Is this the least violent period in the history of humankind?
September 8th, 2013 by Roger Darlington
Most people are convinced that we live in violent times – perhaps the most violent times. But it ain’t necessarily so.
I was visiting friends yesterday and, on the kitchen table, was the book “The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined” by Canadian psychologist Stephen Pinker. Now I am never going to read this book myself because it is over 1,000 pages of small print. But the argument in this book is so important that we should all know something about it.
As the very useful Wikipedia summary puts it:
‘Pinker presents a large amount of data (and statistical analysis thereof) that, he argues, demonstrate that violence has been in decline over millennia and that the present is probably the most peaceful time in the history of the human species. The decline in violence, he argues, is enormous in magnitude, visible on both long and short time scales, and found in many domains, including military conflict, homicide, genocide, torture, criminal justice, and the treatment of children, animals, racial and ethnic minorities, and gay people. He stresses that “The decline, to be sure, has not been smooth; it has not brought violence down to zero; and it is not guaranteed to continue” ‘
Posted in History, Social policy | Comments (0)
A review of the film “Taken 2”
September 6th, 2013 by Roger Darlington
Liam Neeson expected “Taken” (2008) to go straight to DVD but it was a surprise hit. So now he’s back in a sequel and guess who’s ‘taken’ this time? See my review here.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
Would wearable technology suit you?
September 6th, 2013 by Roger Darlington
I confess that I am never without my mobile – indoors as well as outdoors. So I would be a candidate for wearable technology.
An article in today’s “Mirror” newspaper takes the arrival of Google Glasses and the Samsung Galaxy Gear smartwatch as the starting point to look at six other possible developments in wearable technology.
Posted in Science & technology | Comments (0)
Did Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky commit suicide?
September 5th, 2013 by Roger Darlington
Last evening, Vee and I were guests of the BBC at one of the last of this season’s Promenade Concerts at London’s Royal Albert Hall.
The programme commenced with the ‘Symphony Of Sorrowful Songs” by the contemporary Polish composer Henryk Gorecki. This is a piece i know well; long and slow but utterly haunting.
Next up was the world premiere of “Four Last Songs” by English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams. To be honest, if I never heard it again, I would not mind at all.
Finally we heard Tchaikvosky’s Symphony No 6 known as the “Pathetiue”. Ever since I was introduced to classical music 47 years ago, this has been one of many favourite pieces. It is so unusual in that the third movement sounds as if it should be the last, but it is in fact followed by a gut-wrenchingly mournful finale. The Finnish conductor Osmo Vanska did not allow any interval between the third and fourth movements but effectively ran them together.
The Sixth Symphony was the last thing that Tchaikovsky wrote. Nine days after its first performance – not particularly well-received – the composer died at the age of just 53. Allegedly he had drunk a glass of unboiled water and contracted cholera.
There have long been suggestions that Tchaikovsky committed suicide. If he deliberately drank the water unboiled then, in cholera-ravaged Saint Petersburg, that would have been tantamount to suicide.
You can find a discussion of Tchaikovsky’s death here.
Posted in Cultural issues, My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
Which came first: the chicken or the egg?
September 4th, 2013 by Roger Darlington
The answer to this question and other scientific puzzles can be found in today’s “Mirror” newspaper here.
Posted in Science & technology | Comments (0)
How long a book does it take to tell the history of the world?
September 4th, 2013 by Roger Darlington
I am a great believer that one cannot understand current affairs without having a knowledge of history and that we all need not just an appreciation of our own country’s history but at least a general overview of world history. But obviously world history is a huge subject and we are all busy people, so is it possible to cover word history in one book and, if so, how big would that book need to be?
I have just finished reading “A History Of The World” by Andrew Marr. It runs to around 600 pages and took me two months. You can read my review here.
Famously E.H. Gombrich managed to write “A Little History Of The World” which covered the subject in just 300 pages. You can read my review here.
Still too long? “The No Nonsense Guide To World History” by Chris Brazier runs through the topic in a mere 40,000 words . You can read my review here.
Everyone should read at least one account of world history in their lives.
Posted in History | Comments (0)
How could a walkie-talkie melt a Jaguar car?
September 3rd, 2013 by Roger Darlington
It could only happen here in London – as revealed in this news item.
Posted in British current affairs | Comments (1)
The web matters to you even before you are born and even after you are dead
September 3rd, 2013 by Roger Darlington
I am currently reading “Untangling The Web” by Aleks Krotoski. She makes the point that the web has a record of information about us, not just while we are alive and using it, but often earlier and later.
Many parents now open a Facebook page for their expected child even before the baby is born. This can record scans of the foetus, details of the course of the pregnancy, and comments from family and friends. Such Facebook pages go on, after the birth, to record lots of detail including sleeping and eating habits and progress on walking an talking. It is a rich source of personal data that no adult alive ever had.
My own granddaughter had a Facebook page months before she was born and, since her birth, it has been updated every couple of days.
At the other end of life, we now have lots of experience of web users dying but information created by them reminding online and even being supplemented. The deceased’s Facebook page may be taken over by a relative, family and friends, may add tributes, and on anniversaries of the death family and friends can note that the deceased is still in their minds. Krotoski recommends that wills now include provision for handling of what she calls “digital assets”.
I have a huge web site, most of which can and should remain online after my death. My will makes provision for a friend to announce my death on the site and continue to curate the site for as long as he thinks appropriate.
Posted in Internet, My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
What is dependent origination?
September 3rd, 2013 by Roger Darlington
I was visiting some friends recently when one of them used the term “dependent origination”. I had never heard of the term and struggled to understand my friend’s attempt to explain it. It is an English translation for the Sanskrit word pratītyasamutpāda which is fundamental to Buddhist belief.
One explanation is as follows:
“No beings or phenomena exist independently of other beings and phenomena. All beings and phenomena are caused to exist by other beings and phenomena. Further, the beings and phenomena thus caused to exist cause other beings and phenomena to exist. Things and beings perpetually arise and perpetually cease because other things and beings perpetually arise and perpetually cease. All this arising and being and ceasing go on in one vast field or nexus of beingness. And there we are.”
The Wikipedia page is very comprehensive if rather obscure.
Can any reader shed some light?
Posted in Miscellaneous | Comments (2)
A poem by Catrin about computer problems with her granddad
September 2nd, 2013 by Roger Darlington
“Where’s granddad?”
The computer swallowed Granddad,
Yes, honestly it’s true!
He pressed ‘control’ and ‘enter’
And disappeared from view.
It devoured him completely,
The thought just makes me squirm.
He must have caught a virus
Or been eaten by a worm.
I’ve searched through the recycle bin
And files of every kind;
I’ve even used the Internet,
But nothing did I find.
In desperation, I asked Mr. Google
My searches to refine.
The reply from him was negative,
Not a thing was found ‘online.’
So, if inside your ‘Inbox,’
My Granddad you should see,
Please ‘Copy’, ‘Scan’ and ‘Paste’ him,
And send him back to me.
Posted in Miscellaneous | Comments (4)