Pistis reclaims Showing Your Working Out (weekending September 28th 2019)

‽istis reclaims Showing your Working Out (weekending  September 28th 2019)

‽istis, sat and wondered in awe at the possibilities of quantum computing and the workings of the legal minds in the Supreme Court: 

‽ just what questions might perhaps be answered for the first time, within the lifetime of those asking them, when computer processing speeds are 100 million times faster?*

‽ what literary works might emerge if my brain could work no quicker but my fingers could type faster - and would they be better than the potential output from the infinite number of monkeys whose bones await discovery somewhere on the outskirts of Stratford-upon-Avon? 

  

‽ what if the norm was the plain English and ‘showing your working out’ logic of the Supreme Court judgement coupled with the legal miracle of finding in fact that something had not happened that seemed to have happened, such that an outcome could be both possible and not possible at the same time? 

…and then what else might just perhaps, possibly, may be different in the past, present and future?

* quantumly.com/m.quantum-computer-speed.html

© Pistis

Pistis reclaims the Lectern (weekending September 21st 2019)

 
‽istis, stood in front of an empty lectern and wondered: 

‽ what perhaps might happen if direct democracy and representative democracy were both brought to bear on a problem and the word ‘advisory’ had been forgotten?

‽ if a cogent and convincing case could be made eloquently and in writing for either of two options with the matter finely balanced, then how many people might cast a vote based on what may possibly advance their own interests? 

‽ whether the conventional and ‘constitutional’ way of doing things might only be defined, written down or judged upon when someone either doesn’t understand it (despite being oh, so establishment); when she or he just plain refuses to abide by it; or considers that they are entitled to disregard it?

…and, ‽istis pondered, if lecterns had polygraphs built into them and if hands could perhaps, possibly, maybe only meet in a shake if good faith were present - then how different the world might be?

© Pistis  

Pistis reclaims Cause over Symptom (weekending September 14th 2019)

‽istis sat and pondered…  but what lies beneath?

‽ What if Gus Speth* was perhaps on to something in a shift in thinking ‘that the top environmental problems were biodiversity loss, ecosystem collapse and climate change…  that with 30 years of good science we could address these problems.’ To: ‘But I was wrong.  The top environmental problems are selfishness, greed and apathy…  and to deal with these we need spiritual and cultural transformation – and we scientists don’t know how to do that.’?

‽ What if ‘leave Europe’ is not the answer? What if we consider that ‘the EU’ and ‘other Europeans’ are possibly just bogeymen (any contemporary reference to apparent activity by a prominent leave MP during a House of Commons debate is purely intentional) to distract from the fear of Conservative and Unionist Party disunity (that went well…) and fear of losing votes to the right? What if blaming social and economic inequality on ‘incomers’ and a supposed project to establish a multi-national ‘super state’ was possibly easier than meeting the needs of people and communities who felt left behind by social policy and political priorities?                                                                                                                                   

‽ What if the proposal to extend the period that overseas students can stay after completing their university courses was not just part of a possible plan to seem more pre-election liberal (‘nasty party’ avoidance strategy, level 1) but to make sure that the UK can continue to receive large tuition fees, recruit and retain (rather than receive large tuition fees, train but then lose) and ensure that we continue to meet our needs and maintain our dominance whilst incidentally depriving other places and people of their medics, engineers, scientists and similar experts who could potentially enable the world to become a more equal and just place?

…And if, perhaps, possibly, maybe we named, sought to identify and tackle cause rather than just symptomology - then what might be the fresh locus of our solutions and time; our energy, effort and commitments; our policy, practice and spending – and how different the world might be?

© Pistis

References/further reading…

* https://www.mdpi.com/2409-9287/3/3/22/htm

Philosophies 2018, 3(3), 22; https://doi.org/10.3390/philosophies3030022 

Pistis reclaims The Cliché (1) Comfort Zone (weekending September 7th 2019)

‽istis collapsed from a challenging yoga pose and demanded to stay in the comfort zone whilst:

‽ perhaps Oti Mabuse executed the week’s most elegant sidestep on ‘Celebrity Masterchef’ – claiming not to be in her ‘element’

‽  possibly the Prime Minister realised that living the cliché might work as a candidate but not so well in the top job and blundered away from the possibly intimidatory and pretentious easement of a Latin epithet to the altogether less impressive: ‘big girl’s blouse’. Late news: both PM (awkwardly) and trainee police officer (unfortunately) embraced the cliché – one nearly over, the other nearly out?   

‽ maybe, The Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons found the green bench a zone of just too great a comfort  

‽ perhaps, possibly, maybe 15 (or is it 14 now?) ‘Strictly Stars’ sashaying out of the comfort zone of the day job began to realise that after a journey on a roller coaster which they didn’t yet want to end, the forthcoming show of reality might not necessarily be a dream come true

But then, if we thought too hard about why ‘nothing’ rather than ‘something’ was generally either ventured or gained then just what domains of succour might we have stepped out from and what opportunities may have been missed, or indeed avoided.

© Pistis   

Pistis reclaims Education (weekending August 31st 2019)

‽istis sat, remembered and whispered: education, education, education. At the start of a new academic year just perhaps, possibly, maybe:

‽ leaked information about a potential £4billion boost to schools in England might reverse the fall of 8% per pupil since 2009[i] and level out the playing-field (or at least the ones not yet sold)

‽ a proposed pay rise for teachers might help reward all, help recruit and retain the best and drive public good to public outstanding                                                                             

‽ a renewed commitment to even just education, education… may be more than a softener and harbinger of a possible General Election

‽ education could indeed be as much about ‘lighting a fire’[ii] in the minds, hearts and souls of children, young people and all of us – at every age and stage – as it is about ‘filling a pail’ (waiting to be weighed and measured by GCSEs - or apparently unreformed, seemingly private school favoured IGCSEs[iii]).

And if that fire kindles curiosity, critical thinking, the pursuit of evidence-based approaches; prizes and promotes technical and practical skills; inspires an appetite for the arts, gives an opportunity to play a musical instrument, to sing and dance, to paint and draw; nurtures one’s own and others’ health, wellbeing and respectful and compassionate social relationships; promotes equality and celebrates both what we have in common and what makes unique; and meets the specific needs of every child and young person – then just think what else might be possible and how different this world could be!

References/further reading…

© Pistis

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[i] IFSA analysis, BBC website accessed 29.8.2019)

[ii] After W.B.Yeats

[iii] See DataLab research by Dave Thompson (https://schoolsweek.co.uk/study-suggests-igcses-are-easier-than-reformed-gcses/ )