A website exploring the novel's themes of climate change and artificial intelligence
Explanations are relevant to many aspects of our lives. Think of business presentations, writing essays, interacting with your doctor, job interviews, writing emails, talking to your tradesman and the list goes on. If done well, explanations can inform, get things done and save you and others lots of time. Good explainers are […] Read More
Are we being deliberately confused or tricked by corporate narratives? Entrepreneur turned philanthropist Nick Hanauer and his co-authors think so. They argue that political or corporate elites resist reforms in order to preserve a skewed status quo that serves their interests. In their book Corporate Bullsh*t, they present the Six Big Lies […] Read More
I am thrilled to announce that the four-episode ‘found audio’ drama adaptation of Court of the Grandchildren has finally been published. It is based on the Zoom reading by the Magnetic Theatre of the stage adaptation. You can listen to it on any of your favorite podcast apps or at this link. […] Read More
History gifts us many lessons, but our direct life experiences, which span a mere seventy years or so, limits our capacity to learn them. Ray Dalio’s book The Changing World Order amply demonstrates what can be learnt by studying the last five hundred years and beyond. And those lessons provide guideposts for […] Read More
In his new book Our Fragile Moment, Professor Michael Mann goes back in time and examines all the critical climate-changing events in our planet’s history. He shows what lessons can be learned from each one, and more importantly what lessons can’t be drawn from these events. One of the most important lessons […] Read More
In our social media age, misinformation can spread like wildfire creating an ecosystem of reality denial, where truth has become subordinate to ideology and feelings have more weight than evidence. What can we do about it? Lee McIntyre, a research fellow at Boston University, has laid out a playbook on how to […] Read More
Judith Curry’s book Climate Uncertainty and Risk aims to provide a framework for understanding the climate change ‘debate’. She argues that the climate change problem and its solution have been oversimplified; that understanding uncertainty can help in better assessing the risks; and that uncertainty and disagreement can be part of the decision-making […] Read More
“Treating the world as if we intended to stay”, to quote Crispin Tickell, neatly summarises the growing recognition that we need to respond to the threats of climate change, over-population, and unsustainable exploitation of the planets resources. Can we, as the most advanced society ever to live on earth, manufacture a ‘soft […] Read More
On 12 September 1962, US President John F Kennedy famously announced “We choose to go the Moon in this decade…not because it is easy, but because it is hard.” Indeed the goal was achieved in July 1969, when the Apollo 11 crew successfully landed on the Moon. That audacious goal and the […] Read More
In simpler times we used have community dances. Boys would congregate along one wall of the dance hall, and the girls on the other. Those brave enough would approach the other side and a dance would ensue, while the more timid stayed within the comfort of their respective groups. The same dynamic […] Read More