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Bruno and the Extra-Terrestrials
We're inclined to think that belief in extra-terrestrial intelligent life is a very modern belief. And in some ways it is. But four hundred years ago there were already people speculating about the...
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A Typographical Interlude
I've just been looking over the final proofs of the new book James Maclaurin and I are editing, A New Science of Religion. I was delighted to see that the book had been set in Sabon, a typeface...
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Software Patents
Three years ago I went to Wellington with Brendan McCane, the head of Computer Science at Otago, to present a submission to a parliamentary select committee that was revising New Zealand's patent...
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Selling State Assets
As our right-wing government prepares to sell off more state assets, including power companies, New Zealanders should read James Meek's analysis (in the LRB) of what has happened in Britain. Here's a...
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Creationism in New Zealand
Media commentators charitably refer to the New Zealand government as a "centre-right" government. But it includes people whose political, economic, and religious views are pretty extreme by world...
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The Wealth of Networks or The Hive Mind?
I'm currently reading a book by Jaron Lanier entitled You Are Not a Gadget. Janier has become a sceptic about ideas such as crowdsourcing and, therefore, even apparent success stories like Wikipedia,...
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Science and Religion: The Conflict Thesis
I'm in the process of writing a grumpy book about science and religion, which takes as its starting point Galileo's clash with the Church authorities. For about thirty years now, historians have been...
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What’s with the title?
The motto “quid tum?” appears on the reverse of a portrait medal of Leon Battista Alberti (1404–72), a true Renaissance man. It has a number of possible meanings, including “What’s next?” or “So what?...
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Open-Source Software and Schools
Our local newspaper, the Otago Daily Times, recently published an opinion piece which I wrote regarding the use of free/open-source software (FOSS), particularly in schools. (WordPress is, of course,...
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Government Spying in New Zealand
I recently published an opinion piece in our local newspaper, the Otago Daily Times, which relates to both the recent revelations regarding the NSA in the United States and the new law surrounding our...
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