In the mid-20th century, satellites helped us determine the exact circumference of the Earth: 40,030km

But 2000+ years earlier, Eratosthenes
a Greek mathematician, came up with nearly the exact same figure using two sticks & his brain

Carl Sagan explains
I once asked “how is it that all scientists aren’t mystics, all cosmologists not poets?”

Carl Sagan was both of these

This passage - Pale Blue Dot - was inspired by the photo of Earth taken in 1990, by the Voyager 1 from a distance of about 6 billion km.
Scientists are like mystics in that they can travel in time explaining the past, seeing into the future

In this 1974 interview, Arthur Clarke makes precise predictions about the Internet & PC

And below James Burke predicts the rise of #CambridgeAnalytica
Carl Sagan also predicted the biotechno predicament we now face

“Our society is based on science & technology, but few people understand anything about science & technology” he warns

“This combustible mixture will one day blow up in our faces”

That day, I’m afraid, has arrived
In 1985, Burke warns that the computer age could “make conformity more rigid, more totalitarian than ever before”, but says that it could also create “a future world, tolerant of every view; aware that there is no single, privileged way of doing things”.
“The greatest advantage human beings have is the variety of the gene pool”

In 1982, Isaac Asimov was asked about the danger of scientists & govts “playing god”

Sadly, his warning have been ignored

See my hashtags #PalantirPlan #GenomeUK & #DataGrab.

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More from @StefSimanowitz

12 Oct
1/. #BREAKING #COVID NEWSFLASH: The “official scientific advisers" behind the #HerdImmunityScandal were in reality were political advisors, appointed by politicians, who's advice had little or no basis in science (e.g. “Dr” David Halpern who has a doctorate in Political Science)
2/. Today’s findings are not new

The truth has been in plain sight from the start

We didn’t need #Cummings to tell us

Indeed, @Dominic2306 ‘revelations’ raised far more questions than answers

It was clear that #HerdImmunity was the strategy & they didn’t “pivot away” from it
3/. Every epidemiologist, virologist or public health expert will tell you that #HerdImmunity is an “outcome” NEVER a “strategy”

Without a vaccine it would involve sacrificing the vulnerable in vast numbers

This “strategy” would also clearly damage the economy

So why do it?👇
Read 12 tweets
10 Oct
As @BorisJohnson & @carrielbjohnson jet off to the Costa del Sol, @Coldwar_Steve has produced this

The man loading the boot is Tory donor David Ross, who allegedly paid for the PM’s Mustique holiday in 2019

Coldwar Steve is an important artist: the John Heartfield of our times Image
The truth is powerful
It’s why they try & hide it
Or distract from it
Or silence it

Like these women in Belarus striking fear into a bunch of secret policemen just by pulling off their balaclavas, artists can also unmask truths

Tyranny thrives in secrecy
You may not have heard of John Heartfield but his work will be familiar

He was sounding the alarm about the Nazi’s from the late 1920’s using humour to make visible their lies

He’s relevant today

Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.
Read 5 tweets
5 Oct
“The most important thing is that we’re allowed to think about alternatives” (Žižek)

Ten years ago I joined @OccupyWallSt

Occupy’s incredible positive energy was underpinned by a cohesive sense of anger at corporate greed, govt mismanagement & inequality newint.org/features/web-e…
“This is the most hopeful I’ve felt for a long time.”

For those involved those early stages of Occupy Wall St in Zuccotti Park - nicknamed Liberty Plaza - the mood was intoxicating & contagious

But as Žižek warned: “Remember carnivals come cheap. What matters is the day after”.
Over the next month, @OccupyWallSt spread across the US attracting celebrity & political support including from @JoeBiden, @SpeakerPelosi, & @algore

Occupy also crossed the Atlantic popping up outside St Paul’s Cathedral, just after I got home to London.
ceasefiremagazine.co.uk/wall-street-st…
Read 6 tweets
3 Oct
1/. #PandoraPapers reveal secret dealings of 330+ politicians & officials - including 35 current & former heads of state & govt

Exposé is based on a leaked dataset of 11.9 million files from all over the world & include disclosures about Tory party donors
google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theg…
2/. “The tax system is a haven of scams, perks, City deals and profits" (#TonyBlair 1994)

The #PandoraPapers reveal the Blair’s bought an offshore firm that owned the £6.5m house they were buying so did not have to pay £312,000 in stamp duty @BBCPanorama bbc.com/news/uk-587805…
3/. The #PandoraPapers expose offshore accounts of world leaders, billionaires, oligarchs & criminals

It should lead to a crackdown on tax loopholes & money laundering...but we’ve been here before

What was the impact of #PanamaPapers & #ParadisePapers?
Read 5 tweets
28 Sep
“In the mid-1960s, I was a young NHS houseman in London specializing in obstetrics. One day I was called to A&E / ER to see a young woman who was bleeding...”

@Newsweek piece by retired doctor on how things were when abortion was illegal in the UK.
#AbortionBan #Texas #SanMarino
On Sunday, #SanMarino joined 50+ countries that have improved access to abortion in the past 25 years

It was decriminalised in South Korea (2021), Argentina (2020), Ireland (2019)

But other places - e.g. #Poland & #Texas - are swimming against the tide.
Women & girls pay a high price for restrictions on abortion. They pay with their health, their well-being & even with their lives

Last January, abortion in #Poland - already only available to women in extreme circumstances - was further restricted.
Read 8 tweets
27 Sep
Today, the @ElectoralCommUK registered Britain First as a political party

#BritainFirst is a far-right, fascist political organisation formed in 2011 by former members of the BNP. The BNP was created from the NF

If it can be shown to insight racial hatred, could it be barred?
In 2015, Bannon told #CambridgeAnalytica’s @chrisinsilico to build a psychological warfare tool to hollow out democracy & rive open divisions in societies

It worked

The far-right are not only on our streets & TLs but increasingly pulling strings of power
In 2017, Bannon asked #Farage to be part of a "convening authority" to "knit together a populist nationalist movement around the world"

He mentions Modi, Orban, Sisi, Duterte

We can add Trump, @BorisJohnson & @jairbolsonaro to that list, & several others
Read 10 tweets

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