Posted in Politics, Media, Technology on Aug 14th, 2011 Comments
We live in a time when the Internet and a forever flowering industry of gadgets and machinery has allowed humans to interact and share ideas with untold speed, reach and intimacy. Technological innovation is not only the bedfellow of the economic growth which we need, but also offers our best shot at tackling today’s biggest challenges: climate change; poverty; despotism.
At least, this is what the tech-topians and cyber-lovers would have you believe. But whilst they’ve been queuing to get their hands on the latest iPad, another breed – of slow cooking, off-grid, deep-thinking back-to-basics types – have been pushing their vision of how the world should work.
They feel that people today are too busy staring at the computer screen to see what’s going on around them, that children are ignoring the real world in favour of computer games, that family and work life is being blurred by BlackBerrys, that our ability to focus has been corroded by endless tweets and ‘Urgent’ emails.
So, do we live in a world which is dangerously addicted to being ‘switched on’? Are Twitter and Facebook a threat to our privacy? Should the unbridled advancement of all things robotic, electronic and web-based be reigned in before it tears at the very foundations of civilisation?
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Posted in Sociology, Media, Technology on Oct 20th, 2010 Comments
“You don’t get to 500 million friends without making a few enemies.” So goes the strapline of David Fincher’s new movie The Social Network, the dramatisation of the birth of modern social networking that chronicles the rise of Facebook from Harvard bedroom to globe-straddling corporation.
It’s not quite the same message as Google’s “Don’t be evil” motto but then Facebook never claimed to have a personality. It was just a vessel for users to interact through supposedly allowing each of us to impose our personalities on the site.
The Social Network movie portrays the birth of Facebook as a Shakespearian tragedy, with love, betrayal, greed and more than a few bodies left on the stage. But as we become more and more entwined with the fabric of our Facebook existence are we really being exposed to the brave new world where everything and everyone is there at our fingertips? Or are we being distracted from true engagement with the world and simply herded into appropriate marketing boxes? Are we working for the machine, turning our social lives into the greatest Tupperware party in history, or are we learning to use a freedom-enhancing tool?
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Posted in Media, Environment on Oct 7th, 2010 Comments
10:10, the climate campaign group, have been forced to apologise after their No Pressure video, which was scripted by Richard Curtis and featured guest appearances from David Ginola and Gillian Anderson, attracted widespread complaint. The video showed children, workers and footballers being exploded for refusing to cooperate in making lifestyle changes to reduce their carbon emissions, and 10:10, a group trying to persuade individuals, schools, businesses and organisations to take simple measures in a bid to cut their carbon emissions by 10% in a year, were forced to admit that they'd overstepped the mark and issue a public apology. The affair has become known as Splattergate.
The intention of the film was to use slapstick comedy (the exploding children die in a blaze of ketchup-like gore) to shock viewers into reassessing their lethargy on climate change. Headed by Franny Armstrong, the documentary filmmaker behind The Age of Stupid, 10:10 are concerned that climate change is no longer receiving the emphasis that it should from either the media or the public, and they wanted to get people talking about it once again.
Global warming sceptics, who claim that the media is saturated with stories on climate change, have seized upon the video as a spectacular own goal by the environmental movement, and claim it betrays the underlying anti-human sentiments of 'eco fascist' green leader. One of the criticisms levelled at the video is that, in a few years time, there may well be an eco-terrorism movement. On the other hand, many environmentalists, often accused of failing to see the funny side themselves, believe that with the world teetering on the brink of ecological calamnity, No Pressure is both funny and deeply necessary.
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Posted in Media on Aug 20th, 2010 Comments
Is the BBC a moribund institution? Rigged competitions, obscene phone calls, allegations of ‘dumbing down’ and huge executive salaries suggest it’s time for change. What has happened to their promise to ‘inform, educate and entertain’? Does Auntie still deserve her licence fee?
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As scientists continue to debate the severity of the Deepwater Horizon spill and the likelihood of lasting damage to ecosystems in the Gulf of Mexico, questions are being asked about how politicians have responded. Some have accused Barack Obama of wild over-reaction to the spill, and of using it as a vehicle for anti-corporate propaganda. They argue that he was playing to the gallery in order to win back some popularity ahead of the mid-term elections.
The finger has also been pointed at green groups who, some say, are deliberately playing up the scale of the spill in order to discourage us from using oil at all. Others argue that it was a huge catastrophe, and that the Gulf of Mexico and the Louisiana coastline have been devastated by the spill, and will continue to be so for years to come.
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Like it or loathe it, we’ve all become well accustomed to the speed camera. The most common type, which came to be known as the Gatso, was invented in 1958 by the Dutch rally driver Maurice Gatsonides for the purpose – ironically enough – of helping him speed up his cornering. Since 1992, when Britain’s first speed cameras were introduced in West London, these distinctive yellow boxes have become a feature on British roads. Their number ballooned under the Labour government, and some motoring organisations estimate that they have grown to 6,500, more than in any other European country. Britain’s 33 million motorists now run the risk of picking up a £60 penalty notice almost every time they drive.
But now the Conservative-led coalition, anxious to implement austerity measures, think that by gunning for Gatsos, they have alighted on a popular way to cut spending. Mike Penning, the road safety minister, has announced plans to cut back drastically on central funding. “This is another example of this government delivering on its pledge to end the war on the motorist,” he boasts. The impending cuts have already led Oxfordshire County Council to announce that it will do away with its 72 fixed speed cameras, with Wiltshire and other counties likely to follow suit. Road safety groups have responded to the news with dismay.
The debate over speed cameras seems to divide people between right and left. Libertarians and individualists believe that safe driving should be solely a matter of personal responsibility; speed cameras are symbols of the nanny state. For their supporters speed cameras represent the benevolent state in an unambiguous form. And then, at the base of the argument, there are the road safety statistics on fatalities and injuries, which both sides claim support their case.
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Posted in Politics, Government, Media on Jul 2nd, 2010 Comments
The once wildly popular Australian PM, Kevin Rudd, has been toppled by an internal Labor party rebellion, to be replaced by Julia Gillard, his Welsh born deputy, who becomes Australia’s first woman leader. Unmarried, proudly pro-abortion and happy not to shave her legs, there has been much joshing about the incongruity of such a Sheila taking charge in the land of hairy handed machismo.
But more significant than her rise, in many ways, has been the fall of a man whose anti-fat cat, green agenda had inspired many on the left. Yet neither Rudd's emissions trading scheme, nor his retro-active 40% super-tax on mining, nor many other of his cherished schemes ever saw the light of day. Should the left rue the departure of an idealist, or welcome the more pragmatic Gillard, learning to recognise that in a capitalistic system there are limits to how far you can go in antagonising capitalists.
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Today’s middle aged workers could be the last to enjoy a leisurely retirement before their health declines – many believe that demographics and economics will force today’s young to toil on into their dotage. Should we, like the Greeks, take to the streets to fight this?
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Posted in Science, Media on Jun 28th, 2010 Comments
Four speakers from the James Martin 21st Century School at Oxford University will describe how they are pushing forward the frontiers of medical science, seeking solutions to some of the critical medical problems of our age – in particular diseases associated with greater life expectancy.
Turning back the clock: Dr Paul Fairchild will explain how a breakthrough in stem cell research – enabling pluripotent cells to be harvested from the patient’s own cell tissue rather than from embryos – has brought us much closer to the point where we will be able to replace or regenerate diseased and worn out tissue.
Beating Alzheimer's: Scientists at the Institute for the Future of Mind have come up with an important new theory to explain how brain cells degenerate. Professor Susan Greenfield will argue that this could be a crucial step to finding a cure for two of the most widespread neurodegenerative diseases: Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.
A cure for cancer: Professor Bleddyn Jones and his colleagues at the Particle Therapy Research Institute are working on a new form of radiotherapy – known as CPT – which targets cancer cells while avoiding the damage that conventional radiotherapy does to healthy tissue. As Professor Jones will show, this could prove a highly effective way of dealing with cancer.
Combating the superbugs: A major problem confronting modern medicine is the spread of “superbugs” resistant to all conventional types of antibiotic. Dr Sonia Contera will show how by creating a completely new form of antibiotic made out of nanoparticles, she and her colleagues at the Institute of Nanoscience for Medicine are on the verge of cracking the problem.
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Posted in Ideas, Sociology, Britain, Media on Jun 17th, 2010 Comments
Woman is born free, but everywhere is fashion's slave. Her choices are an illusion: the fashion companies and magazines dictate her purchases to her. She feels compelled to own the latest must-have handbag, believes the key to happiness is the new bondage boot; they've told her she's worth it and without her fashion fix she feels worthless. This, at least, is the story told by those who scoff at fashion. But isn't that just sour drapes? Isn't it rather the case that the world of fashion defines the spirit and mood of the age? That the brilliant designers in the fashion houses bring vim and vigour to an otherwise pedestrian world? And that those who somehow think they¹re above it all just end up looking drab and dull?
Speakers for the motion: Madelaine Levy, Britt Lintner, Paula Reed
Speakers against the motion: Stephen Bayley, Susie Orbach, Grayson Perry
Chair: Peter York
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