Much of this substack has been trying to make sense of the present moment, and what ethical action looks like in a world that appears to be changing and warping in ways we are struggling to comprehend. I am continuing to work on this, as I think we are in a transitional period, and trying to make sense of what is disappearing, what is altering, and what it all might mean is vitally important. The world is littered with hints and clues;

What to make of what is now unfolding in Ukraine? Like much of the world, this is something I have been wondering over the last week. I must admit, when such major events occur, and so many commentators rush to tell us what it all means, my default position is to step back. The only thing I really feel confident in saying is that this is bad, the world we will inhabit when this is done will most likely be in worse condition.

A year ago, I started this Substack as an experiment for sharing my writing. A major motivation for doing so was a recognition of the role that academics play in marginalising their own voices. Part of this is through getting lost in narrow niches and specialisations; part of this is through being caught in a dysfunctional neoliberal university system;

Sleepwalking is an evocative image, existing in that liminal zone of consciousness, simultaneously present and absent. The dreamworld seeping into the real, or the inverse, with pressures of waking life intruding upon rest. Somnambulism is a condition that captures an odd, unnerving combination of agency without conscious volition. Acting without being fully aware of one’s actions.

Recently I came across a thought provoking entry by Gabriele de Seta on ‘black technology’ ( heikeji 黑科技), a Chinese term used to describe cutting edge and futuristic technologies, so advanced that they defy comprehension. Researching further, I was struck by how commonplace this idea is in Chinese, while it is effectively unknown in English.

‘Imperfect world’ is the canvas on which these notes are painted. This conveys that the world we are part of, and acting in, is one made by people. Insofar as humans are wonderfully and unavoidably flawed, the world we collectively constitute will echo and amplify these limitations. It could not be otherwise. Another reason for this framing comes from the quixotic desire it holds within it, the promise of perfection.

This is the first in a series connecting the themes of ‘imperfect notes’ to thinking about the role of technology in society, supported by a grant from the Toshiba International Foundation. ‘Out of the crooked timber of humanity no straight thing was ever made’ is Isaiah Berlin’s famous rendering of a line from Immanuel Kant, reflecting a scepticism in the capacity of imperfect humans to create perfect solutions.

Pandemics do not have clear start or end dates, we must leave it to future historians to provide a degree of order to our contemporary mess. Most will probably date the COVID-19 pandemic as commencing early in 2020, meaning we are about at the two year mark, whatever that means at this point. During this odd and uneven period one particularly unsettling feature has been how malleable time has felt.

Autumn is expiring in the Northern Hemisphere, the cold of winter is more noticeable in the air.

A key theme across these notes is moral agency. Rarely do we determine the conditions in which we act, but this does not absolve us. The circumstances may be more or less extenuating, yet we always have a choice. Recognising and accepting our agency, and the responsibility that flows with it, is a necessary part of acting in the world. The macro is made up of the micro.

Bertolt Brecht once stated, ‘to those who do not know the world is on fire, I have nothing to say.’ Given his was writing in the first half of the 20th century, such an observation is understandable. What would Brecht say today? Whether looking at the spread of COVID-19, increasing signs of social unrest, or the very direct and immediate consequences of climate change, the image of fire has both real and metaphorical resonance.