Apocalypse Not
I find the mass fears and popular mythologies unhelpful and dangerous. It is useful, however, to contemplate, and to some extent prepare for the “worst-case scenarios.”
I find the mass fears and popular mythologies unhelpful and dangerous. It is useful, however, to contemplate, and to some extent prepare for the “worst-case scenarios.”
Imagine billions of nanobots, tiny computerized machines smaller than your red blood cells, travelling through your body, inserted in your brain, all communicating internally with each other and externally with machines outside of your body. These nanobots could repair damaged cells in your body, destroy cancer cells, eliminate pathogens, provide optimum nutrition, eliminate unhealthy chemicals,…
A report on the inaugural meeting of the International Big History Association in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
En route to the International Big History Association conference in Grand Rapids, I made a pilgrimage to Hell—a small town northwest of Ann Arbor.
Watching the sunset from the cliffs of the Santorini caldera attracts tourists from all over the world, I recently discovered on a family sailing trip in the Greek Islands. The Cyclades archipelago is one of the cradles of human civilization, dating back 6,000 years, when late Neolithic and early Bronze Age communities thrived here. They…
What are we to do when our ideals are in conflict? We need some intellectual, practical, and spiritual tools for adjudicating between our divergent narratives.
Is there some way to adjudicate between the competing metanarratives that shape our lives and identities? The philosophy of interpretation can help us dig our way out of this relativistic mess.
Humans now consume some 18 trillion watts of energy in a variety of forms. Every aspect of our contemporary lives depends on this tremendous flow of energy.
We argue about truth, beauty, and goodness based on competing religious, nationalistic, ethnic, and ideological stories. What intellectual tools can help to mediate between these competing narratives?
The way humans tend to answer big questions is through stories. For generations, humans gathered around hearth and fire to tell and retell stories. Today, people are more likely to gather around the cool glow of the television or the computer screen, but we are no less storied creatures.