Field Notes

I have always suspected that the human species has not evolved much physically and mentally in the last ten thousand years or so, although the social evolution has been amazing. Watching David Phillips’ superb TEDx talk recently I discovered that there is a discipline called Evolutionary Psychology which investigates that…

Back in the day, before PowerPoint, before overhead projectors, even before printed words on a page, skilled orators would wow audiences with nothing but their words and personality. How, I hear you ask, could anyone possibly present without a PowerPoint deck? It is worth having a look at Aristotle’s views…

Our physical evolution has progressed infinitely slowly over millions of years. By contrast, our social evolution is progressing at a rapid pace, and it is easy to overlook the fact that our minds and bodies remain the same as we were thousands of years ago when society was very different.…