Magazine
Lessons from the Chinese Warlord
By Rob Hartgers From The Optimist Magazine Fall 2015 The Art of War, by Sun Tzu, is 2,500 years old, but it’s still one of the most widely read books on strategy and leadership. What makes this work so relevant after all these centuries? And what can we learn from it? Henry Kissinger recommended Read More...
Alkaline Water: The Mystery Unraveled
It’s been known for decades that alkaline water has many health benefits. But scientists have long wondered why. Now they know: it’s the hydrogen gas dissolved in the water that acts as a very powerful antioxidant. There’s no one medicine that fits every disease. But there is one that comes Read More...
When the Players call the Fouls
Does self-refereeing work in sports? It does in Ultimate Frisbee, where the players call their own game. “The authority of a man with a whistle disempowers the players.” In the searing heat of the Dubai high noon, the Dutch team is playing against the Philippines in the last pool-play match of Read More...
A Better Science of Happiness
Happiness studies can point the way to ever-higher levels of well-being and inspire politicians to design wiser policies. We visit two pioneering researchers in Spain. Carmelo Vázquez receives his apologetic foreign visitor with open arms and a broad smile. He’s not one to get grumpy just Read More...
Freedom Warrior
Rickard Falkvinge is in love with the Internet and will do anything he can to protect it. And we should be doing the same. Because “the Internet was built to connect people, and that creates the most beautiful opportunities.” No other ship of war ever knew as ignoble an end as the Vasa, and yet Read More...
Bacteria for Life
Bacteria cause decay and disease, but they’re also the key to a long and healthy life. A fierce wind is blowing over the wide-open fields of Midwoud, a village of farmers and agrarians an hour’s drive north of Amsterdam. Midwoud is home to organic farm De Anna Hoeve, where the Blokker family Read More...
Ode to Jetara Séhart
Dances with Horses Wild horses galloping through the vast expanses of the American landscape make for a powerful and iconic metaphor for freedom. For more than four years, visual artist and dancer Jetara Séhart has joined the ranks of wild horse activists, devoting her life to educating the public Read More...
Farming for the Future
Paul and Elizabeth Kaiser are not your typical farmers. They turned their plot of land into an unusual field experiment, leading to much higher yields and much higher earnings. What are their secrets? One afternoon in March, on Singing Frogs Farm, a small vegetable operation that Paul and Read More...
The Path of the Altruist
Selfless love is the best guarantee of a fulfilled and meaningful life. An essay in five acts. By Guus van Holland I I am passing a flower stall when I think, Why not? My wife and I have had a terrible row. Although the dust has settled, I can still feel the pain that I put her through. I can Read More...
Free Money!
Free money! Digital currencies are bringing money back to the people—without interest. Money is a problem. You know that: you never seem to have enough of it. But money isn’t just your problem. Money is the problem. The current monetary system causes poverty, pollution and inequality. As a Read More...