Henry David Thoreau (1816-1862) is perhaps most famous for his book Walden, which details how he independently and self-sufficiently lived in the woods for two years. Thoreau’s focus on the virtue of individualism in this book positioned him as one of the major figures of transcendentalism. This philosophical movement centred around the belief that individuals are inherently…
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Fractal comes from the Latin word fractus (translated as ‘fractured’) and it refers to any irregular, ‘fractured’ looking shape. The term was coined by Benoit Mandelbrot, the IBM mathematician who first produced computer-generated images of fractals and mathematically interpreted nature in his book The Fractal Geometry of Nature. The most famous computer-generated fractal shape is the Mandelbrot set, related…
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People choose a vegan diet usually for ethical, health or environmental reasons. These are all valid reasons and I expect that most people justify their plant-based diet on the basis of either animal welfare or animal rights. However, not everyone is receptive to the idea of valuing animals because they are sentient or because they…
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For anyone who has seen the film The Matrix, they will know that the basic premise of the film is that reality is simulated in our minds by the means of a computer intelligence. The idea that reality is a simulation is not a relatively new idea. The essence of the idea can actually be…
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On the 25th March 2010, the UNHCR, an agency that protects and supports refugees, passed a resolution that hoped to combat the ‘defamation of religions’. In other words, support is still being given to the idea that an international blasphemy law should exist. Such a law would make it an offence to express disrespect or contempt…
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