Technology, Your Social Life, and Everything
Technology, Your Social Life, and Everything
Brexit: it's the vote that exposed a nation's differences. Ever since the hair's-breadth decision for Britain to leave the EU was announced in the early hours of the 24 th of June, things have been fraught. Remainers have accused leavers of causing a global financial crisis, and leavers have been calling remainers a spineless bunch of euro-toadies.
Have you seen the 2013 movie Her ? It's a touching romance starring Joaquin Phoenix as Theodore, a writer who falls in love with Samantha, an intelligent operating system voiced by Scarlett Johansson. As we watch, we follow Theodore and Samantha through an intense period of getting to know each other, of consummating their relationship, and of socialising with friends.
Any new technology causes chaos, at least for a while. Think of the motor car: the first real motor vehicles appeared in the early 19 th century, and there was an immediate free-for-all on the roads. In the UK, this craziness continued until the Locomotive Acts of the 1860s, which ushered in the beginnings of vehicle registration and the highway code.
Business, Recruitment and Decision Making
Just how much can you rely on your experience and knowledge to make the right decisions at work? More and more, scientists are beginning to realise how much our thinking is affected by unconscious psychological factors. This applies even to the most hard-headed of us.
There's no doubt about it; metric-based recruitment is on the rise. Companies who once relied on the traditional double whammy of CV and interview are now turning to testing when hiring new staff. A staggering 81% of FTSE-100 companies think metric-based hiring is the most effective way to recruit.
We're betting the answer will surprise you. It certainly surprised us. Hiring a new employee costs, on average, over £30,000.
Writing and Writing Pedagogy
Even if you think a product, invention or idea is the best thing since sliced bread, it pays to stay low-key when writing about it. In this killer article I'll grab your attention like a boss and tell you exactly why my assertion is a total game changer for persuasive writing.
George Orwell thought not. So should foreign words and phrases really be verboten, or can they add a certain je ne sais quoi to your magnum opus? Orwell's essay Politics and the English Language is a good read for anyone interested in the art of clear and truthful written communication.
Failing to start work well before the deadline is down to sheer laziness, right? Wrong, says an article in Wired magazine. Here's why I think this idea has significance for writers. Several years ago, I wrote a chapter in a textbook about supporting student writing.
Speculative fiction
It's not easy playing god. Any writer worth their salt will tell you that creating plausible fantasy creatures is hard work, and usually takes considerably longer than seven days. Unlike a real deity, you don't have to magic them into existence out of thin air. Biology contains plenty of stranger-than-fiction ideas to kindle your imagination.
Essentially, the premise of your novel is the answer to the question 'What is it about?'. In his provocative book Save the Cat, Hollywood screenwriter Blake Snyder compares the premise of a story to DNA, meaning that it's the fundamental template of the work.
The three-act structure has a distinguished history. It was first described in Aristotle's Poetics well over 2000 years ago, and the idea has since been refined by playwrights of the 19 th century, as well as screenwriters of the 20 th and 21 st centuries.
Wellbeing and Creativity
Whether you're an extreme commuter, a busy parent, or just someone who likes to get as much sleep as possible, mornings are invariably a flurry of manic activity. In the midst of this chaos and stress it's easy to forget about breakfast.
Would it surprise you to hear that creativity is not a personality trait but something you can learn? If you don't think of yourself as a creative person, this way of thinking may even be shocking. But it's exactly the opinion held by growing numbers of educators in the 21st century.
In the cosmopolitan 21st century, most of us have some familiarity with acupuncture. This therapy, which usually involves inserting very fine steel needles into the skin at particular points, forms part of the ancient system of Traditional Chinese Medicine, or TCM. Practitioners and patients alike claim that acupuncture alleviates a wide range of medical conditions, but as with [...]