Category Archives: war

77. Fakes, liars, cheats, deceivers, animals in the forest

Posted on September 25, 2014 by thormay

It’s all around us. From face lifts to lux­ury cars on hire pur­chase, from inflated CVs to exag­ger­ated job titles, from com­pany pub­lic­ity mate­rial to the spin that gov­ern­ments put on their fail­ures and decep­tions. At what point does fak­ery … Con­tinue read­ing →

Posted in competence, culture, economics, ethics, evidence, ideology, individualism, law, lifestyle, management, merit, motivation, reciprocation, regulations, religion, rules, truth, value, war, wealth, work | Leave a comment

76. Multicultures – communities of familiar strangers

Posted on September 7, 2014 by thormay

Thor May Bris­bane, 2014   Pref­ace: This is a dis­cus­sion paper, not a researched aca­d­e­mic doc­u­ment. In par­tic­u­lar, it includes a fair amount of per­sonal com­ment. Where a topic is of broad gen­eral inter­est comes up with friends, I have adopted … Con­tinue read­ing →

Posted in China, culture, economics, ethics, evidence, ideology, individualism, intellectuals, Language learning, law, lifestyle, merit, politics, reciprocation, refugees, regulations, religion, rules, value, war, wealth | Leave a comment

73. Some Uses and Misuses of Reason

Posted on May 20, 2014 by thormay

When can the use of rea­son lead to bet­ter lives and soci­eties, and when can it under­mine them? Thor May Bris­bane, 2014 Think­ing point: The Aus­tralian Attor­ney Gen­eral, George Bran­dis has just declared that argu­ments for cli­mate change are irra­tional and that … Con­tinue read­ing →

Posted in economics, ethics, evidence, ideology, intellectuals, law, management, merit, motivation, philosophy, politics, proportion, reciprocation, regulations, religion, Research & Study, rules, teaching, truth, value, war | Leave a comment

72. Crime without Punishment – the journey from means to ends

Posted on April 20, 2014 by thormay

Sooner or later every­one – indi­vid­u­als, gov­ern­ments, com­pa­nies – has to make choices about whether to put aside cer­tain val­ues to achieve a desired end. Michael Pas­coe, an Aus­tralian finan­cial jour­nal­ist, has recently dis­cussed this at http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/business/comment-and-analysis/abandon-principles-and-pay-the-price-20140331-35tz4.html Image credit: Hugh … Con­tinue read­ing →

Posted in competence, culture, economics, ethics, evidence, ideology, individualism, law, management, merit, motivation, politics, proportion, regulations, religion, rules, teaching, truth, value, war, wealth, work | Leave a comment

66. What will be the dominant ideologies of the 21st Century?

Posted on January 11, 2014 by thormay

The 20th Cen­tury revolved polit­i­cally around com­pet­ing inter­pre­ta­tions of Cap­i­tal­ism, Com­mu­nism, Social­ism and Fas­cism. These are all ways to orga­nize the lives of peo­ple on a large scale. Are real alter­na­tives or new inter­pre­ta­tions likely to emerge in the chal­leng­ing years … Con­tinue read­ing →

Posted in China, economics, ethics, ideology, law, merit, motivation, politics, regulations, religion, rules, truth, war, wealth | Leave a comment

64. Democratic societies are less likely to make war than dictatorships. What is the evidence?

Posted on September 21, 2013 by thormay

D fears the insur­rec­tion of my eye­brows; Blow us away, my storm trooper of the army of dreams,  Lay us out in rows to moul­der. Who will be left in this Val­halla of brave poses  To wash the dishes, com­rade, When … Con­tinue read­ing →

Posted in culture, ethics, ideology, politics, Uncategorized, war | Leave a comment

63. The Freedom Enterprise and Other Yarns

Posted on August 18, 2013 by thormay

The very best social ideas are always a cover for the very worst behav­iour. That’s the story of ide­olo­gies. The rea­son is hardly a secret. Almost every known soci­ety has, and always has had, a rul­ing elite whose inter­ests only … Con­tinue read­ing →

Posted in economics, ethics, evidence, ideology, philosophy, war, wealth | Leave a comment