Category: Technology

Philosophy, Religion, Science, Technology

An Immanent Problem

Paul S. Julienne
Frontispiece of Sir Francis Bacon’s “Great Renewal,” 1620

I grew up loving science.  I still do.  The radical break I saw in the 1950s and 60s, described in my previous post, was the fruit of a very complex confluence of things driven by increasing scientific knowledge of the world that have led to an ever more rapid transitioning from former ways of life that have bound human beings to place, land and production from time immemorial.  Prior to and even after the industrial revolution, travel and communication was slow and mostly local.  Getting places was by foot or horse or boat, perhaps even by train starting around 200 years ago.   Communications was limited to the range of speaking and hearing aided by writing and the distribution of written material.  A majority of the human population was associated with agriculture and the production of food. 

Continue reading “An Immanent Problem” →
Biography, Philosophy, Technology

Roots to remember

Paul S. Julienne

When I was growing up in the 1950s and spending summers on my grandparents’ farm in North Carolina, I became strangely aware that we were living in truly radical times.  I say radical because that word comes from Latin radix, meaning “root.”  I could sense that the roots of our civilization were shaking beneath us, even though the civilizational tree still seemed strong and healthy.  Problems with the roots implies problems with the tree.  Dealing with that requires some “radical” thinking, that is, thinking directed to the root of things.  This Word and Fire web site hopes to take some constructive steps in that direction.

Continue reading “Roots to remember” →