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Browsing All Posts filed under »Politics and Society«
A Roller Coaster of Interpretation: The Leviathan Of Habit
On Friday, I rode Leviathan, the tallest and fastest roller coaster in Canada. It was awesome. A CHILDHOOD FANTASY COME TRUE As a kid, did you ever fantasize about having an amusement park to yourself? Wonderland’s Fast Lane Pass comes pretty close to making that fantasy come true. We were strapped into Leviathan for a […]
The Irrationality of More Rather Than Fewer Nanoseconds of Life and the Extinction of Our Species.
July 3, 2012
On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero. This is also true of a species, including our own. Rationally speaking, it should make no difference to me whether or not I live one nanosecond longer because, once I am dead, my experience of that nanosecond dies with me. From this […]
The Two Solitudes: Divided and Conquered.
June 18, 2012
As long as I’ve had any understanding of Canadian history and politics, I’ve also believed — almost reflexively — that “the Two Solitudes” is a natural and essential feature of Canadian society. And why not? From grade school history class to the front pages of the national media, everywhere we’re told, French and English Canadians […]
Canada’s Ancien Régime says, “Let Them Eat Student Loans.”
June 11, 2012
One of the more famous moments of the French Revolution probably never happened. In all likelihood, Marie Antoinette never uttered the phrase, “Let them eat, cake,” in response to the news that there was a widespread bread shortage in France. It survives as a quasi-fact of the Revolution only because later pro-revolutionary historians thought the […]
Righting All Wrongs: There’s No Single Way To Do It.
May 21, 2012
In the face of a wrong, shortcoming, failure, or problem, there really are only three plausible responses. Pretend the wrong doesn’t exist. Address it indirectly. Address it directly. While it’s tempting to claim that, in every instance of wrong, one should always and only respond in one way, in fact, any of the three responses […]
Rethinking Community: International Neighborhoods of Interest
May 7, 2012
The other day, I accidentally met a neighbor for the first time, eating dinner at the bar of a restaurant in a neighborhood other than the one in which we both live. After chatting for a bit, we realized, much to our surprise, that we live in the same building and on the same floor. […]
The Game of Living, Basic Edition: The Rules of Play
February 23, 2012
At the start of the game, each player is “born” into — that is, randomly assigned to — a small, hierarchical and generally closed community, which is organized along bloodlines and proximity. Each player is randomly assigned a role in the hierarchy of the community. Each community controls a certain amount of resources, determined by […]
To The Historians Go the Spoils of Your War: Who is Writing Your History?
February 13, 2012
It is well understood that the victors write the history. It is overlooked, I think, that, in fact, it is the victors’ historians who write the history. For historians, ideas, culture, and writing are pretty damn important. It should, therefore, come as no surprise that ideas, culture, and writing figure so prominently in our histories, […]
The 1% Rule: Is The Net A Mirror?
February 6, 2012
The “1% Rule” claims that 1% of the people on the Internet create all the content and everyone else only consumes it. Sometimes, it is also claimed that an additional 9% or 10% of people on the Internet edit and modify content — rather than create it — leaving the other 89% or 90% to […]
July 18, 2012
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