Food for Thought

Experts of the possible

January 23, 2021January 23, 2021 No Comments

Some public health experts argue it can be done, but the experts in carrying out that kind of thing, the politicians, believe it cannot. https://www.irishtimes.com/business/covid-19-is-now-a-global-problem-in-search-of-an-irish-solution-1.4464511 Easily forgotten, but that’s a good definition of what a politician is: an expert in what’s possible to do, which may not be what a health expert says we should […]

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Food for Thought

Quote of the Day

January 5, 2021 No Comments

“(on visiting the USSR after Stalin regime installed)All right, I can see the broken eggs. Now where’s this omelette of yours?” ― Panait Istrati https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/dec/08/codpieces-zeppelins-best-brexit

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Food for Thought Government

Law of Inverse Relevance

December 8, 2020 No Comments

“It’s the law of inverse relevance. The less you intend to do about something, the more you have to keep talking about it.” – Sir Arnold Robinson (played by John Nettleton), Yes, Minister, “Open Government” Yes, Minister still holds up, not only due to the excellent performances but the superb writing. It captured something timeless about […]

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Food for Thought

November 17, 2020 No Comments

Therapists might disagree about the benefits of a particular aspect of this therapy versus a particular aspect of that therapy. But the core principle of every program — including the one that was used with me […] — is to engage with the kid one-on-one for hours every day, twenty to forty hours per week. […]

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Food for Thought

Quote of the Day

November 16, 2020 No Comments

Through not observing what is in the mind of another a man has seldom been seen to be unhappy; but those who do not observe the movements of their own minds must of necessity be unhappy. – Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

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Food for Thought Government People Society

November 14, 2020 No Comments

“Democracy is not something you believe in or a place you hang your hat, but it’s something you do. You participate. If you stop doing it, democracy crumbles.” – Abbie Hoffman

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Big Brother Food for Thought Society

The real problem with mass social media is: Gossip

November 13, 2020November 13, 2020 No Comments

So suggests Arnold Kling, and it explains the problem better than all the talk about ‘fake news’ and deleting bad content, and all that: The Internet, smart phones, and social media (ISS) have set human communication back about 20,000 years. That is, we now rely more on gossip than we have since we lived in […]

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Covid-19 Pandemic Food for Thought Health

Complex Systems and Non-Linear Effects

October 28, 2020 No Comments

Zynep Tufecki has an excellent analysis in the Atlantic of why Covid has been such a shock to every health system in the world. In short, we humans tend to be poor at systemic analysis, especially of complex systems with non-linear outcomes. This leads us to tend to under-estimate the impact of certain events – […]

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Food for Thought Politics

The Constant Sales Pitch

September 22, 2020 No Comments

I was thinking about what Boris Johnson said to Keir Starmer the a while back – ‘why don’t you build up what we are doing?’ It occurs to me that this is really key to leaders like Boris, and Nigel Farage, Donald Trump et al. It’s similar to the if you’re not with me you’re […]

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Computing Food for Thought

Quote of the day

September 17, 2020 No Comments

“A computer lets you make more mistakes faster than any other invention with the possible exceptions of handguns and Tequila.” Mitch Ratcliffe

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Who?

Murf

Experts of the possible

Quote of the Day

Law of Inverse Relevance

Food for Thought

Quote of the Day

Food for Thought

The real problem with mass social media is: Gossip

Complex Systems and Non-Linear Effects

The Constant Sales Pitch

Quote of the day

Category: Food for Thought