Romance
From violence to violins, and the conversion of horror to heartbeats; romance has a lot to answer for.
But don’t let that stop you. It’s why we are here and offers a joyride second to none.
Energy Gradients, Entropy and Life
I have wanted to write this one for the past fifty years or so. It’s still a bit over-complicated because there were so many little stories that I couldn’t bear to drop, so let’s call this a first draft.
Consciousness
Artificial intelligence is one thing, but artificial self-awareness? That’s quite another and probably quite a scary concept, even more so for the computer model who has it than for us.
Free Will
Can we choose between alternative courses of action? Yes of course we can. We do it all the time. But do we make those choices under the control of our own spirit, or are we robots acting mechanically?
One thing’s for sure, because it’s already happening – the robots of the future will have something that looks pretty much like free will.
So will they really have it?
Do we have it now?
Meaning
In which our proto-philosopher looks for the meaning of life and discovers that cartoons are the highest form of art.
New Year’s Resolution: Write an Essay a Week for ‘24
Before I go any further I’ll say this.
I doubt anyone else will be interested in this one. It is pure navel gazing, and it’s only here to stick my peg in the sand. I won’t promote this one on LinkedIn. I’ll just stick it here on my site and Substack.
You can stop reading now and start again next week. Next week’s will be the first essay that adds value.
Thank you.
War and Peace
The third of three essays I wrote in Chile 2023 to clarify my thoughts. I think patriotism was and will be the last unquestionable faith whose validity I have discarded.
Funny really, because GBS had done so long before.
Life the Universe and Everything
The second of three essays I wrote in early 2023 to get my ideas straight on a few things.
This is a biggish subject, The title is a nod to the genius of Douglas Adams.
Religion
The first of three essays I wrote in early 2023
Scar Tissue
More of a short story than an essay. But there you go.
