Science fiction has loved to project a future world where computers have taken over… well it is no longer fiction. It is fact – here and now. Recently I was shocked to hear from a company that charges me for storage that my credit card had been declined. My first thought was that the card… Read more Too late now… We have already turned our world over to computers
“…the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country.” Hermann Goring (from an interview recorded… Read more Patriotism Abused…again
My philosophical view, as projected in my book “Future of Man – Extinction or Glory?” is long term. In that timeframe, the events of today are like the brief engine roar and rush of wind from a car speeding past on an Interstate highway, leaving only a swirl of dust to mark its passing. But… Read more Trump and the future (if any)…
A recent article in The Economist chronicled the downturn in the popularity and standing of democracy over the last fifty years. In the first half of the twentieth century democracy (“government by the people”) was the gold standard, and was riding a wave of adoption worldwide. Democracy, national pride and economic success appeared to go… Read more I want what he’s having… Trump’s envy of Putin’s large(r) hands?
When you get down to it, evolution is a self-perpetuating process of learning from mistakes (and occasional serendipitous good fortune). Survival of the fittest… Mammals developed the ability to propel themselves out of the water on their flippers — and away from the gaping, razor-toothed, mouths of the sea-dwellers looking for their next meal. The… Read more Man and Beast
Perhaps the biggest single difference between our species and the rest of the animal kingdom is our ability to think long term. Whereas most life forms on Earth rarely think past the last meal or the next winter, we can think all the way back to our childhood years and forward to our deaths. Thanks… Read more Physics, Philosophy and mumbo jumbo…
Anthropologists believe that the big breakthrough for our species, about 85,000 years ago, was the invention of language. Language made it possible for our ancestors to collaborate more closely, share knowledge and pass it down through generations. Most importantly it also gave them the ability to formulate abstract thought, allowing them to play out “what… Read more God yes, religion no…
Who is the creator of everything…. Who surpasses all religions…Who has no chosen people…no favourites… He does not ask for offerings or devotions… He asks only that we work to improve ourselves and love and nurture all His creatures. His hope is that we will make him proud for our achievements and our behaviour—as a… Read more There is one God…
Most people, most of the time, think of intelligence as a have/have not thing. We have it, nothing else on our planet has. But, of course, that’s all wrong The reality is that all life has intelligence, from the thinnest blade of grass that uses its intelligence to bend towards the life-giving sun, all the… Read more We are not alone…
High ranking among the scenarios that could explain the missing Malaysian Airlines flight 370 is that a frantic effort to subdue an attempt by passengers to storm the plane’s cockpit led to the catastrophic decompression of the aircraft, killing all aboard. The plane then, under the control of its flight computer, flew on as a… Read more Did Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 fly for over six hours with no living crew?