Despite the fuss people are making about climate change, nothing seems to change. Global emissions continue to rise, and governments continue to remain pretty passive. What can we do? As individual 'consumers'--not much. Only 20% of global greenhouse gas emissions come from the stuff linked to individual consumer habits--like flying, meat-eating, or driving. The bulk … Continue reading How do you solve a problem like the climate?
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The fork in the path: The stakes of the UK general election tomorrow
Tomorrow, something important's happening. Though it has become a cliché, clichés are sometimes true, and this one is: tomorrow's general election will define the UK's future. Here's why. The NHS: At risk of privatisation (Creative Commons) If Boris's Conservatives win a majority--even if Boris himself loses his seat--the Conservatives will go through with their manifesto … Continue reading The fork in the path: The stakes of the UK general election tomorrow
A winter’s tale: The allegory of the house of freedom
We’ve walked along history’s road. We’re naked and freezing—but at least we can see with our eyes. Then, we are blindfolded, taken to another part of the road, and given a warm coat. Once, we had pain and knowledge. Now, we have pleasure and ignorance. Once, we were chattel slaves, and we were told as … Continue reading A winter’s tale: The allegory of the house of freedom
Vote Labour: My speech at the Cambridge Union
Yesterday, I gave the opening speech at the Cambridge Union for the proposition, 'This House Would Vote Labour'. Here's what I said (abridged). I hope you will join me in voting and/or campaigning for Labour in the coming UK General Election--because Labour will help everyone, not just the the billionaire class: We’ve reached the fork … Continue reading Vote Labour: My speech at the Cambridge Union
On power: Tech, the state, and class
Power comes in many forms. Productive power is a relationship between society and nature, whereby people transform nature through technologies (or ‘forces of production’, as Marx called them). Social power is a relationship between people, involving both coercion (the use of threats and rewards, most often to maximise power over production) and legitimation (the use … Continue reading On power: Tech, the state, and class
The story so far
Nature is as old as time itself. Power is as old as humanity is. But both matter to how we live our lives today. That's why I recently covered issues like 'What it means to be human', 'What power is', and 'How power begins'. Next week, I hope to cover the last theme: hope. So … Continue reading The story so far
How power begins
In the beginning, there was nothing. No power, no nature, no hope. Then, there was something. Power by legitimation is exercised in this sculpture of a female deity in the first city-state of Uruk, Mesopotamia (Creative Commons). Time, space, atoms, and energy sprang from the strange singularity that gave birth to our reality. Since 4.7 … Continue reading How power begins
What power is
Power, for the sociologist Max Weber, is the capacity of agent A to achieve their will despite the resistance of agent B, regardless of the basis on which this ability rests. But there are two problems with this view of power, which might suggest what an alternative theory of power might look like. In this … Continue reading What power is
What it means to be human
What does it mean to be human? There are few questions more basic but also more difficult to answer. So, let me start as all answers to hard questions must. With a story. Meet Australopithecus africanus. An early human (Creative Commons). Yesterday, I sat as countless numbers of students before me have sat. In an … Continue reading What it means to be human
At the very beginning…
Welcome! This blog is about us. It's about what it means to be human today, what it meant to be human yesterday, and what it might mean to be human tomorrow. And it's about how human nature is wrapped up with relations of power. But most importantly, though, it's about hope. So, what is nature? … Continue reading At the very beginning…
