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Nov 3·edited Nov 3Liked by Terry Freedman

"We treat subjects like art and music as if they have little bearing on the cutting edge of technological innovation and economic prosperity. But, even aside from their intrinsic value, learning music can help you learn maths, and learning about art and literature can help you develop a different, and probably more holistic perspective, on problems which would benefit from a technological solution." -- absolutely agree, Terry. So well said.

I still feel there's a divide at university between the arts and the sciences, but there is some blurring occurring. One of the labs near me has an artist in residence. This is a small thing, but it's really impressive. She's (and I'm quoting here, so I don't miss something) creating multisensory science exhibitions for blind, low vision and diverse needs communities. This doesn't quite get at what you're saying I don't think, but there more we blur the lines across these disciplines the better, I think.

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Thank you, Sire. Interestingly, the Oulipo has included attempts to break down the barriers between the 'two cultures'. Having an artist in residence in a science lab is a fantastic initiative. I agree with you about blurring the lines. Each small step helps.

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I think about this question quite a bit - that "progress" and "the good life" are out there, somewhere, treated almost entirely as commodities to be bought through high-paying jobs - meanwhile, with a strong cup of coffee and a little imagination, creativity can deliver all kinds of wonders for next to no money. You're spot on, Terry.

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I have opinions about this…. I think ‘they’ need an immensely larger IT support team and a reduction of ‘growth’ in the IT world. I could write a novel on this, but I’ll limit it to one example. I’m ex-IT so I provide what support I can to volunteer organisations and elderly souls. Yesterday I set up a laptop for one agency. Microsoft have tightened the control screws to a frightening level. Googling the issues took me down several wrong paths as the software is being upgraded faster than the support sites can keep up with. And once I was in, they flung so many unnecessary apps and games and gambling and AI options at me. I know that the people who will be using this are retirees as well so everything has to be as simple as possible. I eventually got there, but something that used to take half an hour took so much longer.

We don’t need to program everything we can think of. The world IS amazing. We really need to find the simplest possible ways to use IT. It should be a tool, not a Life.

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Bester was an excellent short fiction writer; his stories are extremely satiric- his novels ("The Stars My Destination", for example) also have very intriguing concepts at their heart. He also worked as a writer for DC Comics, and is credited with giving the character of Green Lantern his famous oath. ("In brightest day, in darkest night..." etc.)

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Thanks, David. I haven't read any of his novels. I didn't know that about DC and Green Lantern!

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