Christian Aglen | Official website

Collective perception, the status quo, and the escalation of conflicts

Four years ago I wrote a brief reaction to a CNN news report of yet another deadly attack in Iraq. It had been just one of many similar attacks over the years since the 2003 invasion. When the article was published in 2012, ISIS as we know it today did not exist. The continued deterioration in Iraq (and later Syria) over the subsequent years...

Time as a consequence of change

Time is a consequence of change. Time is a construct of the mind. Time is an experience, a way to extrapolate and sort out causal events in the spacetime continuum. When we observe the movement of a watch, the ageing of our bodies, or the sun rising or setting on the horizon, we become comfortable with the notion of time. We may automatically attribute a...

The gradual shift of moral standards

Today, a series of bombs went off in Iraq, killing and injuring hundreds – the deadliest attack in Iraq so far this year. An event that ought to shock and call for action – if only in our hearts. Yet, it was not the top story in many newspapers. If the same number of people were affected in the same...