Dec 20, 2022In Memoriam John MacDonaldA tribute to John MacDonald I was in Samarkand, Uzbekistan last week when I heard the sad news that John MacDonald had passed away. For those who didn’t know him, John was the host of the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature’s weekly radio show: Talking of Books on 103.8 Dubai…In Memoriam11 min readIn Memoriam11 min read
Apr 18, 2022Deep Ecology & Systems Thinking in 21st Century EducationMost people are agreed on the importance of the three Rs — the three basic skills taught in schools: reading, writing, and arithmetic. In the 21st Century, we also value the importance of scientific literacy — alongside digital and media literacy. However, in a world of exponentially growing technology and…Deep Ecology7 min readDeep Ecology7 min read
Nov 12, 2021Eastern Mysticism & Western EmpiricismTheoretical Physicist John Wheeler was the first to point out that the fundamental aspect of reality is not matter or energy but information. In his recent book, “Till the End of Time,” cosmologist Brian Greene hypothesises based on our current understanding of science about what the distant future of the…Vedanta3 min readVedanta3 min read
Published in Awecademy·Apr 29, 2021Review: “The Artist in the Machine: The World of AI-Powered Creativity” by Arthur I. Miller“Arthur Miller is one of the world’s most insightful thinkers about the intersection of art and science.” — Walter Isaac “…the questions that Miller pursues in his book are some of the most exciting ones you can ask about artificial intelligence today.” — New Scientist We live in a world…AI3 min readAI3 min read
Published in Awecademy·Sep 18, 2020The Evolving Role of the TeacherType the word “teacher” on Google image search and you get hundreds of stock images of teachers standing at the front of a classroom with a chalkboard behind them and regimented rows of students sat before them. This traditional image of the teacher may seem like a caricature to those…Education3 min readEducation3 min read
Published in Awecademy·Aug 7, 2020Radical Openness, Taking Offence & the Role of EducationWe live in interesting times. Universities in the U.K. and U.S. which were once bastions of free thought and free expression are now seeing a surge in calls from various student bodies to curb free speech. We even have MPs in parliament warning against the “fetishising” of debate. …Education9 min readEducation9 min read
Published in Awecademy·Jul 21, 2020Future Learning: Gig Economies, Cultural Capital, & New Learning PathwaysWe are currently starting to see credentialing shift away from top-down central authority (e.g. universities) and are simultaneously witnessing a shift in the learning pathways students choose. …Education7 min readEducation7 min read
Published in Awecademy·Jun 18, 2020Review: The Future is Faster Than You ThinkWe’ve seen more change in the last 100 years than in the previous 1000 years. The rate of change isn’t slowing down. Ray Kurzweil — described by Bill Gates as one of the best predictors of future technologies — says we will see 20,000 years’ worth of technological change in…Exponential Technology3 min readExponential Technology3 min read
Published in Awecademy·May 19, 2020Book Review: “The Web of Life: A New Scientific Understanding of Living Systems” by Fritjof CapraWhat the human species faces at this point is primarily a crisis of perception. Many of the global challenges we face arise out of a fundamentally problematic understanding of reality that is harming the biosphere and human life in alarming and perhaps irreversible ways. The living world is in peril…4 min read4 min read
Published in Awecademy·Apr 28, 2020Global Edtech Landscape: The Next Generation Learning LifecycleThe pandemic notwithstanding, we are currently in the midst of the fourth industrial revolution. The World Economic Forum describes this new era as characterized by “a fusion of technologies that is blurring the lines between the physical, digital, and biological spheres — collectively referred to as cyber-physical systems.” A convergence…Edtech7 min readEdtech7 min read
