goals.

Whether it’s gun control or bicycle helmets, Australia’s Common Law leads to a duty of care. What would the world look like if this was adopted internationally?

It seems that in an increasingly material world lust is getting the upped hand, but the idealist in me hopes that love prevails.

Millions of dollars are spent every year regulating firearms ownership for no obvious measurable or verifiable benefits. Has it stopped massacres on Australian soil and are the increases/decreases in crime related? Also with the claims by the government that lone wolf terrorist attacks are becoming increasingly more likely do we need to rethink self defence? To quote David Leyonhjelm are we “a nation of victims”

Thinking about the past Communist vs Fascist dualism, and now the “good” vs “evil” i.e. the “West” vs “terrorism” dualism, and past and present governments using these terms as pawns for their own agenda, perhaps rendering them meaningless. Also thinking about the list of organisations deemed ‘terrorist’ orgs by Australia, e.g. the PKK Kurdish Workers Party who are fighting ISIS (therefore, terrorism) in Kobane

As mass surveillance by companies and government increases, digital privacy becomes more and more important. Information professionals have many skills that can contribute to educating and informing citizens about the importance of intellectual freedom.

As a first world country, Australians experience a high quality of life. Yet everybody suffers and hurts, and could our experience of suffering, through illness, abuse, loss, break-up, poverty, discrimination, fear etc be put into a different framework where it is recognised for what it can bring and enable, individually and on a bigger scale? The biggest national identities of white Australia seem to be based on and through hardship and suffering.

We are so obsessed with defining ourselves inside constructs that divide us, why not discuss what could possibly unite us?

I ask this question because I genuinely ponder over it daily. We are on this constant hunt for self reflection and improvement but really whats the point? We are only around for 80 years or so, why does it matter if we are the best we can be? Why don’t we spend our time attempting to improve the lives of others instead?

The lyrics are the last thing that matter to me when I listen to a piece of music (if I can even understand them it’s a plus). But for others they seem to be the most important thing of all (weirdos). Why is this so? Probably it doesn’t matter – I’m just curious.

Democracies have little value unless the populace participates. I (probably like many others) am put off from active participation and my cynicism is fed, by the cumbersome nature of government and the lack of cooperation between parties. Does a ‘party system’ have to translate into the circus that we witness in our parliaments?