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How a lay preacher made a tech revolution revolting.
I have an increasing feeling of disquiet when I look at how we relate to technology of late. This is something in which I suspect I am not alone. While generally positive about new technologies, I find an increasing disquiet about how some of the newer technologies are playing out. I will explain. This is a story that starts in 1712 – before even I was born – but one which has very applicable lessons for us today. You’re doubtless wondering what happened in 1712. A lay preacher and general do-gooder named Thomas Newcomen developed the first commercial steam engine. There had been earlier iterations, but these were little more…
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If you’re from Winnipeg you probably shouldn’t read this.
One of my recent clients recently described a sense of overwhelming pessimism which they were experiencing. They were from Winnipeg, which some people might consider reason enough to feel that way, though that’s not a view to which I subscribe. Many years ago I had a very sweet client come to see me to quit smoking. It was in the early days of the practice. She was a very kind lady, name Carla. I believe she was the manager at Joe Fortes, a restaurant in Vancouver. I helped her quit smoking successfully. However, in subsequent years she sent so many of her staff to see me that I will always…
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Twitter and Alternative Realities.
Hi,Opening my Twitter the other day I was greeted by a message from sex abuse denier Jim Jordan, a distasteful individual who is campaigning for re-election in Ohio. This isn’t something calculated to put me in a good mood for the day. I see this, apparently, because other people I follow have clicked the ‘like’ button in Twitter, and so an algorithm cleverly written by someone who doesn’t know me, or apparently many other people and doesn’t get out very often thinks this is what I’d like to be exposed to first thing in the morning. Elon Musk’s recent takeover of the platform is the latest in a series of episodes…
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I’d rather be a hammer than a snail.
My adult life got off to a shaky start. I was born in a ‘good’ family. When I exhibited early signs of illnesses like socialism and liberal thinking it was easy for my parents to do what any right thinking parents in the seventies would do, and throw me out of the house. The only problem was that in Maggie’s Britain there were three million unemployed, there was a war brewing and we were still in the throes of the cold war. It was what might reasonably be described as a hostile environment for a young left wing teenager with the wrong accent. And when I say ‘the wrong accent’…