Off The Shelf

One superpower of our species is the ability to quickly adapt to technological breakthroughs. We invent things, make them widely available, build platforms on which we can see further, do more. The speed at which we incorporate breakthroughs into our lives — from semiconductors to GPS — is breathtaking and inspiring. We are very good at standing on the shoulders of giants. But there is a dark side to platforms. We can be seduced — and become dangerously dependent — on technology. Greater connectivity leads to new forms of warfare. Energy and transport infrastructure makes us dependent on planet-wrecking fuels. Bacteria quickly evolve to outflank the antibiotics that save lives. These platforms allow us — metaphorically — to live at a higher level. Consequentially we have much, much further to fall if they fail. The technosphere (coined by Peter Haff ) refers to the ‘stuff’ humans have created to keep us alive on the planet, from factories and farms to planes and plastic bags. But it al...

" Predicting the future is much too easy, anyway. You look at the people around you, the street you stand on, the visible air you breathe, and predict more of the same. To hell with more. I want better. " - Ray Bradbury BBC News website front page graphic: April 6th, 2020 Szeming Sze was born in China in 1908, and became a doctor. His father was Chinese Minister to Great Britain. So whilst resident in the country, Dad took the opportunity to install the young Szeming at Winchester College, and from there he went on to study medicine at Cambridge. " To understand the man " said Napoleon " you have to know what was happening in the world when he was twenty. ". And for twenty year-old Dr Sze that meant treating patients at St Thomas's Hospital in London. St Thomas' is a hospital with an intriguing history. Built originally in Southwark, it was founded to provide treatment for the poor, sick, and homeless long before the NHS was founded. When it reloca...