Exposing a brotherhood of BS
Praise for investigative journalists like Marian Wilkinson who have a way of joining the dots without taking detours in diplomacy.
Stephen Dark
When the birds stop singing and the roads begin to melt
Australia’s summer officially begins on December 1, but climate change observes no calendar. And even as another summer is almost upon us, memories of last summer’s ferocious fires still linger on the minds of those devastated by all manner of loss. For weeks on end, the residents of many towns and cities not directly threatened were […]
The truth about emissions targets
Make no mistake, as groups of countries form a pact and commit to a target year for net-zero emissions they will increasingly discriminate against freeloading countries like Australia by imposing penalties. Over the past two weeks, our PM Scott Morison has repeatedly declared that our policies on GHG emissions won’t be set in any part […]
Doing what you love is the best form of welfare
It certainly seems that in life’s frantic struggle to compete and be competitive, one’s level of productivity is the definitive measure of one’s worth. But does this really need to be the case?
AI is looming – do we travel through time or end in an algorithm?
Could an algorithm write any number of bestsellers or compose a symphony to match Bach or Beethoven or stretch our imaginations and allow us to travel through time like Marty McFly? Ultimately. Probably. Yes! Biomedical engineer and inventor, Jordan Nguyen, says that technology is evolving faster than at any time before, but possibly at the […]
A “Frydenberg slip”, then another furphy that leaves everyone flabber-gas-ted
“You cannot be serious!” As an irate John McEnroe protested in that now-famous 1981 line call at Wimbledon in a heated exchange with umpire Edward James. And with just as much passion and utter bewilderment, it about sums up the PM’s call to implement a Grand Gas Plan that will save us from two sets […]
Millennials in the age of “neo-miserabilism”
Millennials are the most stressed-out demographic group on the planet — they are also the group most sensitive to sustainability issues
Cruising down the road to Donald Horne’s Lucky Country
OPINION: For near on 30 years we have cruised down the road of economic growth feasting on the fruits of the “lucky country”. Sure, there were a few speed bumps along the way, a few wrong turns, and more than a few prime ministers, but it was mostly smooth sailing. Hit in the face by […]
Nikola Tesla dreamed of free electricity; what happened?
Have you ever wondered what the world would be like if electricity was free? Tesla is the well-known trademark of entrepreneur extraordinaire Elon Musk and his electric cars, but what about Tesla, the man? More than 100 years ago, Nikola Tesla (1856-1943) invented alternating current (AC), the polyphase alternating current system, which laid the foundation […]
Gucci and Oscar Wilde were right: the truth about fashion
If you knew you were burning down the house around you, and you could stop it, wouldn’t you?
How sustainable is our shiny new normal?
The answer is, not very, if it’s anything like the old one The COVID-19 pandemic is like an X-ray into all the broken parts of our economy. We know what they are and have a grand opportunity to fix them, but it will take some visionary leadership, some exceptional courage, and an ample measure of […]
Jobs of the future, miracles and messing with our university education
Predicting the Jobs of the future is not as straightforward as the government’s uni fees meddling would suggest.
To solve our problems, we should be free of ideologies, right?
A citizen’s jury would capture “a balance of gender, age group, ethnicity, and income” The Covid crisis has evolved into a social-distancing crisis. And this supervirulent member of the Coronaviridae family, couldn’t ask for a more perfect host. We humans are social creatures — we love each other’s company. Viruses have existed for billions of years — […]
Is it time for a universal basic income?
Like cheese from Chernobyl, the prospect of prolonged debt and deficit has long been viewed as unpalatable.