A personal experience of religion, and some ongoing questions. Losing My Religion I was raised a Christian. My family went to church more or less every Sunday. The churches were generally old New England stone edifices, stained glass and wood pews. The services were a...
The limits of our thinking, and the shape of our instinct. This essay starts off by discussing the limits of human reasoning, moves into an examination of our basic sub-rational drives (and how we ourselves exploit those drives to survive, with hideous consequences),...
A nice bed under which to collect the dustbunnies of random realization. I don’t read as much as I’d like to, but now and again, when I do, I get a clue of some kind that’s worth remembering. And often, if it’s worth remembering, it’s...
Computers’ transformation of education is just beginning to gel. [This was a piece I wrote for, potentially, the Intelligent Agent section in Wired. Since writing it I’ve learned a lot about what’s wrong with the sort of cyberphilia that permeates...
There’s more to life than making money. Coming of Age in Political America I was relatively apolitical up until just a couple of years ago. Through age 20 or so my attitude towards politics was basically “Who cares?” It was pretty plain to me that...
Games are finally IT! It’s finally becoming clear. After years of thinking that computers were mainly useful for business, and games were only a sideline, the PC industry is coming round with astonishing speed. Some Facts New home PCs are now generally more...
The upcoming post-modern political upheaval. A political proposition for you: The dominant political issue in the world is not about conservatism versus liberalism, nor about rich versus poor. The driving split is between those who believe there is a single right way...
Is this all a big cyber-shuck? Several recent books have announced a cyber-backlash. First published was Silicon Snake Oil by Clifford Stoll, then City Lights Books released Resisting the Virtual Life by James Brook and Iain A. Boal. Both works make sobering and...
Wondering what happiness is? Wonder no more. In late 1994, I read a book named Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, by one Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. The book has had a lasting effect on me, and the concept of flow has worked itself deeply into my thinking. This...
