thesoundoffallingleaves

On technology

Technological progress is like an axe in the hands of a pathological criminal. – Albert Einstein The word technology covers a vast array of things, from movable type to firearms, the internal combustion engine, steam power, the wheel, the transistor, powered flight, anaesthetics, symbolic logic, the lever, nuclear energy, digital computers and windmills. It is,Continue reading “On technology”

Book review: A Small Farm Future

A Small Farm Future: Making the Case for a Society Built Around Local Economies, Self-Provisioning, Agricultural Diversity and a Shared Earth by Chris Smaje, Chelsea Green Publishing (2020), ISBN: 9781603589024 The virtual ink was scarcely dry on my forthcoming post on food when this book came into my hands. I should confess that this isContinue reading “Book review: A Small Farm Future”

On industrialism

The Industrial Revolution was another one of those extraordinary jumps forward in the story of civilization. – Stephen Gardiner The Industrial Revolution, considered as the onset of industrialism, powered initially by water and then by steam, is usually represented as having been a Good Thing. A lot of people didn’t see it that way atContinue reading “On industrialism”

On fear

No power so effectually robs the mind of all its powers of acting and reasoning as fear. – Edmund Burke I don’t know about you, but I’m quite scared a lot of the time. I’m talking lying-awake-at-night scared. There seems to be a lot of it about at the moment. People fear the unknown. InContinue reading “On fear”

On complexity

If you’re not confused, you’re not paying attention. – Tom Peters, Thriving on Chaos: Handbook for a Management Revolution It is a cliché to say that modern life is complicated, but like many clichés it is also manifestly true. Of course, life always has been complicated and always will be, for the simple reason thatContinue reading “On complexity”

Why another blog?

Whatever problems the internet may be facing, a shortage of opinions isn’t one of them. So why add more? I believe that many people today – probably most of them – are feeling lost, angry, frightened or at least disquieted by the state of the industrialised world. I know I am. Everything seems to beContinue reading “Why another blog?”