• Minds and Machines - Last February, the IBM supercomputer Watson won an exhibition game of the American TV show “Jeopardy” against two of its best contestants. This was a significant advance on Deep Blue, another IBM supercomputer, which had defeated the six-time world chess champion Gary Kasparov in 1997. It was hailed in the popular media as heralding the [...]
• Mindless Science - The English philosopher Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) was notorious among his contemporaries for his cynical view of human nature. Hobbes held that we always act out of self-interest. Once a friend observed him giving money to a beggar and asked Hobbes if what he had just done did not disprove his own theory of human motivation. [...]
• Micro-Credit Hype - I return to Ha-Joon Chang’s debunking 23 Things They Don’t Tell You About Capitalism.  In one of his chapters, Chang argues that people in poor countries are generally more entrepreneurial than those in rich countries. Most citizens of rich countries work for a company, doing highly specialized jobs. As a result, they spend their working [...]
• The Biggest Threat? - The average human today lives longer, travels further, burns more carbon and eats more food than in any generation before us. The unsustainable consumption habits of Europe, the USA and Japan have been promoted worldwide and are now being emulated by hundreds of millions in China, India, Brazil and Indonesia. The carbon-fuelled, capital-intensive approach to [...]
• Who Needs Economists? - One week before the Great Crash of October 1929- which precipitated the Great Depression- Irving Fisher of Yale University, perhaps the most distinguished US economist of his time, claimed that the American economy had attained a “permanently high plateau”. Three years later the national income had fallen by more than 50 per cent. No one, [...]
• New Role-Models - I was visiting Portugal earlier this month, and my visit coincided with that of Marina Silva, the Brazilian environmental campaigner who served as Minister of the Environment in President Lula de Silva’s government.  This remarkable woman has been justly honoured all over the world for her tireless and courageous work. She is far more than [...]
• Redemption and Debt - Some readers have written to say that Camila Vallejo is a member of the Communist Party of Chile, as if this should make my admiration for her evaporate. If we are to shun any involvement with communists, then we should also be boycotting all goods made in China and Vietnam, and persuading our governments and [...]
• Student Leadership - Until two weeks ago, I had never heard of Camila Vallejo. Now I am fascinated by this charismatic student leader in Chile who has been shaking the political establishment in her country. She is spearheading a populist movement that has the right to “quality education” at its core. Boldly outspoken, Vallejo is only the second [...]
• Security Myths - Ten years on, media commentary on 9/11 is legion, while other events, equally horrific, are quickly forgotten. Three days after the 9/11 attacks, Howard Zinn, the distinguished American historian and author of A People’s History of the United States, wrote: “The images on television horrified and sickened me. Then our political leaders came on television, [...]
• Collateral Casualties - Both the British and German treasuries have struck deals this month with the Swiss government to tax their citizens’ hidden accounts in Switzerland’s globally harmful banking system. However, the identities of these account holders will not be disclosed, allowing Swiss bankers to maintain their bizarre boasts of “privacy” and “confidentiality”. The agreement with Germany sees [...]

• The Revealing Statue - Walking along the Galle road in Mt. Lavinia the other day I came upon the following statue (see picture on right). It was erected in 2004 in “appreciation of the working class”. On closer inspection we see that the name of the person unveiling the statue is written in larger font than the persons to [...]
• Throwing Stones at Ourselves - Sri Lankans everywhere were appalled at the video that came out last week. A mentally unstable man who was pelting stones at passers by was chased into the sea, beaten with poles and left to drown. The fact that it was done by policemen aided by members of the public only added to the [...]
• Transforming Silence - The recent islandwide power failure was awful wasn’t it? Getting up in the middle of the night in a bath of sweat I couldn’t help muttering about the decline in the state of the power and energy industry. Was it a strike or sabotage? Couldn’t they have planned their ‘action’ at a more convenient time? [...]
• The Challenging Journey - My wife and I realized a common dream recently – a long awaited visit to Jaffna. We went by plane as the bus service was functional only for Jaffna residents who travel to Colombo. What was actually a 1 hour flight became a 9 hour journey with the checking and being packed into buses at [...]
• Goal or Trust - Spiritual gurus seem to pop up everywhere these days. They promise a variety of blessings for their adherents. These include good health, financial security, success in business/studies and happiness in relationships. Their techniques range from meditation to positive thinking to harnessing the energy of mother earth. Many are attracted and some do receive the intended results that [...]
• Rolling back the Sea - Watching the pristine beauty of the Mt. Lavinia coastline, one cannot help being moved. Many are drawn to its natural beauty. It is not an uncommon sight to see men, women and children of all ages seated on the beach taking in the spectacle of the sunset and the myriad of colours. The tranquil scene brings [...]
• Integrating the Pizza - I had a craving for pizza the other day and called the hotline of one of the leading pizza distributors in Colombo. The operator was both helpful and courteous and enthusiastically promoted the latest range of pizzas and add-ons. Needing more information about them, I asked him about the characteristics of the pizzas and quickly [...]
• The Slavery of Contentment - Readers of the Daily Mirror newspaper last month (18th August) woke up to the headline news that Sri Lanka had topped the list among Asians (93%) “most satisfied with their lives”. At first glance this appears to be reason to celebrate, however, the irony of the situation was exemplified when comparing this story with the [...]

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