Introduction. Incidents of gun violence in which people are killed, maimed or traumatized are almost universally condemned. The press is full of the depressing stories and statistics, so no need to review them here. Such incidents are typically followed by public expressions of horror, disgust and disbelief. Opinions on the causes and measures to reduce gun violence are far from…
Introduction. The advent of Bitcoin and other crypto-currencies, which are dependent on blockchain, have catapulted this new technology into the limelight. As a result, an endless stream of articles and purported explanations of blockchain have appeared in recent years. A Google search on the term “blockchain” turned up over 200 million entries at the time of writing. The challenge of…
Introduction. Is it a slogan, is it a philosophy? It’s METAVERSE! Presumably meta-universe is meant, but in our busy world contractions rule. Etymology buffs: note that the prefix has a Greek root which means “after.” The ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle was perhaps the first to popularize this prefix with his treatise on Metaphysics, so named because it came after his…
Recently published article: Business is the main driver of social change in the current period, and flexibility and agility are today’s catchwords, taking precedence over continuity. The marketplace puts a premium on short term relations in business since they favor the bottom line. Innovations in management pioneered by large companies since the end of the Second World War, underwritten by…
This presentation (delivered at the SPIE conference in Baltimore, April 20, 2016) concerns the long term effects of information technology on social stability. The central argument is that IT will inevitably reduce employment opportunities and thus contribute to destabilizing the nuclear family.