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Here’s an article about the same presentation. I am quite annoyed with one of the speakers in the presentation, specifically by Ian Ground. Here is his academic page. I am not especially bothered with the condescension of Ian towards Aubrey in the opening statements, markedly refusing to acknowledge or even mention his name. That is…

The US has passed a bill through congress that allows US companies to claim and thus own interplanetary resources and pretty much do with these as they see fit. That means conceivably – making a profit as big as the sky. A casual reading of the High Frontier, and a few SF books 1, 2,…

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I am one of those people who “believe” (for lack of a better term) in the future. I am sure advancing technologies are mostly a good thing. Progress makes existence for humans better, and beyond that technological advances allow us to change undesirable aspects of the human state (and there are many) and engineer these…

I’ll be sparse with the spoilers, but the following are a few short meandering thoughts I had about the premiere of the TV adaptation of the Arthur C. Clarke novel “Childhood’s End”. In the novel (which differs from the TV episode) aliens arrive at Earth and put everything in order. Depending on who you ask,…

I am not an economist nor an astrophysicist. But I find both fields intensely fascinating, when embedded in their proper context – economy in the theater of international or “geo”-politics, and astrophysics when looking at the proper context of the innermost galaxy. In both there is an ephemeral understanding that can not be gathered from…

Precisely the same uncanny phenomenon happened end of the soviet union – in particular middle aged men with certain expectations were disappointed and beyond a certain age entitled men can no longer accept and live with disappointment. They lament, become militant, gripe, sabotage whatever they can sabotage (vote for Jeltsin or Trump just to spite…

(link) Israel is a very peculiar nation. Israel as a very peculiar nation is doing very peculiar things we have come to dismiss as unthinkable for a democracy. Democracies do not do the kind of things Israel is doing, or so we believe. Of course Israel is under considerable existential threat from it’s neighbors, but…

Nope they are not. At least not in the Netherlands. This is the position of the SP (Socialist Party) on Basic Income. SP-Tweede Kamerlid Paul Ulenbelt: ‘Een onvoorwaardelijk basisinkomen is een sympathiek idee, maar ook niet meer dan dat. Socialisten vinden dat iedereen zijn bijdrage moet leveren aan de maatschappij. Dat wij produceren en diensten…

(By Extropia DaSilva) Maritme Admiralty Law is what is known as the law of the water. It is superceded by civil law and only applies to those that willingly contract themselves into it. The definition of Admiralty Law is a body of private international law governing the relationships between private entities which operate vessles on…

If you identify as “religious” and have read my previous articles or book chapters dealing with religious issues, you almost certainly count me as an enemy, not a friend, an atheist bigot lacking empathy—or even worse. And I understand why you feel like that. After all, I still refer to Religion as A serious delusiomal…

Democracy is in a crisis. Democracy in most countries does not deliver. While there many reasons for this malfunction, the most important reason democracy is not working particularly well is singular – special interest. Right now lobbyists has taken over the political decissionmaking process. In many cases this process is clearly a form of political…

We can print houses now. I written about this earlier, describing specifically for my country the potential to engineer a sharp deflation in home prices. In the Netherlands home prices are extremely and unnaturally inflated because of a confluence of government, industry and speculation mechanisms. It is now taken for granted that a house “that…

The current state of the economy is a parable for non-reality. It isn’t even  a proper metaphor, it’s in itself a poetic allegory or allusion. Probably not even children’s rhyme. Economy is a pretense, a figleaf, a back alley theater making drunken show that has no bearing on reality. Still the notables court it’s smudged halls and…

In the last few months there has been a spade of articles warning us for civil unrest.  The reasons for this civil unrest might several years ago have been popularly attributed to phenomenon such as technological unemployment, resource depletion, immigration, banker shenanigans, political gridlock (and mismanagement), lousy media, outsourcing or climate change.  But the money is now…

Referring to this party in club Panama. The Unleashed party was well-organized, beautiful. The music was excellent. It was not nearly as much a squallorous mess as Wasteland. The party was inundated with searingly beautiful 20s 30s 40s year olds. Most people there were visibly high on speed, GHB and ecstacy. There was some minor…

Let me speculate here about the concept of “Facebook” as a national utility for the Netherlands. I do realize the amount of people using Facebook in the Netherlands is still not a majority. Oh excuse me it is. That places adoption rates for Facebook at a level where we might conclude Facebook is an inalienable…

This is a largely NSFW and not child safe post. Proceed with caution. Early November 2014 I was talking to an old friend on chat and I mentioned Wasteland, and that I might go April 2015. I assumed Wassteland 2014 was already past. Then I read the actual date and my heart chokes in my…

Do I exist? I think I do. Well for those who know me, Facebook was annoyed with me after I posted a video of me dancing “in fetish gear” on the Wasteland party. My account was restricted from Monday 2 December onwards and after some clumsy interactions this situation seemed to tighten and escalate. When…

In most of the western world we have a prevailing societal model of self-reliance and personal responsibility. It’s easy to see the limitations of this model – people get old and sick, most people have emotional or other vulnerabilities and significant periods in our life we are just unable to protect ourselves. To engender protected…

In the year 2014 A.D, the human species may have expanded completely out of bounds. To transcend boundaries is within out nature. That is what we do. It is ordained. It is written. We appear to have transcended my limits imposed upon us by nature. Nature imposes, not out of will, because because of the…