Category: Blog

My family and other animals

(Part 3 of ‘After Attenborough: A Science and Myth for People Born of Nowhere.) In my early years I was nurtured on David Attenborough and Gerald Durrell. Two naturalists famous in the anglophone world who have taught many people about nature, biology, and wildlife in the wake of British colonialism. I continue to find myself…
Born of Nowhere

(Part 2 of ‘After Attenborough: A Science and Myth for People Born of Nowhere.) My childhood spanned what was once the Roman Empire. It involved a rollercoaster of messianic madness led by three parents on the road, exploring and attempting to escape the current order that has borrowed so much from the Roman Empire. The…
The Horror Story

(Part 1 of ‘After Attenborough: A Science and Myth for People Born of Nowhere.) We all have stories we believe. Stories shape how we understand this world. Stories guide our imagination as to what is realistic. What is viable. What is possible. The infamous Christopher Columbus was familiar with a story. The story that the…
Do you even know what VIOLENCE is? On current events in France

In response to current mass mobilisations of people on the streets, roundabouts, and fields of France, the French President Macron said “We will never give in to this violence. In a democracy, we do not have the right to use violence”. Before I explain the malicious nature of this statement and how its not an…
Is magic real?

Repurposing this paper to intellectually describe my own practice of demon summoning, and my participation in a story about black cats, unicorns and healthcare, a quick answer to the question of magic is as follows: Broadly there are two responses to the question of magical powers, magical healing powers, magical animals, demons, spirits, charms, gods,…
Towards a new calendar

Ideology is the myth that justifies the creation and reproduction of a particular social order. It becomes a way of believing and behaving that shapes how we know reality. Having been born into the social order of an empire I therefore have the option offered by this order; to be a function or surplus. By…
Toilet Borders & The Bog Monster

I had a Zizekian dream last night. The flush toilet emerged as the daily frontier of hard bordering. When flush toilet people shit we immediately outsource the unwanted nature.. …to the subaltern realm. The toilet acts to place a hard border between us and it. A hard deportation. Water is the means of cleansing and…
Species and Biodiversity are Concepts Unfit for Purpose.

A species is often taken to be an objective thing in the world. It’s not. It’s a concept about the real world. In academic language we call this the difference between ontology and epistemology. Species is one way of categorising life. Not to be conflated with what’s out there. One can say species is a…
Menu ‘Democracy’

A good friend and citizen of Australia showed me the enormous size of his ballot over the weekend. In Australia they have proportional representation and the single transferable vote, which means a larger number of smaller parties are on the ballot. It’s kind of cool in comparison to the UK where I vote, but it…
How We Are Playing: Category Simulation and Imagination

I wrote a recent post on how imagination is key to how we act in the world inspired by The Dawn of Everything book, despite its middling issues with using imperial time (an issue that is both big and small and to be addressed in the future and not necessary to read right now). Do…
Primordial Soup

“If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.” We all believe in stories. Stories shape how we understand reality. They guide our imagination as to what we see as realistic. What is viable. What is possible. Christopher Columbus was familiar with the story that the…
The Body Prophet

As I lay in bed this morning reflecting on all the beautiful seedlings that I had moved from the nursery to the veg garden the day before, I was also feeling the dagger jabs every time I moved. The medical name for the condition is Ankylosing Spondylitis and its described as an autoimmune disorder. I…
And What About You? Quick Notes on Political Imagination

“The events in Ottawa and at various points along the US-Canada border are setting the stage for a liberal, pro-police, pro-civility backlash that will hit us as well.” (Crimethinc 2022). As I was reading this report on the situation in Ottawa Canada, which reportedly involved a lot of honking (not ducks) and trucks (not truckers),…
McScience

“A tree is not a forest. On its own, a tree cannot establish a consistent local climate. It is at the mercy of wind and weather. But together, many trees create an ecosystem that moderates extremes of heat and cold, stores a great deal of water, and generates a great deal of humidity. And in…
Notes of Covid as approach end of 2021

“The development of a safe, effective and cheap vaccine, however, is only a first step towards community-wide control. Epidemiological, economic and motivational issues are at least as important as technological ones.” Nature, 1985 Vaccine implementation defines the efficacy of vaccines role in influencing a pandemic. How, when, to whom, by whom, where, why, timescale are…