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What you need to navigate your love life; advice about dating, healthy relationships and dealing with your overbearing mother-in-law.
(3) Authority Without Consequence
- The Moment Authority Became Untethered - Every functioning system of governance relies on a constraint so fundamental it often goes unnoticed until it disappears: authority must be exposed to consequence. When those who make decisions experience the downstream effects of those decisions personally, power is naturally disciplined by risk. That discipline does not require virtue or foresight. It operates mechanically. Decisions that produce harm are abandoned because they injure the decision-maker, and decisions that succeed are reinforced because they reward restraint. Modern political systems did not lose this constraint through a single reform or moral collapse. They lost it gradually, through delegation, bureaucratic layering, procedural complexity, and the normalization of distance between action and outcome, until authority could be exercised without meaningful exposure to its effects.
By Peter Thwing - Host of the FST Podcast11 days ago in Humans
(2) From Stake to Abstraction
- The Original Logic of Representation - For most of human political history, representation was not conceived as a mechanism for expressing individual preference or personal identity. It was understood as an extension of responsibility. Political participation flowed to those who bore the material risks of maintaining the community, because those risks imposed discipline on decision making. To have a voice in governance meant being exposed to the consequences of governance. That exposure included taxation, compulsory service, property seizure, legal punishment, and, in many cases, the obligation to physically defend the community. Representation was therefore not grounded in abstract equality, but in the practical need to align authority with liability so that decisions would remain tethered to reality rather than sentiment or impulse. The system did not assume wisdom or virtue. It assumed self-interest and constrained it by consequence.
By Peter Thwing - Host of the FST Podcast11 days ago in Humans
(1) Seeing the System Clearly
- The Shared Feeling No One Can Quite Explain - Most people do not need to be convinced that something is wrong. They feel it in rising costs that never seem to stabilize, in rules that change without explanation, in institutions that demand compliance but no longer command trust, and in a political process that feels permanently hostile yet strangely ineffective. These experiences are not isolated. They are widespread, persistent, and remarkably consistent across demographics, ideologies, and personal circumstances. What differs is not the feeling, but the explanation people are given for it.
By Peter Thwing - Host of the FST Podcast11 days ago in Humans
(0) Prologue: Before You Read
This series is written for readers who sense that something in the structure of modern life no longer works the way it once did, but who have found most available explanations unsatisfying. It assumes the reader is capable of sustained attention and willing to engage with complexity without demanding immediate resolution. It does not assume political alignment, ideological agreement, or shared conclusions. What it does assume is a willingness to slow down long enough for clarity to emerge.
By Peter Thwing - Host of the FST Podcast11 days ago in Humans
A Little Vocal Reciprocal Challenge
Introduction I think this is a good thing to try again This is just an idea I had for maybe bringing Vocal Creators closer together. I did produce this piece to add favourite creators to your profile a while back and while it got good feedback I've only seen a handful of people implement it, though I personally found it good for discovering new creators. If my friends like a creator, then the chances are I will also like their work.
By Mike Singleton 💜 Mikeydred 12 days ago in Humans
