Category: Books
Why Do People Feel Alone in Cities?
Humans need each other in order to survive. Not necessarily in a physical sense, but in a deeply psychological sense. Time spent apart from each other is destructive in an ultimate way; we tend to lose our minds. We are generally happier when in close contact with others, and especially so when we have a ...
Public Talks in Sydney
It is nearly time for Vivid Sydney, and I thought in light of that I'd share some of my thoughts on the current state of public talks and events in the city. For a long time there has been an underground movement of public intellectuals in Sydney, trying to fight back against the corporatisation of the ...
How Technology Can Divide Us Up: Connection in the Digital Age
There is a common argument in favour of technology: If we are divided, surely technology can help solve the problem? Surely technology can bridge the gaps between different groups in society and connect us? Connection need not be face-to-face if artificial connection is sufficient. In such a system, social interaction can be facilitated if not ...
How to Write a Thesis Worth Writing
Recently I've been writing this book on how to write a thesis worth writing. It combines various lessons I've learnt along the way in my own PhD journey. Here's a brief synopsis: What I aim to do in this book is to give you some tips and ideas on how to write a thesis worth ...
Creative Writing: The Beautiful Literal Truth
The Beautiful Literal Truth: There’s this thing when people say “reach for the stars,” but those same people, you’d never find them standing alone one night out in the far countryside with their arms outstretched to the night time sky. No, that would be weird. They talk about the reaching, but they wouldn’t ever actually ...
What Will The Jobs of the Future Look Like?
My book Essays in AI looks at the future of traditional work and the upheaval about to hit the economy from AI, automation and new technologies. Having already seen a rapidly changing workforce in the early 2000s, the future looks confusing and bleak for workers. New technology will fundamentally shift the way we work - transforming ...
What happened to the 15-hour workweek? Productivity gains went to the top 1%.
In 1930, the economist John Maynard Keynes predicted that technological change and productivity improvements would eventually lead to a 15-hour workweek. But, despite significant productivity gainsover the past few decades, we still work 40 hours a week on average. Keynes’s reasoning was that by producing more with less (also known as being more productive), all of our needs would be met ...
5 Faults of Modern Universities
Some thoughts on this late at night: 1. The Referencing System: Arguably the most pernicious aspect of modern universities is the referencing system. A system that was not used in any of the major humanities books that are still widely read in university departments worldwide. The fault in the system is two fold. On the ...
The Real Socratic Method: Law Schools Fail to Understand Why Socrates Asked So Many Questions
In a true Socratic law school, I suggest, students would be instructed to ask questions to those in authority instead of answering them. Nothing and no one would be beyond a student’s questioning, especially by virtue of claims to authority or expertise alone.
Paperback Launch: Essays in AI: Automation, Tech and the Future of Work
My book Essays in AI has just released in paperback! Robots, artificial intelligence and automation are going to fundamentally change the way we work, play and live in the 21st Century.
