Location
Bristol
[Back to Christianity]
When talking about a religion or belief system, please be particularly careful to ensure that any comments are fair and helpful.
This article is part of the 'Ground Up' project.
Introduction
I do my…
[Back to Christianity]
When talking about a religion or belief system, please be particularly careful to ensure that any comments are fair and helpful. This article is part of the 'Ground Up' project.
Introduction
I do my best, when the opportunity…
When talking about a religion or belief system, please be particularly careful to ensure that any comments are fair and helpful. This article is part of the 'Ground Up' project.
Introduction
I do my best, when the opportunity…
"Richard: sadly, no. I think there was some initial desire to engage with each other at the worldview level, but it never got very far, and it rapidly turned into a pragmatic exercise: we had to work together in order to bid for a council grant,…"
""No cause is so good that the struggle to achieve it justifies harming people." Okay, this is a first approximation, rather than a complete policy. But I think it is a good first approximation: we should seek to avoid harming people, but this is not…"
"Mark, I think your example of Peter Tatchell is a good one. He has actively supported an astonishing range of progressive causes, at significant personal cost. But I think it's difficult to argue for a principle on the basis of one astonishing…"
"Sorry that I will not be around for tonight's discussion. I don't have time to do proper justice to Paul's excellent article, and Mark's excellent response.
I found Paul's description of attitiudes of various equality groups to each other very…"
I found Paul's description of attitiudes of various equality groups to each other very…"
[Back to Human Identity]
Introduction
Personality analysis and testing is now a significant business. The various models can be seen as a modern secular equivalent to traditional religions: many people claim that personality (the thing these models…
Introduction
Personality analysis and testing is now a significant business. The various models can be seen as a modern secular equivalent to traditional religions: many people claim that personality (the thing these models…
"Good question! Do you want to try answering it?
For me, it is precisely considerations of power which lead me to commit, as far as I am able, to supporting the Open Source movement in computing. Apple are very willing to sell me a computer, but…"
For me, it is precisely considerations of power which lead me to commit, as far as I am able, to supporting the Open Source movement in computing. Apple are very willing to sell me a computer, but…"
"Fair point - a poor choice of words. I think that, in my head, it was said with a semi-ironic tone of voice..."
"Does computing give power to the people or power to the owners of the IT systems?"
"I am amused by the thought of a single celled organism being 'content'."
"I should have elaborated about the 'hard to kick' comment - wider society and our own tribes excert a very strong influence on us - it is extremely difficult to rebel against that pressure and try and steer a lone furrow, as those campaigning for…"
"Tribalism is so core to human nature - a result of thousands of years of evolution, competing for food, competing for mates, competing for places to live, competing for the attention of those we admire. We have become very good at tribalism because…"
[Back to Human Identity]
Introduction
Our identity is tied up with the tribes we belong to, the tribes we feel a part of. Of course, 'tribe' in this context is something of a technical term: it refers to the significant social groupings we belong…
Introduction
Our identity is tied up with the tribes we belong to, the tribes we feel a part of. Of course, 'tribe' in this context is something of a technical term: it refers to the significant social groupings we belong…
[Back to Social Challenges]
Introduction
Computing, along with all other aspects of Information Technology, is frequently considered to be one of the major challenges we face - but the power it gives to people means that it must also be one of the…
Introduction
Computing, along with all other aspects of Information Technology, is frequently considered to be one of the major challenges we face - but the power it gives to people means that it must also be one of the…
"Mark,
Thank you. There is a great deal in this piece that I agree with and find helpful - including your comment about immigration below. But there are a few details which I feel need further consideration.
For example, while I fully support the…"
Thank you. There is a great deal in this piece that I agree with and find helpful - including your comment about immigration below. But there are a few details which I feel need further consideration.
For example, while I fully support the…"
[Back to Human Identity]
Introduction
Personality analysis and testing is now a significant business. The various models can be seen as a modern secular equivalent to traditional religions: many people claim that personality (the thing these models tell you about) does not exist, but clearly the world does not operate on the basis of such scepticism. Each model has its own group of…
[Back to Human Identity]
Introduction
Our identity is tied up with the tribes we belong to, the tribes we feel a part of. Of course, 'tribe' in this context is something of a technical term: it refers to the significant social groupings we belong to. Our tribe affects some obvious things, such as the social pressures we face and the expectations placed upon us; it affects who we see as…
[Back to Social Challenges]
Introduction
Computing, along with all other aspects of Information Technology, is frequently considered to be one of the major challenges we face - but the power it gives to people means that it must also be one of the answers. Clearly, a great deal needs to be said here...
Here are a few quick links.
- New Scientist:…
[Back to Christianity]
When talking about a religion or belief system, please be particularly careful to ensure that any comments are fair and helpful.
This article is part of the 'Ground Up' project.
Summary
In the early…
[Back to Social Theory]
Introduction
Many people argue today that there is no alternative to capitalism: much of the last century can be seen as a conflict between capitalism and communism, and capitalism won. History is no longer going anywhere (or seen to be going anywhere) because we have arrived at the end point - as Fukuyama's famously misleading title ('…
[Back to Climate Change]
The 'Paris Agreement' in 2015 is when the nations of the world agreed that their target was to keep the average surface temperature no more than 1.5 degrees C above the pre-industrial figure. There are a number of problems with this target.
- It is an arbitrary figure: there is no scientific reason why the target could not be 1.4 or 1.6 degrees. But, for many…
[Back to Politics]
Introduction
You can stop worrying about the danger of Artificial Intelligence taking over the world: it has already happened. The world is run by organizations - businesses, multinational corporations - which operate according to their own systems and logic. Many of them are legally people but, despite the many people working within them, they are - quite…
[Back to Climate Change]
Introduction
Why are the nations of the world not doing more to address the challenge of climate change? There are probably many reasons. But it's a reasonable assumption that one major barrier preventing faster and more effective response to climate change is this: the elite believe that they will be able to hide from the worst effects. They…
[Back to Spiritual Challenges]
When we talk about religion or belief - almost any religion or belief - it is easiest to talk about the aspects which can be expressed in words. Obviously.
We can't talk in any meaningful way about the subjective experiences people have, but these are often just as important - possibly, they are often more important - than the intellectual and conceptual details…
