The global hype around the HBO television series, Game of Thrones (GoT), which ended with what was apparently generally perceived by fans as an anticlimax of sorts, made me reflect once again on the pertinence of the intellectual work of that indomitable French thinker, Bernard Stiegler, for grasping the way that contemporary electronic technology is […]
Tech
Posted inGeneral, Health, Media, Tech
Should one question technology’s drive for dominance?
In a sense, the titular question, above, is redundant. Technology is, after all, already dominant — a claim that hardly needs to be substantiated with evidence; it is there for everyone to perceive on a daily basis. Not that the objects of ‘perception’ are self-evident in any straightforward way. In social reality a good deal […]
Posted inEquality, General, Health, Media, Tech
Notre Dame, spirituality and technology
The recent devastating fire that nearly destroyed the more than 800 year-old Parisian Gothic cathedral, Notre Dame, has put something important in perspective. One could not but notice that the shock caused by this event was not restricted to Paris, or even France, which one might have expected. Understandably, Parisians have always loved this architectural […]
Posted inEquality, General, Health, Tech
A question of balance…
Two days ago my partner and I went on a whirlwind visit to Gauteng and North-West Province – flying to Johannnesburg and driving from there in a rented car to the Potschefstroom campus of North-West University, where I had been invited to participate in a debate on the question: ‘Is God still necessary for morality?’ […]
Posted inEnvironment, Equality, General, News/Politics, Tech
A world without electricity?
The prospect of living in a ‘world without electricity’ in South Africa has become a spectre that looms ever-larger by the day, as a mismanaged, looted-to-the-bone Eskom struggles to keep the ‘lights on’ — a misleading metaphor, insofar as it stands for the entire electricity-based economy of this country. In the era of fake news […]
Posted inBusiness, Environment, Equality, Gender violence, General, Health, Lifestyle, Media, News/Politics, Sport, Tech
The manifesto for change
Beware of political parties promising you the world in their manifestos and campaign materials. Believe it or not politicians are quite flexible with both reality and the truth. With this in mind I started reading the Democratic Alliance’s manifesto for change. The first line on the website reads, “The Manifesto for Change is our contract […]
Posted inBusiness, Environment, Equality, Gender violence, General, Health, Lifestyle, Media, News/Politics, Sport, Tech
NewBridge
Recently, at the start of 2019, I chose to come out of retirement, deconcentrate and redelegate, for the time being, my BLU ERA activities; and enroll for a higher education. Now what this might have meant, 10 years ago, was returning to the politics department at UKZN and trying to finish my BA in political […]
Posted inBusiness, Environment, Equality, Gender violence, General, Health, Lifestyle, Media, News/Politics, Sport, Tech
Inspirationalist
I’ve just read Shaheen Hoosen’s manifesto, “Inspirationalist” and I could not wait to share it with you. Masterfully written, Inspirationalist will take you on a journey of self-discovery while equipping you with the abilities to thrive. From the mind of Shaheen Hoosen, noted and celebrated Inspirationalist, comes this winning formula for personal growth, self-actualisation, fluent […]
Posted inBusiness, Environment, Equality, Gender violence, General, Health, Lifestyle, Media, News/Politics, Sport, Tech
Economic Justice II
Durban 27 January 2019 The First Officer South Africa I hereby tender notice that I have purchased, from the state and government of the Republic of South Africa, the parastatals, in whole and in toto, altogether for the sum of One South African Rand (R1.00), as is. Further to which I hereby tender notice that […]
Posted inEnvironment, Equality, General, Media, Tech
Metaphors (as models), and our own ‘networked’ existence
In The Prison-House of Language (Princeton University Press, 1972) Fredric Jameson opens the Preface with the following thought-provoking remark (p. v): The history of thought is the history of its models. Classical mechanics, the organism, natural selection, the atomic nucleus or electronic field, the computer: such are some of the objects or systems which, first […]
Posted inEnvironment, General, Media, Tech
‘Searching for an Electric Peanut (part II)’: Jonathan Silverman’s liminal art
Liminality is a strange phenomenon: The Encarta dictionary online defines it as ‘belonging to the point of conscious awareness below which something cannot be experienced or felt’, which is only one of the ways the term is used, but nevertheless gives a good idea of what is involved when you call something ‘liminal’. The point […]
Posted inEnvironment, General, Health, Lifestyle, Media, Tech
Sleepwalking into a geophysical storm?
In a recent article titled ‘The perils of short-termism: Civilisation’s greatest threat’, by Richard Fisher, he makes the following sober (and sobering) remark about the people — our children and grandchildren — who are likely to be alive when the iconic year, 2100, dawns: All the decisions we make, for better and worse, will be […]