In this classic in the philosophy of history, Karl Popper (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Popper) attacks those who believe in the ‘iron laws’ of history. In other words that there is some kind of fixed destiny or inevitability about how things must work out. For example, the ascendancy of the ‘pure blooded’ races (Fascism). Or the victory of the […]
The Poverty of Historicism by Karl Popper Read More »
Nicholas Carr’s (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_G._Carr) contention is that the internet is rewiring our brains to negative effect. He is not merely talking about ‘dumbing down’. What he posits is more significant: that human culture has been built steadily over our literate history by deep and meditative reading, and the internet threatens to undo this process. Millions of people are
The Shallows by Nicholas Carr Read More »
Anyone out there pretty much wedded to Enlightenment ideals? I hope so. Sadly, in recent decades these have come under attack from a whole slew of irrationalisms. Cults, quackery, gurus, hysterical panics, moral confusion and an epidemic of mumbo-jumbo, pre-modernists and post-modernists, medieval theocrats and New Age mystics. They’re all here trying to drag us back
How Mumbo-Jumbo conquered the world by Francis Wheen Read More »
This is a hugely controversial thesis (1996) from Samuel P. Huntington. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_P._Huntington). His argument is that the fundamental source of conflict in the future will not primarily be ideological or economic but rather cultural. The fault lines between civilizations will be the battle lines of the future, he contends. Every fresh news story, particularly to do with
The Clash of Civilizations by Samuel P. Huntington Read More »
This is a thoroughly researched history of the drug trade showing that all the efforts of governments and law enforcement are futile against global trafficking and desperation to escape the nightmare which is human experience. Spanning five centuries and several continents in a sweeping portrait of addiction, The Pursuit of Oblivion (2001) traces the history
The Pursuit of Oblivion by Richard Davenport-Hines Read More »
