maetl

Philosophy

To Be a Philosopher

Celebrity philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy causes an existential crisis by quoting a hoax author.

Can Human Development be Agile?

There is an interesting case for agile development of infrastructure, applying lessons learned from the software world to civil engineering projects. This is a useful metaphor, but there is an…

On Mirrors and Bridges

The synthesis of form Is not as some have thought A process whereby time Unwravels the intentions Of a hidden creator. But removing the teleological Source of all life Does not make the universe Cold…

Contradictions, Conspiracies, and Cultural Logic

Frederic Jameson, author of Postmodernism or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism gave a lecture at Vic yesterday about Representations of Globalisation. Jameson's project can perhaps be summed…

Perils and Patterns in the Search for Perfection

"Freedom of the will" - that is the expression for the complex state of delight of the person exercising volition, who commands and at the same time identifies himself with the executor…

The End of Economics

Economics in its traditionally enshrined format is an awkward relic of a twisted history.

Membrane Oriented Programming

For many years, Object Oriented discourse has been far too constrained by language oriented thinking.

Error Correction and Scientific Progress

The logical positivist movement stemming from the Vienna Circle is famous for its empiricist approach to scientific rationality and a theory of meaning based around the principle of verification.…

Youth Gangs and Assumptions About Culture

Opinions have been flowing in local media, regarding the intersect between exploding urban situations in France and some of the serious problems in South Auckland at the moment. One thing I'm noticing…

Becoming Cyclic

Humans lack cohesive understanding of the cultural and environmental flow-on effects of industrial and consumerist technology.

Do We Construct Nature?

See how that one little cloud floats like a pink feather from some gigantic flamingo. Now the red rim of the sun pushes itself above the London cloud bank. It shines on a good many folk, but on…

The Architecture of Happiness

Alain de Botton was in Wellington this week, promoting his new book The Architecture of Happiness, and we heard him speak the other night to a packed auditorium at Wellington Girls College, courtesy…

The Original Technologist

In the communities of the Paleolithic, archeologists often find a single dwelling, isolated from the others, at the boundary between the community and the wilds of the world beyond; this is…