Keep thinking

In 2019 we celebrated the 50th anniversary of the “great leap for mankind” Moon landing. It was an exciting, significant time in the history of our planet.

"You cannot recognise the wisdom of a wise man whom you have not tested" (Papyrus Insinger, XII, 15).

Although a small minority deny the existence of COVID-19 (claiming that it is a malicious conspiracy), most people are interested in what they can do to be as prepared as possible for a potential encounter with the dreaded virus.

In 2013, famous atheist author Richard Dawkins was voted the world's leading thinker in a global poll of 10,000 people in 100 countries. Not a single thinker from the fields of religion or ethics made the list. It's worth saying again: "Think forward!"

1. I remember that day, 9/11. It was chaos. Violence, shortage of food. For several days, it was uncertain if there would be more...

A smooth sea never gave a skilled sailor, said Franklin D. Roosevelt, suggesting that without hardship, challenges and even failures, we cannot become our best selves.

"Millions of ordinary, psychologically normal people will face an abrupt collision with the future. Citizens of the world's richest and most technologically advanced nations, many of them will find it increasingly painful to keep up with the incessant demand for change that characterises our time." (Alvin Toffler, Future Shock, 1970)

In the late 1980s, Donald Trump was asked how much money it would take to make him happy. His answer? “Ten per cent more.” 

How do we value a human’s life? Should we rate lives on their value to their community? That would mean a life-saving surgeon would have more value than someone living on the street. Or is it potential—which would make a baby more valuable than a 50-year-old? What about the value we place on those later in life versus those at the end?

It is interesting to see Louis Baragona's portrait of a modern witch. Although he was sceptical at first, Louis tells how Emily Grote, an elegant "psychic" from Brooklyn, New York, changed his life.

But why do our ambitions of self-improvement rarely stick the way we hope they will?

On any given day, a typical person checks the clock several dozen times.

The great challenge facing the world’s leaders right now is identifying an optimal response to a disease bearing several characteristics that make it difficult to combat.

Rudyard Kipling referred to ants in his famous poem, recommending these fragile creatures as a kind of didactic exhibit. What can one learn from ant colonies?

In the movie A Beautiful Mind, there is a scene in which the brilliant mathematician John Nash reveals how he manages to function, despite the schizophrenia that has tormented him for years. “I still see things that are not there,” said Nash, “I just choose not to acknowledge them. Like a diet of the mind, I just choose not to indulge certain appetites.”