DON’T UNDERESTIMATE THE UNDERSTATED
The subtle ways Nature signals the inexorable reality of change, are useful lessons for anyone trying to sort out, or at least cope with the messy world of humanity before it’s too late.… Read the rest
WHAT’S WORTH WHAT
A few days ago, I pointed my kayak into a gusting north wind kicking up a lot of chop. I can’t put a dollar sign on what the effort was worth to me, which makes me wonder how monetary values are assigned to things with no quantifiable or practical value.… Read the rest
SHHH…AND YOU MIGHT LIVE LONGER
It’s endured for more than 200 years, but Benjamin Franklin’s adage “Nothing is certain except death and taxes” must now be amended. Today, the certainty includes brain-mugging loud music, and adverts for anti-aging supplements,… Read the rest
IF YOU ACT LIKE A DUCK, YOU’RE…
Nature has an unrivalled ability to still the depressing chorus of affronts to our intelligence by politics, and to the English language by those who bring the transgressions to our attention. It also gifts us metaphors for humanity’s foibles.… Read the rest
MORE THAN POLITICS IS WEIRD THESE DAYS
“Weird” being the political buzzword of the moment, here’s my weird connection of the week: adults with the mindset of small children in the money business, and those with only money on their minds in the news business.… Read the rest
AMERICA HAS IDENTITY ISSUES
As is so often the case in the strum und drang of politics, the cry that the U.S. presidential election is about the “future of democracy” perversely both emphasises and hides another serious matter; a national identity crisis.… Read the rest
IT SEEMS WE’RE NOT LISTENING PROPERLY
Trying to cut through and parse the rhetorical bedlam of current U.S. politics can be taxing to the point of painful. A useful tool is the advice a dear departed friend, who read voraciously and talked volubly, proffered whenever I lost track of what she was on about: “Listen to what I mean, not to what I say.”… Read the rest
YOUR DEITY HANDED OUT BRAINS FOR POLITICAL REASONS
Not that they’ll ever hear it, but I think President Joe Biden, and evangelicals who unquestioningly back Donald Trump, deserve a version of a lesson I offered to the local drivers employed by CBS News in the early days of the Afghan war.… Read the rest
HUMAN INTELLIGENCE VERSUS AI? FEAR BOTH
The evidence of growing inadequacy and an ongoing slippage of human intelligence, on both macro and micro levels, is enough to make even a sceptic like me re-consider the risk-versus-rewards of AI.… Read the rest
WHAT WE DON’T FEEL STILL HURTS U S
A single word holds the key to the myriad crises plaguing the world – dehumanisation. It is omnipresent in wars, policies on migrants and shortfalls in humanitarian aid. It has also become the bedrock of those who perpetuate the ills.… Read the rest