Sustainability is a complicated matter. It is also a very popular idea among those who want to contribute to a stable future for humanity. The first question that always comes to my mind is, “Sustain what?” People toss the term around as if everyone knows what it means. Well, for most it means to make … More The Sustainability Trap: Shifting Targets, No Goal
Working from home is the new employment dilemma for many employees and bosses, in some industries anyway. I see a growing number of articles about whether and how many workers can, should, or want to return to the office as the pandemic gradually winds down. Yet, it is clearly not that simple. Dilemmas of Work, … More Work and Risk: What is Wrong with the Labor Market? Or, is it the Work itself?
It is not difficult to see the several consistencies between the COVID-19 pandemic and the Climate Emergency. You can find them in more than one dimension. Some involve the trajectories of the crises, while others reside in the human response or lack thereof. Things like acceleration and lagged effects are important for understanding crises that … More Too Late and Too Soon: Corona-Climate Crisis Consistency
Do you pay attention to the tech news, especially in relation to the financial markets? The idea of self-driving cars and trucks and their near and long-term prospects gets a great deal of attention among the pundits. But why? Okay, at one level it reflects the growing operational power of artificial intelligence (AI)and neural networking … More Autonomous Vehicles: Why?
We usually think of something as fantastic if it is so wonderful and amazing that it seems like fantasy. I suspect that is where Walt Disney got the idea for his “Fantasy Land” and the other fantastical components of Disneyland, Disneyworld, and all those animated entertainments. Much of it suggests unbounded human futures through industrial … More Facing a Fantastic Future: Fantasyland, Apocalypse, or Hopeful Realism?
It is as sad as it is fascinating to observe the complete disconnect between the assumptions behind current emerging trade wars and those behind the current pretensions of nations to taking climate action. On the one hand, news reports of steps taken on either side in the escalation of Trump’s trade war with China assume … More Trade Wars and Climate Chaos
Robert MacNeil Christie, Author 