Here’s what some friends of mine and I have been working on for a couple of years now. We’ve got it all nailed down and we’re looking for funding and other kinds of support: That’s our TEDx talk about the … Continue reading
Here’s a reasonable working definition of life – a process which produces localised entropy decrease. Intelligent life doubly so. Think about it like this: light from the sun hits the moon and turns to heat. No life involved. Light from … Continue reading
I firmly believe in the present. There literally is no past and no future, just the changing now. Sure, it contains evidence of things that have been, other circuits of the Earth around the Sun. We can be pretty certain … Continue reading
The introduction is here. Do I dare Disturb the universe? In a minute there is time For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse. For I have known them all already, known them all: – Have known the evenings, … Continue reading
I’m terrified of white picket fences. Someone I knew in high school started saving cash from a weekend job to use as deposit on a house. That seemed like a joke, but a few years later I met him and … Continue reading
Introduction With a rare exception or two I haven’t written here for several years. Various things have intervened – moving to a new country, starting a new business, and preceding all that some formal study. What I’d like to do … Continue reading
Water rates have recently been introduced here. That means the local council now sends us a bill, quarterly, for the cost of supplying water to our house. Actually the bill is for the cost plus the profit earned by some … Continue reading
If society is in tune with human proclivities it works better, because people enjoy what they do. You only have to look at small boys playing “hunting”, or notice the difference between the incentives necessary to get people to sit … Continue reading
Much of this has a European focus, and I apologise for that, especially because colonialism and its devastating effect on the world are consequently not given proper attention. The focus of the article is narrow and designed as a contrast … Continue reading
This article is the first in a series. I’m leading up to something and it takes quite a long time to get there, but it’s generally about my idea that people are far less self-interested than it appears. NB: In … Continue reading
All the drowning children. The world is full of ways in which thoughtful and compassionate people have been able to find ways to help those in need, transforming lives of poverty and desperation. The Fred Hollows Foundation, for example, trains … Continue reading
A touching scene from a television documentary this evening: a family celebrates orthodox Easter in procession with candles. They stop at intervals, shielding the candles from wind, as the priest intones the ritual. The child’s face shows boredom but he’s … Continue reading
Dramas and moral panics A small child stamps his foot and demands attention. Tantrums become less effective as he gets older, however, and there comes a point of decision. He can become self sufficient, or find more successful techniques of … Continue reading
This is the third part of a series examining the morality of the behaviour of groups, corporations and governments. The first two talk about the Psychology of tribes, and Meme systems and category mistakes. This time I’m really going out … Continue reading
This is the second part of a series of articles which will make up an examination of the morality of behaviour of groups, corporations and governments.Disclaimer This article buys into a lot of the same territory as the film “The … Continue reading
This is the first part of a series of articles which will make up an examination of the morality of behaviour of groups, corporations and governments. Morality of Groups 1: the psychology of tribes When acting in ways which relate … Continue reading
Naming something is inherently disadvantageous to understanding it. Any label, any flag, any uniform, any acceptance of a signifier stands between the thing itself and the comprehension of its reality. Without names the world is not filtered; some scary and … Continue reading