Everyone seems to want to be a writer. And to meet the demand of all these aspiring writers wanting to learn to become writers there are myriad of books and courses on offer, depending on what kind of writer you’d prefer to be. You can become a ‘Premium Ghostwriter’ a ‘Sales Conversion writer’ an ‘online…
The violence of lying
It was Sam Harris who first introduced me to the concept of lying as violence. I read his book on lying, aptly named, Lying and thought it interesting, agreed with most of it and decided to tell the truth wherever possible. If you read the last sentence again you’ll note I left myself wiggle room…
Nick Cave, Stephen Fry, and a letter to Charlie and Leon about the numinousness of the creative struggle which generative AI subverts
If you care about creativity and about what makes our species precious you’ll want to watch this.
The Problem with the Golden Rule
The golden rule states that we should treat others as we ourselves want to be treated. On the surface this seems to be a perfectly reasonable way to be in the world. In fact, it might the only way eight billion people could live together on this planet. But there are problems with the golden…
Living with Isaac Newton must’ve been hard
There’s a story about Isaac Newton. I don’t know if it’s true and I have no inclination to find out if it is or not because I like the story. Newton had invited guests for dinner. His housekeeper came to his study and suggested he might want to go upstairs to dress dinner before his…
What we measure
“Have you done your homework?” When it came to my homework nothing else mattered to my parents. They didn’t ask how well I had done it or what I had learnt. ‘Done’ was what we measured when it came to homework in my house growing up. We’ve all heard a variation of the phrases, what…
Leading a small life
My sister leads a small life. She owned a toyshop in a small coastal village. A couple of years ago she moved to one of my favourite cities in the world and she’s working out what she wants next out of life, and she’s taking her time. My sister doesn’t make a lot of money,…
Is Tik Tok the heroine of social media?
I have an addictive personality. I wish that meant that people couldn’t get enough of me. It doesn’t. I’m the type of person that can’t get enough of a good thing. Once I start, I find it difficult to stop. Throughout my youth I’ve experimented, abused and misused substances. Alcohol and nicotine had significant places…
Remembrance Day – what we forgot
The armistice signalling the end of fighting on all fronts during World War 1 was signed just after 5:00 in the morning on the 11th November, 1918. However, hostilities would only end six hours later at 11:00. 11th of the 11th at 11 was more elegant than 11th of the 11th at 5 in the…
The Abilene Paradox
The Abilene Paradox refers to the practice of people in a group going along with a decision believing that it is what everyone around them really wants, even if it goes against the outcomes the group are aiming for. Put another way, it’s when you believe your preferences don’t align with everyone else’s in the…