Any idiot can spot mistakes in sci-fi. Finding excuses makes for a better game. Star Trek shows every race in the world speaking the same language, because they have universal translators. But then we hear klingons shouting in Klingon, and hear random Bejoran phrases. Clearly lazy writing. But better writing might …

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I wonder if people might struggle less with computer security if we employed metaphors for previous technology. People have attempted to get videos off the internet, showing a clear misunderstanding how how computers work. If they thought in terms of many people photocopying a picture, I'm sure they would understand …

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Plato's Republic can come across as naïve, and I find that fact tragic. Broadly, the book climaxes with a plan to make a state ruled by Philosopher Aristocrats. While Plato calls these rulers "Philosophers", we shouldn't picture modern Philosophy students, but academics. I find the failure tragic because all rulers - …

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I'm getting real sick of the 'I am not a lawyer' everywhere. Everyone's not a lawyer, nobody's not a doctor. I get that people think their suggestions may have legal consequences. I don't think mine will though. I'm an internet lawyer - go murder someone, it'll be fine. This is legal advice. I just can't picture …

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Little things annoy me that nobody else in the world could possibly care about. One of them is E-Bay's message at the end of every sale: "You have bid £3.40 for the item. Hope you win". Who hopes I win? E-Bay the corporation? The browser? Clearly I'm the only one inferring meaning here, so maybe I mean it, but I'm not …

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1 When you're eating bacon... 2 3 4 I don't each bacon. 5 6 7 Right, but when someone eats bacon... I find this sort of thing happening routinely. I suspect everyone else feels more comfortable with waiting for the meaning of a sentence to emerge later. Whatever happened to saying 'one', as short for 'someone'? It …

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We're not all in power, by definition. (Ricky Gervais) Pouring the rest of my soup into a Tupperware container, my girlfriend-at-the-time asked me to stop. "That won't fit", she said. "Obviously it will", I replied, pointing to the remainder of the pot. And it did, with a millimetre to spare. "Oh, you're one of those …

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I like half-listening to brainless YouTube videos. A good chunk of people complaining about the world dumbing with YouTube click-bait no doubt saw the kind of nonsense I watch and thought 'the BBC showed much more enlightening and informative content than this modern drivel'. This comparison doesn't work. We shouldn't …

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I have a personal rule concerning arguments. I accept only two. I've made this a tight habit. If anyone protests (as they have) that they didn't put forward their strongest argument at the start, then I say this indicates a waste of time even more. Why put forward bad reasons, if you have good ones? This saves time, …

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A group of Victorian gentlemen called the 'Eaterateri' wandered various Scottish restaurants, trying all they could. The now well-known Adam Smith and David Hume regularly talked in the group about their ideas. I don't know if Hume felt bold enough to speak about Atheism, but Adam Smith may well have developed those …

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