Disqus - Latest Comments for kyb

Re: A sobering thought on the civility that society holds so dear

kyb — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 18:23:53 -0000

Anything that works will be bent as far as it can go.

Re: Hurricane, Charity and the New Bronze Age

kyb — Tue, 27 May 2008 04:33:59 -0000

I don't think of it as a technological approach to the future, but as a social one - the technology was made possible by people who were not fooled by the difference between them and others, but chose to build relationships with them anyway.

It's that recognition of the humanity of those very different from ourselves that gives people compassion for those on the other side of the world. You may be right that there is much imperfect in the compassion, but the fact that it is there at all when we spend so much of our time telling ourselves scary stories about foreigners is a cause for hope.

"At least in a tribal society (aka, before writing technology) commitment to a relationship was out of necessity long lasting and meaningful - even if it was just enmity."

Much that is wrong with the modern world, as well as much that is best about it comes out of the fact that we have much more choice. Our scope for compassion and collaboration can span the entire world now, whereas in the early stone age, it would have been not much further than a few days walk for most people. It means that weirdos can find those who share their weird rather than being mistrusted and cast out from the community as wizards or for washing their clothes with nuts :-). To me, the essential difference is between small groups filled with mistrust for outsiders and the unfamiliar within the group, and groups with an experience of the world that makes them appreciate diversity. The group that appreciates diversity has so much more potential.

"all we now deal in are concepts - conceptual people"

I don't believe in non-conceptual people.

Re: Markets can save forests? It might be the other way round...

kyb — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 13:03:54 -0000

It reminds me of the problem with carbon capture. The net effect of digging carbon out of the ground, burning it for energy, capturing the carbon and then burying it again is not free energy without pollution. It's negative energy. Even the man on the street these days knows that perpetual motion machines are against the laws of physics.

While carbon capture may have it's place, it's no substitue for real renewable forms of energy.

Re: Guest Author: A genius for leadership, or a genius for being led?

kyb — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 15:28:30 -0000

I can attest to feeling a little bit confused the first time I saw Blake's 7. It is in such radical contrast to the way I was used to things being organised, or even how the Star Trek space ships work, with their regimented command and control structures. I asked "but who's in charge?", and my Blake7 obsessed host struggled to explain "It's not really like that."

I hope to one day have the same experience walking around a companies premises.

Re: Pandemic preparedness in the 21st century

kyb — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 05:12:57 -0000

It's interesting the way people prioritise the most technologically advanced of the things they need. And it's a technique that usually goes unchallenged. I certainly would have just assumed "if they've got the tamiflu, they must have the needles".

On a slightly related note, I recently came across this on modelling crowd flow in urban spaces, e.g. during a flu pandemic.

Re: links for 2008-01-02

kyb — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 18:03:32 -0000

Oooh, thanks for the tip. I'll check that out.