A friend of mine recently developed an interest in transhumanism, the belief that the human condition will, in the future, be enhanced and transformed by the appliance of science. As a matter of course, then, I am regularly told all about the future that awaits us, a future that is either a dream or nightmare… Continue reading The End of the Affair: How I Fell In and Out of Love with Social Media
Once upon a time, it must have seemed like a dream. A truly egalitarian and inclusive dream, not so much international as transnational, in which information, ideas and opinions could be freely exchanged, discussed, examined and argued. A modern-day agora, where free speech was not so much a right granted from on high, but simply… Continue reading Free Speech, Fake News and the Internet
It’s been a strange summer, and a hideous one in many ways. Terror attacks, an earthquake, all manner of predictions of doom and gloom … our world is not a particularly happy place at the moment, but then it very rarely is. On a personal level, I almost managed to drown in about three feet… Continue reading Men, Machines, and Augmented Reality
I’ve always been a bit of a recluse in my heart of hearts. I don’t like social occasions much, and only just about find them tolerable with a drink or two inside me. I don’t like big crowds and noise. I prefer to connect with just one or two people at a time and, even… Continue reading Company in my Solitude
One of the worst things about being a self-published author is that you have to do everything. I mean bleedin’ everything, including all those clever, specialised things that normal people can’t even understand. You either have to learn to do them yourself, or pay through the nose to get someone else to do them for you.
If you’re reading these words, there’s a very good chance that you’re a writer. In these days of PoD, digital publishing, and free and instantly-available blogs, there’s also a good chance that you’re published in some form or another. Do you, like most writers, assert your copyright? Or do you distribute your works under the… Continue reading Blogs, Copyright, and Keeping your Nose Clean
Well, here we are again. The season to be merry has come and gone (indeed, and as I can testify, if you were in Britain this Christmas it probably swept past, borne along by flood waters). Crackers have been pulled, embarrassing Christmas jumpers have been worn, and unwanted presents have been stowed in the attic.… Continue reading Getting into the New Year With a Swing! (Sort of…)
If I weren’t a writer I’d probably be about the most anonymous person in the modern Western world. I wouldn’t be on Twitter and Facebook. I wouldn’t have a blog. I’d probably never even have heard of Pinterest or Instagram. In fact – oh, the irony! – if I weren’t a writer I’d probably just… Continue reading Twitface and the Curse of Social Media
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