And then the light of an older heaven was in my eyesand when my vision cleared, I saw Titans. — Alan Moore Today’s Occasional Paper comes to us from the James Webb Space Telescope. So let’s start with some basics: nothing can travel faster than the speed of light. So when a telescope looks out […]
Science
The blue-ringed octopus! An elegant little creature, native to the southwest Pacific, particularly the waters around Australia. Pretty to look at… but mostly famous for being very, very venomous. The blue-ring’s bite is deadly. A single sharp nip can kill an adult human in minutes. But why? The blue-ring is a modest little creature that […]
For those of us who would like to see a revival of the ‘techno-critical’ tradition in public debate (the tradition of Marshall McLuhan, Jacques Ellul, Neil Postman and Langdon Winner, inter many alia), it is a cause of some irritation that the hegemonic view of technology remains the ‘instrumental’ one.
In Brandon Cronenberg’s Infinity Pool (2023), author James Foster (Alexander Skarsgård) is holidaying with his partner Em (Cleopatra Coleman) on the island of Li Tolqa, when he hits and kills a local man while driving back to his resort at night. The next day he is arrested by the authorities and told that the penalty […]
The warming has led to an increase in the frequency of extreme heat events [in southern Australia] … In contrast, northern Australia has been wetter than average over the last 30 years.
There is a concerted global effort to undermine the very concept of evidence-based policy and scientific progress, argues Kit Yates
Trump’s assaults on governance could trigger systemic collapse. Here’s how it might happen, and how we can prepare. By George Monbiot, published in the Guardian 18th February 2025 Though we might find it hard to imagine, we cannot now rule it out: the possibility of systemic collapse in the United States. The degradation of federal […]
The notion of the Anthropocene was first proposed twenty-four years ago by the atmospheric chemist Paul Crutzen. It denotes a geological epoch defined by human activity, and remains an unofficial designation, with the International Commission on Stratigraphy—whose processes appear to be geologically slow—yet to approve it for technical use. Nevertheless, in that quarter of a […]
23 November 2024 This book tells three stories about the impact of machines on the human condition: on the way we work, on our freedom, and on our physical survival. Each story contains within it a vision of heaven and hell: the promise of relief from work, freedom to think our own thoughts, and almost … Continue reading Presentation for the Miami Book Fair – Mindless
America’s new chief of health, Robert Kennedy Jr, has promised to review the Nation’s health policies and make leeching great again. ”America is a great country, but, we’ve gone off the rails a little,” said Junior. ”We’re vaccinating this and... Read More ›