It’s Evolutionary Psychology Stupid

(Editorial Note : This paper was originally prepared for the 2005 Liverpool Conference on Robert Pirsig and his Metaphysics of Quality (MoQ). It is a personal non-technical view of the MoQ, and indeed the first part of paper is an entirely subjective and naive account of the author’s “thought journey” that led to reading Pirsig … Continue reading “It’s Evolutionary Psychology Stupid”

Science Articles of Faith

One article of faith in science is that dinosaurs became extinct 60-odd million years ago and couldn’t have been around at the same time as early hominids. Article of faith in the sense that evidence for it refutes any possible young-earth creationism. Herewith a current story pointing out the elements of chance in evolutionary progress, if anyone … Continue reading “Science Articles of Faith”

Brewery Blogging @brewdog

This is a retrospective blog on the beers I’ve experienced in the past 3 months, of weekly commuting to London. Brewdog bars in Camden, Shoreditch and Shepherds Bush, all on the itinerary, after Manchester, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Aberdeen (x2) the summer / autumn before, and a couple more before that. (Shoreditch BTW is by far my … Continue reading “Brewery Blogging @brewdog”

Pulling-Up in a 777

If that’s true about 777’s then it’s pretty scary and not what you’d expect – (and quite independent of the bizarre mix of trainee and trainer pilot experience on the flight deck of a commercial flight operation, and whether they were relying on glide-path systems on the ground that were actually switched off for maintenance. Like … Continue reading “Pulling-Up in a 777”

The Power of Blogging

I support the power of blogging (and other social media) but you’ve probably detected I also see a problem with over-communication. In the clamour for attention, bad information can drive out good – the memetic problem as I call it. There is a moral imperative to say what needs to be said – and that … Continue reading “The Power of Blogging”

Salman Rushdie

Just finished Salman Rushdie’s “The Ground Beneath Her Feet”. Good but not his best. A Rock’n’Roll version of the Orphic myth ending with a Lennonesque celebrity murder. (That’s not a spoiler because the cover blurb already makes it clear that only the heroic narrator survives.) Perhaps Rushdie is not quite hip enough for the rock’n’roll, … Continue reading “Salman Rushdie”

Hitler’s Virtues ?

Few of us would defend Hitler as virtuous, in fact few would see him as anything other than “evil”. Adolf Hitler loved dogs and brushed his teeth, but that doesn’t mean we should hate dogs and stop brushing our teeth. Says Jared Diamond quoting a friend in “Collapse – How Societies Choose to Fail or … Continue reading “Hitler’s Virtues ?”

The Rose Completed

I’ve blogged a couple of times already that I’ve been reading Umberto Eco’s “The Name of the Rose”. Well today on flight CO5 to Houston I completed it. I said before that the high mediaeval historical content made it difficult to sort fictional characters and events from real. Few of the important doubts (people or … Continue reading “The Rose Completed”