Author Archives: Thor

229. Crime’s Value Chain

Posted on December 5, 2010 by Thor

The per­sis­tent objec­tion of many Amer­i­cans to their black eth­nic minor­ity is prob­a­bly not at bot­tom the prob­lem that these folk are black. It is not even their per­ceived incli­na­tion to crim­i­nal­ity, which after all is a uni­ver­sal human trait. … Con­tinue read­ing →

Posted in power, skulduggery, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

228. Creative Destruction

Posted on October 9, 2010 by Thor

Exer­cise is the man­aged destruc­tion and regen­er­a­tion of liv­ing tis­sue for increased strength. With­out that destruc­tion of tis­sue, there can be no improve­ment. Learn­ing is the man­aged destruc­tion and regen­er­a­tion of knowl­edge for increased insight. With­out that destruc­tion there can … Con­tinue read­ing →

Posted in physical stuff | Leave a comment

227. A Vocation

Posted on October 3, 2010 by Thor

The good face of orga­nized reli­gion is that it cre­ates a social space. This is a space which at its best lies out­side the thrall of daily eco­nomic con­test and role play, a place where peo­ple regard­less of sta­tus, race, … Con­tinue read­ing →

Posted in religion | Leave a comment

226. Learning, Value and Making a Dollar

Posted on September 30, 2010 by Thor

Learn­ing, we can prob­a­bly agree, is a good thing. That is a huge prob­lem. Peo­ple will not pay for good things. They will pay a king’s ran­som for vice. Thus, to pro­mote learn­ing we have to dress it up in … Con­tinue read­ing →

Posted in values | Leave a comment

225. The Outside Track

Posted on May 17, 2010 by Thor

A slice of life: a city in cen­tral China where I knew almost no one. That was OK, I’m a free spirit. But then, you never know who will come knock­ing. So one Sat­ur­day morn­ing, here was a rather attrac­tive … Con­tinue read­ing →

Posted in culture, human nature, life, psychology, values, wisdom | Leave a comment

223. Innovation is not Problem Solving

Posted on October 17, 2009 by Thor

Inno­va­tion is the habit, or the knack, or find­ing new premises. It is prob­lem quest­ing rather than prob­lem solv­ing. Our best schools and uni­ver­si­ties hone prob­lem solvers of a cer­tain kind. Give the finest grad­u­ates of these places a prob­lem … Con­tinue read­ing →

Posted in culture, memory, psychology, wisdom | Leave a comment

222. Of Robots and Humans

Posted on September 5, 2009 by Thor

The threat from robots is already amongst us. It is not that robots are aggres­sive. It is that human beings for the most part are over­whelm­ingly lazy. Humans will kill to claim a park­ing space instead of walk­ing a hun­dred … Con­tinue read­ing →

Posted in culture, human nature, psychology, technology, wisdom | Leave a comment