I experienced this in Japan and Korea as well. There are of course, neighborhoods where noise is tolerated but while I was there I noticed most commuters whisper conversations on their phone. The thought of blasting a call or music on speakerphone is unconscionable.

Where did Jung say that healing happens in solitude? Do you happen to remember where you heard/read this?

Nice philosophising, but it's vehicles. Primarily cars, but not only.

Around here cars are more common, but quiet enough that I rarely notice. Trucks, motorcycles, quads, trains, and boats are all significantly noisier.

I don't know where you live, but I have lived in a few cities in the US and cars don't make much noise by themselves, other than people turning music up inside the cars. Car music, in turn, is eclipsed by people turning up music from their homes, which is outpaced by people just screaming on the streets or inside venues.

I live in an apartment that's sandwiched between a freight train line and a light rail track that is on a 6-lane stroad. The noise from all of that is highly filtered and attenuated, and I consider it calming and soothing (90% of the time anyway.)

Most of my life I've used public transit, but I've also been a motorist and a vehicle owner. Looking back on my long rides on the train and bus, I began to miss them, because they are (70% of the time) an opportunity for stillness, solitude, and contemplation. I can be alone with God and the angels and I don't need to stress about driving or traffic or navigating anything but my own mindscape.

Riding around in taxis more often these days, it really puts on pressure and a rush. The taxis arrive way way faster than any bus. They put me on someone else's schedule when they arrive to pick me up and rush me somewhere, going at or above every speed limit. If there is a human driver, then there is some forced, awkward social interaction, and sometimes an incipient scam as a bonus!

It is why a lot of urban people take up walking, even getting a pet dog as an excuse to go walking on the regular, because walking is likewise low-stress, an opportunity for solitude and contemplation.

I like white noise and I like background noise. I can be alone in a busy nightclub or restaurant where there is pleasant, amiable background chatter of many people and instrumental music. I have slept inside elevators and on park benches outdoors. I also enjoy libraries, which are not always temples of silence, but at least calm and relaxing atmospheres conducive to thinking and studying.

Yeah, radio and TV can really get to me sometimes. The speech pressures and high-anxiety of capitalist swine trying to shove words into my ears, it hurts. More often I find myself seeking out Jesus in a silent Adoration chapel. It's become the best way to simply listen and open myself up to the numinous.

> By far the most common and the loudest source of noise, especially in cities, are vehicles, again, primarily cars.

Hugely depends on the city. Where I live it's the cargo trains and airliners. Congestion is too severe for anyone to make significant noise, unless they have modified/dysfunctional exhausts or particularly large engines.

Even quite a distance away I hear constant noise from a highway. It's a bit surprising too just how loud and for how long you can hear the cars and motorcycles they mod to be even louder, even through walls and windows.

Ecuador has Rights of Nature articles incorporated into their 2008 Constitution [1] effecting national decision making in investment and development.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rights_of_nature_in_Ecuador

As a kid I remember wondering why all the countries that exist seem to be jerks. Why aren't there any nice countries? Then I thought about it for another 5 seconds and it made a lot more sense.

Machiavelli nailed this 500 years ago in the prince. If one person always plays by the rules, they will lose to the group who ignore the rules,

There will almost certainly be more pandemics and they'll probably be worse. The world is getting smaller, and what takes a super high end lab these days (in terms of virus creation) will be done by college students in 20 years.

It's a book that challenges some established views. If that makes it anti-science... It's up to a person whether they judge a book based only on a superficial understanding of it and without having read it.

I recommend it. I can't promise you will like it or find it interesting or agree with any of it. I find it important enough to recommend to people when this type of subject comes up.