Ed Dowding

Month: March 2009

How to make things better

Government will almost always lag behind business, because it is too slow moving. Government will almost always lag behind the will of the more progressive population, because it doesn’t want to lose votes from the ones with inertia, or a vested interested in the status quo. (This used to be OK: having government trundle slowly ...

An enormous civilisation discovered in the Amazon

I watched a great documentary last night about hunting for El Dorado. (Actually more like ‘El Dorado II’, because the main El Dorado story comes from a place called Muiscas in modern day Colombia, courtesy of conquistador ‘Jimmy the Cheese’, aka Jiménez de Quesada, in 1537). But this story is about another chap, Francisco Orellana, ...

There's AT BEST an 80% chance that humanity will see the next century

Did you know of the major studies in the last few years, none of them give us a greater than 80% chance of surviving the next century? Watch the whole thing, or jump to 3m50s in Nick Bostrom’s TED talk

Animal Planet for the deaf

I love Adam Buxton.

Religion is like a large dog

Religion is like a huge dog. When it’s yours it seems comforting and friendly, but if it’s not it’s scary, and the least you can do is keep it away from children. From the Now Show, Radio 4

Gordon Brown Finally Speaks The Truth