Not so jolly, this year’s Christmas post; but times are hard and people are suffering …
Not that much of a technological link either except that we’ve talked about ‘assistive technology’ before – particularly for the elderly and physically or mentally challenged. And these are the groups often most at risk here …
So here’s two good causes, which can be supported in different ways: with time, money, or just by turning up and showing that you care …
Passions run high among sci-fi fans: never in this blog’s history has it been so necessary to note ‘this is only a bit of fun‘ in advance of a post!
How ‘good’ are we at predicting the future? More precisely, how could we measure how good anyone is at it? Well, we’re going irritate some straight away here by treating ‘serious’ academic researchers, professional ‘futurists’ and science fiction writers as doing essentially the same thing. Perhaps, on that basis, we should narrow our notion of science fiction to ‘hard’ sci-fi loosely set somewhere in humanity’s future; but, that aside, that’s exactly what we’re going to do.
The ‘Just because we’ll be able to, will we? Should we? Must we?’ discussion revisited in the light of the news that CCTV cameras will be compulsory in English abattoirs soon. Again, a reminder that technological ethics have more to do with ethics than technology.
But we’ll start with a different topic: one that isn’t as controversial as it used to be …
There was a time when smoking wasn’t just seen as socially acceptable but positively beneficial …
All that healthy smoke filling your lungs, seeping its goodness into your bloodstream was just the boost your body needed. You’d live years longer if you smoked … and it was SO COOL.
