The Challenge of Coexisting with AI
Author: Juan Carlos del RioMay 13, 2023
AI is not a new phenomenon. Humankind, since its beginnings, has tried to create machines and automata, either to place them at our service or to extend our human capabilities. Many of these stories reflect the admiration for these creations and, at the same time, the fear of losing control over these advanced technologies. We might recall some Greek myths, such as the creation of Talos, the [...]
Adam Smith v. Plato: on the Division of Labour and Market Forces
Author: Julian ScottMay 11, 2023
In Book II of Plato’s Republic, Socrates imagines how a typical society might develop from simple beginnings into a more complex and organized entity. He speculates that, initially, everyone might do everything for themselves, such as building their own houses, making their own clothes and growing their own food. But soon, he says, people would realize that it would be much more efficient if [...]
Risk and Technology: The Cost of Progress
Author: Florimond KrinsMay 11, 2023
The introduction of new technologies has always brought many debates and controversies until they were finally accepted and became an integral part of societies. It is natural to oppose some kind of resistance when habits and lifestyles are suddenly changed by new ways, especially when it is hard to predict if their outcome will be beneficial in the long or medium term. In his book [...]
Time and Identity in Virginia Woolf’s Work
Author: Ana Luisa LellisMay 11, 2023
One could say that most Western writers from the beginning of the 20th century have pondered upon questions of time and identity. Many authors, arguably inspired by technological developments and by the social impacts of the First World War, began to consider how the changes of the turn of the century mirrored onto individuals and their personal relationships. As Virginia Woolf remarks in her [...]
The Importance of Context
Author: Sabine LeitnerMay 11, 2023
“They were locked into a room without food or water, and they did not know how they would be able to get out again.” – Do you find this sentence alarming? Well, it might sound scary, especially if we imagine it was done by an employer to their employees or by a terrorist organization to their hostages. But if this sentence simply describes the situation of one of the [...]
The Crisis of the West and the Coming of the New Times
Author: Jorge Angel LivragaJanuary 26, 2023
Let us begin by saying that in Greek the word crisis means, in addition to problem, change. So it is not only problems the West is facing today, but also a period of change. To overcome this crisis stage, the first thing we must do is to recognize that our Western civilization is not unique. Throughout history there have been other civilizations that have also had their crises and [...]
Language of Symbols
Author: Sabine LeitnerJanuary 26, 2023
The ‘Language of Symbols’ – a topic that is not only fascinating but is somehow also related to the causes of our current situation. Most of our problems today are the result of human action. Every action reflects our thinking, our worldview, the ‘story’ we tell ourselves why we do what we do. Our modern ‘story’ tells us that we are separated from nature, that nature exists as a [...]
Heraldic Symbols of Famous Cities
Author: Istvan OrbanJanuary 26, 2023
Heraldry, nowadays an auxiliary science of history, was once connected to armoury and the art of war. The name derives from the heralds, the officers of arms, who were originally messengers of the monarchs (ancestors of the modern diplomats), as well as the organizers of tournaments. This title still exists, even today. Heralds also have major roles in the coronation ceremonies. They used to be [...]
Philosophy and the Sacred
Author: Gilad SommerJanuary 22, 2023
Some of my readers might be confused, asking themselves what is the connection between philosophy, a purely rational discipline, and the sacred? Isn’t mysticism the domain of religion? This misunderstanding is rooted in the fact that today we use the name philosophy for two completely different things. To be more precise, at some point in history the discipline of philosophy had split in two [...]
Giordano Bruno: Some Life Lessons
Author: Ambuj DixitJanuary 10, 2023
“And how many years can some people exist Before they're allowed to be free? Yes, and how many times can a man turn his head And pretend that he just doesn't see? How many times must a man look up Before he can see the sky?” These lines from Bob Dylan’s song – Blowing in the Wind - flashed in my head as I put down another book written on Giordano Bruno, arguably one of the [...]
Name Our Era
Author: Antonin VinklerDecember 30, 2022
Are we living at a turning point in history? Probably many people have said this to themselves (while looking at the first bicycle, binoculars or the first field canon). Many of us who have explored world history, are certain that our era is not like the previous centuries, when people have changed attributes, characteristics, emphasis in the system of values.... Today we see a change not only in [...]
Without Ethics, Nothing is Going to Work
Author: Gilad SommerOctober 23, 2022
In March this year, the British Journal of Medicine, one of the oldest and most respected peer-reviewed journals in the field of medicine, published an article called “The Illusion of Evidence Based Medicine”. In a nutshell, the article argues that “evidence-based medicine has been corrupted by corporate interests, failed regulation, and commercialisation of [...]