I review Michael Pollan's popular book on food production and going local, and reflect on the merits of his proposal.
Tag: Technology
Blogging as a Way to Till the Internet
What is the purpose of blogging? Should you get into it? In short: (1) it is better than social media and (2) one of the best ways for us to cultivate the Internet for future generations.
Stars Beyond Our Reach
Traveling to the nearest star would require a generation ship. Can such a thing be done? As sci-fi author Kim Stanley Robinson explains with alacrity and precision, no, it can't.
Facebook Was Foreshadowed in 1909 (and a Score of Other Things You Didn’t Know about Science Fiction)
Why is 'Frankenstein' considered the mother of the genre? How did we go from seeing so many utopian stories to dystopian ones? Where did the word "robot" come from? Will SF ever be recognized as "true" literature?
Narcissus on Social Media
Social media taps into our common need to feel connected. But it also adds something unique: a metrics-driven design that can easily turn us inward rather than outward.
My Essay on Free Will, Hacking, and Transcendent Narrative
Best-selling author Yuval Harari recently claimed that free will is a myth, humans are more hackable than ever before, and religion has no place in addressing the scientific and technological challenges of the future. Here's why he's wrong.
From ‘Cryptonomicon’: The Importance of Time-Tested Moral Frameworks
Historian Yuval Noah Harari does not believe religion has anything relevant to say about the technological challenges of the future. His argument reminds me of a passage from an award-winning novel that suggests otherwise.
