I read this article “MAGA warning to Dems is right on target.” An OpEd by the NY Post. Others may disagree, I believe it to be nonsensical. Just some rich guy saying, I like it like this. Don’t change it. There is a lot saying he is wrong. Adding the detail in brevity. You can always click on a link to get more detail. Here is Jamie Dimon comping trump and Biden on the economy. What do you think he is worried about over the next four years? First,...

Uncovering the Dark Side of Capitalism

They will see the promise—it is incumbent on us to alert them to the threat, or humanity will perish 14th November 2023 My new book, The Machine Age, is an ambitious—possibly overambitious—attempt to understand the human condition at this moment in time, through the prism of our relationship with machinery.  The book is structured around three stories: the relationship of machines to jobs, to freedom and to survival. Of course, when I talk about the relationship between humans...

Rachel Reeves needs a new economic narrative to break the fear of deficits and debt 24th November 2023 To observe the basic thinking behind Jeremy Hunt’s Autumn Statement on 22 November, and how Rachel Reeves will respond, is to find that the Chancellor and his shadow inhabit the same mental universe. They both aim to lift the British economy out of the doldrums, and they agree that doing so depends on improving the efficiency of the supply side of the economy – the way capital and...

January 18, 2024 ROBERT SKIDELSKY The wrongful prosecution and conviction of more than 900 postmasters highlights the erosion of the systems designed to uphold institutional accountability in the United Kingdom. It also underscores the growing threat of a legal paradigm in which individuals are presumed guilty until proven innocent. LONDON – A new TV drama has brought to light one of the greatest injustices in the history of the United Kingdom, prompting a long-overdue public...

Embracing the Cycle of Life

December 19, 2023 ROBERT SKIDELSKY While techno-optimists celebrate AI’s potential to reshape the world, we must mitigate the risks these new tools pose to communities and to humanity. To prevent the rich and powerful from monopolizing the fruits of technological innovation, we must ensure that the benefits of increased productivity are distributed equitably. LONDON – A little over a year ago, the San Francisco-based OpenAI released its chatbot, ChatGPT, triggering an...

November 20, 2023 ROBERT SKIDELSKY Between 1815 and 1914, the Concert of Europe served as a crucial peacekeeping mechanism, enabling the continent to avoid a major war. Drawing the right lessons from its successes and eventual failure can help us strive to recreate the conditions that led to an imperfect but durable peace. LONDON – The world was a relatively peaceful place during the nineteenth century. Aside from the American Civil War and China’s Taiping Rebellion, there were few...

October 24, 2023 ROBERT SKIDELSKY As the world grapples with multiple, compounding economic and political crises, Western intellectuals provide little cause for optimism. Two new books paint a bleak picture of a disintegrating liberal international order and a future shaped by warring powers and digital serfdom. LONDON – Reading this fall’s selection of new nonfiction books, one cannot help but recall W.B. Yeats’ prescient lines from The Second Coming: “The falcon cannot hear the...

I went to an optometrist yesterday. Among the various gizmos I was assaulted with was a device that imaged the back of my eye. The doc showed me the images. In addition to my blood vessels, my optic nerves and my macula visible directly, the software also supplies tomography at various position across the field to reveal the thickness of my retina at any position. It was very cool.I had a similar experience with imaging in the dental surgery office...