On the end of the world
Astronomy is the most humbling of the sciences. It is humbling not only because of the reminders of our insignificance provided by the unfathomable depths of interstellar space, or the eons of time in...
View ArticleThe Eighteenth Brumaire of Donald Trump
Marx and Hegel remark upon the repeating phases of history. On the Eighteenth Brumaire (9 November) 1799, Napoleon Bonaparte seized power in France. Louis Napoleon did the same in 1851, and Marx wrote...
View ArticleWhat to do while Rome burns
When the Goths sacked Rome, St. Augustine wrote the “City of God”, putting a spiritual hope in place of the material reality that had been destroyed. Throughout the centuries that followed St....
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Mathematics, mathematicians, philosophy
Recently I was asked to talk at a secondary school about mathematics and mathematical philosophy. The following is roughly based on what I talked about… I was asked to come and talk to you about...
View ArticleEighty years ago, Spanish people responded to the far right with social...
Eighty years ago to the day, the far right was in its ascendancy, and still rising. Hitler was in complete control of Germany, Mussolini had been in charge of a police state in Italy for a decade. The...
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Holy-principle, Batman!
(With apologies and tribute to the late Adam West) Here’s a situation known to any beginning skier. You are at the top of a mountain slope. You want to go down to the bottom of the slope. But you...
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At least mathematics is commendable
Today the Australian government announced a proposal to force tech companies to provide government agencies with the contents of encrypted communications. I don’t think any draft of proposed...
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An Off-the-Record Genocide: Global Resource Extraction Economy Provides...
By Deborah S. Rogers of Initiative for Equality (IfE). Also published at Truthout. I am a member of the Board of Advisors of IfE. On April 27, 2017, a hapless cow wandered off-course during a...
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Adani: icon of Australian climate infamy
Here we are, in the year 2017. With now 25 years of climate-change international agreements behind us, here we are still trying to build oil pipelines and coal mines. It is sad. Sad for humanity. It is...
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Tutte meets Homfly
Graphs are pretty important objects in mathematics, and in the world — what with every network of any kind being represented by one, from social connections, to road and rail systems, to chemical...
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