As I write this, England – which is the bit of the UK I happen to inhabit – is about to enter a second lockdown, prompted by the spread of the Covid-19 virus. It’s been an interesting experience, this pandemic. Of course we’ve had plenty of them before – many originating as this one didContinue reading “On the Covid-19 pandemic”
Category Archives: Essay
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”
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”
The sound of falling leaves 