I’m a beginner in the work of writing for strangers. I’ve spent years writing reports for people I knew fairly well. I knew their strengths and weaknesses and wrote accordingly. But writing for a wider audience is more difficult, so I am always on the look out for tips and good advice. Recently I came […]
Many, many years ago (it was in the 1970’s) I applied for an operations research job with a manufacturer of sweets. (The Americans call it ‘candy’.) During the selection process – a weekend in a very expensive country house hotel – every table carried dishes of the firm’s products. I don’t much like sweets so […]
Why am I so determined to make awareness the goal of life? Well, here are two reasons. The first reason is that it is the feature that sets people apart from animals. A lion or a dolphin may be clever and resourceful and, of course, superbly equipped to do what they do, but are they […]
Wide awareness is not enough. We also need to disturb the Universe as little as we can. We are a burden to the Universe and, in our own interests we should minimise the burden. This is, in part, an obligation echoing the principles of physics. Nature herself works by minimising action: soap bubbles seek a […]
Being a physicist – well, at any rate I was one once – I am acutely aware of the temporary nature of any insight. Newton understood things a bit better than Galileo, but then along comes Einstein and our ideas have to change again. So, accurate awareness must always include awareness of the limits to […]