We are all the Tin Woodman [Revised]
In what sense are we the same person today as yesterday? (4100 words)
Breaking the surface
In which I return after a long break to breathe life once again into this blog.
On the kindness of strangers
In a world of rapid change, we all have to rely on strangers to do the right thing. (380 words)
How much can we afford to forget, if we train machines to remember?
Without food we starve, without energy we huddle in the cold. And it is through widespread loss of memory that civilisations are at risk of falling into a looming dark age. (1400 words)
Learning to see [Aeon, American Scientist]
One astronomer’s dimpled pie is another’s cratered moon. How can our mind’s eye learn to see the new and unexpected? (3900 words)
Sky Readers [Aeon]
For most of human history, the stars told us where we were in space and time. Have we forgotten how to look up? (3600 words)
Sapiens Plurum 2023 Story Contest
Calling all sci-fi writers! The Sapiens Plurum Writing Contest is here again. Submissions open on Earth Day, April 22, 2023.
The breath of life
We are most free when we choose to recognize our duty to others. (About 800 words)
Stardust dreams
We should aspire to go to the stars, even though they might remain forever beyond our reach. (abt. 900 words)
The shape of things to come
Why did non-Euclidean geometry take so long to find its way into physics? (7700 words)
On The Vision Thing
Some thoughts on living through a disruption without losing your way. (2600 words)
On things that should never be forgotten
The eye can only reveal what the mind is prepared to see. (1470 words)
Bubble, bubble, is oil in trouble? The carbon bubble, Part 1
The stuff in the ground only has value today if investors believe it will be burned tomorrow. What happens if those beliefs start to change? (2500 words)
The Icarus Question 