It is my firm belief that neither the hype-artists nor the doomsayers in the exploding “artificial intelligence” market are to be taken at face value. The two parts of the concept are contradictions in terms, for starters. Nonetheless, I am assured by the daily arrival of unsolicited advertisements in my computer that AI could write this blog.… Read the rest
“Ring out the old, ring in the new” is a joyful way to start the New Year, and I shall symbolically trumpet it when the prosecco cork pops at midnight. But based on past form, I’ve decided to temper my hopes for 2023 by bearing in mind it’s the child of a year with a lot of lessons we’ll probably have to learn all over again.… Read the rest
No fist pumping. No face-contorted, triumphalist screaming.
When the penalty kick sealed the dream, Lionel Messi looked up, raised his arms, fell to his knees and was swamped by his team mates. When they finally untangled, he saluted the rapturous Argentinian fans with open arms and his signature boyish smile: a lesson in class for the many who lack it, in sport and elsewhere.… Read the rest
The sin of racism is almost invariably conjoined with references to its most pernicious offshoots; colonialism, slavery and exploitation. That’s valid until it becomes selective, at which point it speaks ill of we who like to think of ourselves as “right thinking people”, and of those we elect as leaders.… Read the rest
This may be hard to believe, but there was a time when “the school of hard knocks” was considered as good as a formal education. Today, experiencing and learning from the vicissitudes of life has been replaced by metaphorically swaddling people in cotton wool and providing them with ear plugs and blinkers.… Read the rest
Despite being demonised by all right-thinking people, racism, perceived or otherwise, is arguably the most persistent area of offence in Western society. Overcoming it requires accepting that it comes in degrees ranging from unacceptable to beyond the pale, and if everything is apocalyptic, nothing is.… Read the rest
Summits, which typically have more to do with words than actions, are habitually known by their acronym, which leaves the field wide open for re-interpretation. I therefore suggest that in the case of the major players in COP27, the “P” — which stands for “Parties” — be replaced with the plural of an archaic English epithet: “poltroon”.… Read the rest
The mid-term elections having defied predictions and avoided catastrophe, it would be a wise decision for the U.S. and a welcome relief for the rest of the world, if Americans heed an observation from one of their most trenchant homespun philosophers, Mark Twain: “The right word may be effective, but no word was ever as effective as a rightly timed pause.”… Read the rest
PLEASE BE ADVISED: The following includes cynicism, mockery, incredulity and what the subjects of the exercise may consider an insulting tone. Children exposed to adults who require this and similar ‘trigger warnings’, however, may find it useful.… Read the rest
Watching the palette of the changing leaves that have graced the rolling forests girding the lake where I spend the summer flutter down, I found myself thinking that if the participants of the upcoming COP27 climate change gathering did the same thing, metaphorically at least, it would be time well spent.… Read the rest