“‘If you don’t feel temptation, you’re not making moral choices.’” ––Hieroglyph: Stories & Visions for a Better Future, “Periapsis,” by James L. Cambias, pg. 294 “As an example of unintended consequences, Oxford University ethicist Nick Bostrum suggests the hypothetical ‘paper clip maximizer.’ In Bostrum’s scenario, a thoughtlessly programmed superintelligence whose programmed goal is to […]
“Imagine awakening in a prison guarded by mice. Not just any mice, but mice you could communicate with. What strategy would you use to gain your freedom? Once freed, how would you feel about your rodent wardens, even if you discovered they had created you? Awe? Adoration? Probably not, and especially not if you were […]
Tom Holland’s Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic makes it easy to understand why the fall of Rome still animates the imaginations of contemporary scholars and history enthusiasts. Striking a deft balance between erudition and accessibility, Holland’s narrative is replete with lush sensory details that bring the Roman Republic’s last century to life. […]
“There was only one thing you could do on Wegetit.com: show that you understood someone’s framing of an idea. There were two text fields, one for a word or concept (very short) and a longer one, for about a tweet’s worth of definition. You could let fly your idea of what something meant and wait. […]
“On 19 August Octavian, still not yet twenty, was formally elected consul. Then, having secured the condemnation of Caesar’s assassins as traitors, he left Rome and marched northward, straight toward the advancing army of Antony and Lepidus. Between the rival Caesarian leaders, unchallenged masters now of the entire Western empire, there was to be no […]
“‘The only thing that doesn’t change the world is a corpse.’” ––Hieroglyph: Stories & Visions for a Better Future, “The Man Who Sold the Moon,” by Cory Doctorow, pg. 138 “There was nothing more upsetting to a Roman than to feel deprived of fellowship, of a sense of community, and rather than endure it […]
Frustration is an emotion that depends on our indulgence for its perpetuation. One wrong step, unfortunate turn, or misunderstanding causes a flash of heat: the sudden awareness of fault and fallibility. For those who struggle to achieve the placid grace of deep breaths and quick chuckles, small frustrations build rapidly and compound with force. On […]
“‘When loyalty is freely chosen, based on conscious decisions, we find it is fluid and dynamic. When loyalty is fear induced, as in many repressive regimes, it is deeply damaging. We are learning the kinds of strengths and skills we may need to determine the difference between the two for ourselves, so that we can […]
“The beauty of science lies for me not merely in its ability to produce fantastic new technologies that transform and can improve the human condition. It is rather in its ability to open our eyes to the endless wonder of the real universe, which continues to surprise us every time we open a new window […]
“To speak of these things and to try to understand their nature and, having understood it, to try slowly and humbly and constantly to express, to press out again, from the gross earth or what it brings forth, from sound and shape and colour which are the prison gates of our soul, an image of […]