Category Archives: human nature

233. History, False History and Innocence

Posted on November 16, 2011 by Thor

  “Not to know what hap­pened before you were born is to remain forever a child”. (Nescire autem quid ante quam natus sis acciderit, id est sem­per esse puerum) [Cicero 46 B.C.]. Hmm. Yet know­ing his­tory falsely, whether falsely given … Con­tinue read­ing →

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232. Fool’s Way

Posted on October 6, 2011 by Thor

  Advice to a fool is a fool’s errand. I’m a teacher, so giv­ing advice is both a habit and an occu­pa­tional haz­ard. It’s a haz­ard not only because the wrong advice ric­o­chets. It is remark­able in ret­ro­spect how often … Con­tinue read­ing →

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231. The Paradox of Surplus

Posted on August 29, 2011 by Thor

Ani­mals take what’s there is to be had, gorge in years of plenty, die off in famine. Humans, some of them, strive to pro­duce a sur­plus. Curi­ously though the evo­lu­tion­ary devel­op­ment of humans has not pro­gressed well to any con­sen­sus … Con­tinue read­ing →

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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 →

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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 →

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221. Find a Problem, Make a Job

Posted on August 20, 2009 by Thor

Give some­one a job to solve a prob­lem and you can bet the prob­lem will never go away. There is, after all, a job at stake. That is why the mil­i­tary is usu­ally a growth indus­try, not to men­tion lawyers, … Con­tinue read­ing →

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220. Human Decorations

Posted on January 24, 2009 by Thor

Men want to be admired veg­eta­bles and women want to be desired veg­eta­bles. For a brief time as young plants they grow legs and arms and brains. The evo­lu­tion­ary pur­pose of these appendages is to find a good gar­den plot. … Con­tinue read­ing →

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