On History

“A generation which ignores history has no past — and no future.”

Robert Heinlein

On Truth

”“All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.””

Arthur Schopenhauer

On Truth

“I dream of a world where the truth is what shapes people’s politics, rather than politics shaping what people think is true.”

Neil deGrasse Tyson

On Religion

”There is only one religion, though there are a hundred versions of it.”

George Bernard Shaw

On Wars

”All wars are fought twice, the first time on the battlefield, the second time in memory.”

Viet Thanh Nguyen

On Management

”One sticks a finger into the ground to smell what country one is in. I stick my finger into the world — it has no smell. Where am I? What does it mean to say: the world? What is the meaning of that word? Who tricked me into this whole thing and leaves me standing here? Who am I? How did I get into the world? Why was I not asked about it, why was I not informed of the rules and regulations but just thrust into the ranks as if I had been bought from a peddling shanghaier of human beings? How did I get involved in this big enterprise called actuality? Why should I be involved? Isn’t it a matter of choice? And if I am compelled to be involved, where is the manager — I have something to say about this. Is there no manager? To whom shall I make my complaint?”

Søren Kierkegaard

On Desire

”The only thing we can try to do is to influence the direction scientists are taking. Since we might soon be able to engineer our desires too, perhaps the real questions facing us is not ‘What do we want to become?’, but “What do we want to want?’ Those who are not spooked by this question probably haven’t given it enough thought.”

Yuval Noah Harari

On Beer

“Good people drink good beer.”

Hunter S. Thompson

Every Tuesday a friend in this group puts up a picture against which he invites member to write a story.

This weeks’s picture

Cute | JPhilpin

He’s so cute. I could snuggle with him for hours. I wonder where he came from? Oh well, it doesn’t really matter, he seems clean enough. And his teeth are so clean. Probably because he is young - like me. I wonder if he eats the same stuff as me. That would be cool. We could hang together - and eat. We’d never be apart. Both young, both blonde, both ready to take on the challenges of the world. NOBODY would be able to tell us apart. Well - other than the clothes. I wonder where he got those blue overalls from - and if they do them ‘puppy size’?

On Artifical Intelligence

”Forget artificial intelligence - in the brave new world of big data, it’s artificial idiocy we should be looking out for.”

Tom Chatfield