Lessons From History Biographies

  Science must be believed over the promise of progress and profits.           I have no doubt that our current era of technological advancement is very much based on the concept of “can we?,” not “should we?”. Our world is rushing head-long into embracing the concepts that AI and digitizing our existence can be nothing but positive developments that bring great progress for humanity, and the faster we can pull these changes off the better off we’ll be. Suffice to say, I have found the world’s enthusiasm for these ideas to be bizarre and a massive risk, and I have become an old man yelling at the clouds demanding that we slow down and think about what we are doing as a species. Outdated I may be, yet I found Daniel Stone’s excellent new book American Poison to be a gripping and fascinating read, as Stone recounts the story of how the world embraced the revolutionary technology of leaded gasoline, and did so while ignoring the warnings ...

  Many people’s entire perception of American History needs to be radically reconsidered.             In the America of 2025, history wars have taken an unusual position front and center in the world of American politics, partly because our current administration has sold a specific view of American history—the story of a great nation, founded by good moral Christian pioneers, who conquered and civilized a continent and in the modern world are in a never-ending battle with modern forces to protect proper American values. How that view pertains to eras such as the American Civil War are another matter altogether, but specifically for the purposes of this reading it has put the Trump administration in an interesting position given its historical view of the American Indian nations, such as when they argued that the soldiers who participated in the Wounded Knee “battle” (often considered more of a massacre) were heroes deserving...