Did you see the Black Mirror episode called Metalhead?
A woman hunted down by robot dogs?
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
I was reminded of Metalhead after seeing this Spot robot patrolling Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park to remind people of safe distancing measures starting from Friday (May 8). 😶
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Author Yuval Noah Harari would say my religion is Humanism.
My bible the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The first Humanist Manifesto was issued by a conference held at the University of Chicago in 1933.
Signatories included the philosopher John Dewey, but the majority were ministers (chiefly Unitarian) and theologians.
They identified humanism as an ideology that espouses reason, ethics, and social and economic justice, and they called for science to replace dogma and the supernatural as the basis of morality and decision-making.
So far, so good.
In 1941, the American Humanist Association was organised. Noted members of The AHA included Isaac Asimov, who was the president from 1985 until his death in 1992, and writer Kurt Vonnegut, who followed as honorary president until his death in 2007.
They advocate in Washington, D.C., for separation of church and state.
There is a sub-set called secular humanism that consciously rejects supernatural and religiosity.
I wouldn’t go that far, myself.
But I do believe strongly in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
I really enjoyed these 3 books by Israeli historian Yuval Noah Harari.
Like Bill Bryson, he can make academic subjects interesting and lively.
Critics call it sensationalist infotainment.
He is a simplifier. I like his frequent analogies to well known references.
There are endless interesting factoids.
Critics complain he gets some facts wrong by over-simplifying.
In Sapiens he postulates that humans now rule the earth because of our ability to organize and coordinate in large numbers.
Bees, ants and other species cooperates even better, but they are too inflexible to evolve. And have comparatively small numbers.
We are the only animal that can believe in things that exist purely in our imagination, such as gods, states, money, human rights, corporations and other fictions, and we have developed a unique ability to use these stories to unify and organize groups and ensure cooperation.
He feels humans will continue to evolve, likely into some computer / human hybrid.
Click PLAY or watch his TED Talk on the topic on YouTube. (17min)
The story of Scott Harrison building Charity: Water to a half billion dollar non-profit is inspiring.
charitywater.org has funded 51,438 water projects for over 11 million people around the world as I post.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
My personal wish list for the world:
Having dealt with the distant past in Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (2011) and with the distant future in Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow (2016), Harari turns in 21 Lessons his attention to the present.
I really enjoyed this book. Harari is a BIG PICTURE guy who quickly puts things into perspective.
His chapter on God is excellent, for example.
21 Lessons for the 21st Century (2018)by Yuval Noah Harari … attempts to untangle the technological, political, social, and existential quandaries that humankind faces. …
In The New York Times, Bill Gates calls the book “fascinating” and his author “such a stimulating writer that even when I disagreed, I wanted to keep reading and thinking.” For Gates, Harari “has teed up a crucial global conversation about how to take on the problems of the 21st century.”
related 2020 interview:
When the internet — and then social media — got popular I was convinced it would make the world better.
Better informed.
The poor and powerless would have a voice. A blog. A podcast.
Seems I was wrong.
Social media was supposed to be the ultimate free speech platform, a place where the world would come together to swap information and share opinions. It would be the battleground of ideas. …
Twitter has become a playground for bots and trolls. Facebook is filled with misinformation, a place where foreign governments can set up groups to spread fake news. …
At the same time, users have retreated into their own bubbles. …
If you want to know more about life in Pakistan I recommend this autobiography of a teenager.
If you want to know more about the plight of girls and women in extremist Muslim nations, this is the book. Malala is a symbol. She was awarded the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize.
I hadn’t recalled that the Taliban assassin shot Malala and hit both girls sitting either side of her as well. All three survived.
Christina Lamb is an excellent writer, expert in this region. She too was nearly killed by the Taliban, on Benazir Bhutto’s bus when it was blown up in October 2007.
I Am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and was Shot by the Taliban (2013) is an autobiographical book by Malala Yousafzai, co-written with Christina Lamb …
The book details the early life of Yousafzai, her father’s ownership of schools and activism, the rise and fall of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan in Swat Valley and the assassination attempt made against Yousafzai, when she was aged 15, following her activism for female education.
It has received a positive critical reception and won awards, though it has been banned in many schools in Pakistan. …
Swat Valley has been an important tourist destination in the past. And may be again in future. Malala is a Pashtun, the majority of whom follow Sunni Islam.
The leader of the Swat Taliban in Malala’s day was Maulana Fazlullah. He was killed by American drone strike in 2018.
Today Malala is a student at Oxford studying Philosophy, Politics and Economics.
She and her father run the Malala Fund, an organization dedicated to every girl’s right to 12 years of free, safe, quality education. That’s an important cause for me too.
I’m proud to say Malala has honorary Canadian citizenship.
People have far more in common than they think.
Watch again that great ad from 2017 on this theme.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
That said, if you support Trump — never speak to me again.
There’s a limit.
Joker .. was inspired by 1970s character studies and the films of Martin Scorsese (particularly Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy) …
The film polarized critics; while Phoenix’s performance, the musical score, cinematography and production values were praised, the dark tone, portrayal of mental illness, and handling of violence divided responses. … (68% on Rotten Tomatoes)
Joker has grossed over $1 billion, making it the first R-rated film to do so …
… the most profitable film based on a comic book …
Phoenix is interested in doing a sequel.
Went directly to #1 on The New York Times Bestseller List.
I recommend it.
“The Guardians” is Grisham’s 40th novel; he’s now 64 …
Such creative longevity is not that unusual in the suspense genre, but what is rare is Grisham’s feat of keeping up the pace of producing, on average, a novel a year (in 2017 he published two) without a notable diminishment of ingenuity or literary quality. Dame Agatha Christie, who barely paused between books to sharpen pencils during her near-50-year marathon mystery career, is another such marvel. …
Grisham’s main character here is a so-called “innocence lawyer,” a workaholic attorney-and-Episcopal-priest named Cullen Post. Post has trimmed his life down to the barest of essentials, living in spartan quarters above the nonprofit Guardian Ministries, his workplace in Savannah, Ga. The book focuses on Post’s investigation into the wrongful conviction of a black man named Quincy Miller who was set up to take the fall for the murder of a white lawyer in a small Florida town some 22 years before …
Grisham is a member of the board of directors of the Innocence Project, which campaigns to free and exonerate unjustly convicted people. This book is laser focused on that topic.
This novel was inspired by Jim McCloskey and Centurion Ministries. That organization has freed dozens of wrongfully accused.
When Truth Is All You Have: A Memoir of Faith, Justice, and Freedom for the Wrongly Convicted
Rick McCharles 