Galileo and why we need Free Speech In 1610 Galileo published “Sidereus Nuncius” which outlined his observations he had made why researching the universe, which talked about moons around Jupiter and other wild stuff. In 1616 the inquisition declared the theory’s expressed to be heretical and his books were banned. He was ordered not to hold meetings, teach or defend his views, but being slight stubborn, he then went on to come up with a theory of…
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Mental Headspace Today I was involved in a private conversation where the subject of how I was glad that was introduced to debate at school and then at university and other organisations. One of the most useful lessons was to cultivate the ability to hold more than one viewpoint initial in different thinking/headspaces and over time, bring them together into one. Over time i learned about using different structures of language to…
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The BBC and Freedom of Thought We currently live in a world where the BBC showing a dramatisation of a speech by a British politician Enoch Powell and including commentary from others who have different viewpoints is meet with comments that the BBC is enabling racism and putting people at risk by airing this show. Firstly it is insulting that people believe that a documentary on a subject will cause the moral fabric of society to…
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Paved with good intentions The warning of good intentions Over the past month I have been involved in several discussions that have included the terrifying phrases: you can’t worry about that as this is the perfect solution. yes but we are good people, so that’s not a problem Now let me add a context every time I have heard these or similar statements they have come from people I trust and respect or at…
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Syria, why can we not debate? To be clear I am not in favour of air raids and strikes which is not the same not supporting military action as part of a wider set of activities. The thing that interest me in the current situation is that people reject something quickly and in many cases aggressively without rational debate. I like to try to stay as close to truth as I can, even if it is…
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