I call it speculative journalism because I’m kind. It’s more accurate to call it click-bait or fillers. There are so many news headlines and articles that speculate about what might happen (but is unlikely to, at least in the short term), that I’m starting to wonder if there’s an arm of journalism that’s sole purpose…
Category: ideas
The problem with universities in Australia
Universities across Australia are laying off thousands of staff and regional campuses are being shut down thanks to significant falls in revenue. With COVID-19 and Australia closing its borders international student enrollment numbers have plummeted. Furthermore, the competition to enroll domestic students next year is going to be intense and it’s likely that the smaller,…
Reality and the stories we tell ourselves.
In one of Jean-Paul Sartre’s seminal works; Nausea, the main protagonist; an historian by the name of Roquentin, goes through the disquieting experience of the world becoming too real for him. In the novel, the world gradually becomes more and more imposing, as if the reality is breaking through his will; his ability to impose…
My take-out from COVID-19? It is all about trade-offs.
I hate commuting. Literally hate it (and I actually know what the word ‘literally’ means). I drive to work, at least I did before COVID, and I considered the time I spent in the car as dead time. That hour and a half in the car added nothing to my life. I felt that was…
News is an illusion
All definitions of the term ‘news’ are a variation on: newly received or noteworthy information, especially about recent events. News, for those of you who don’t know, is an acronym that stands for: notable events, weather, sports. I am a recovering news and political addict. I listened to the news constantly on my commute, read…
Anti-Intellectualism
In January, 1980 Isaac Asimov wrote an essay in News Week about anti-intellectualism in the United States. In his essay he states: “Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that ‘my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge’.” When…
The meaning of life
Let me clarify – I don’t know what the meaning of life is. I think most people will stop reading at this point. And that’s fine. But I do have a theory on how we might discover what the meaning of life. At one time I believed that the meaning of life is something I…
COVID-19, time and the gift I’m not seeing
I write, every day. I try to learn, every day. And I run towards my fear.
10 ideas – what I will do with the time Coronavirus and social distancing has afforded me
Each day I sit down to come up with 10 ideas. The ideas don’t have to be spectacular or particularly interesting. The only requirement is that they appear. 10 ideas is me exercising my creativity muscle. The more ideas I come up with the better I should become at coming up with ideas. At least,…
This is the new slavery.
What you spend time concentrating on makes up moments in your life. Moments gather together to make up a life. Your attention is your life. Social media, news channels, websites, TV, shops, phones, apps… they are all designed to catch and hold your attention for as long as possible. The longer they have your attention…