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Aliens at a Chess Tournament

Imagine, if you will, aliens exploring Earth. They visit a chess tournament. They see rows upon rows of players, hunched over chess boards, facing each other. Silence prevails, but it is an intense silence. The players’ expressions are focused, and they often scowl or sweat. They rarely speak. Sometimes a player will sit in deep […]

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Perils of Utopian Science for Societal Design

One of the earliest books that could be called utopian was Edward Bellamy’s Looking Backward. It described a future scientific society, devoid of competition, in which everything was run scientifically. It was all to be rational and orderly. As a 16 year old, I was captivated by his vision. I later realized, with hindsight, that […]