Category Archives: values

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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230. Innocence Compromised – On Being an Adult (?)

Posted on August 16, 2011 by Thor

The short­est path to power for a scoundrel is to com­pro­mise either good peo­ple (hard to find) or almost good peo­ple (most of us). The wicket gate is left open a crack, one small short cut is taken, an inno­cent … Con­tinue read­ing →

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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 →

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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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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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217. Articulating Failure

Posted on July 2, 2008 by Thor

It is often said that the path to sta­ble gov­er­nance lies in offer­ing the able a way to suc­ceed. Block­ing the ambi­tions of the most capa­ble, or per­haps the most ruth­less peo­ple is surely an invi­ta­tion to civil unrest. Yet … Con­tinue read­ing →

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194. Why Are You Here?

Posted on January 28, 2006 by Thor

Long ago, when the Inter­net was new (in the early 1990s), I set up a form-mail on my web­site to ask “What is the most inter­est­ing ques­tion in your life, and when do you expect to get an answer to … Con­tinue read­ing →

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