Thousands and thousands killed in wars. Soldiers labeled ‘legitimate targets’ and killed civilians referred to as ‘collateral damage’ (if they belong to ‘the enemy’ group). An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. Is this the world we want to live in? Ralph and I have had so…
Chaos, complexity or incomprehension (Pt.1) No one can fail to recognise that there is a myriad of entities that make up the body of knowledge and understanding of our existence. Everyone is likely to agree that humans, and other living things, may also conceive that their survival might be linked…
What we call social media, how social is it really? Millions upon millions of people, instead of socializing with each other, sit on their own and send out images and texts in cyberspace in the hope of being part of a community, to be seen, to be listened to. Maybe…
A simple view of a meaningful life and its global importance I Ralph Edwards and Marie Lindquist There are three Oxford Language aspects of ‘meaningful’: important, consequential and sincere, denoting that meaningful includes something that has current as well as ongoing significance and can be trusted as wholehearted and not…
The sun is shining. Sharp spring sunlight, mercilessly revealing dirty window panes and dusty surfaces. I'm going out. Here, the bright light is good. Warming, uplifting. I feel the will to live. Reborn. The joy of existing. To meet spring once again. To be there when nature comes to life.…
Hurusom man håller sig ren utan att bli alltför blöt på ryggen När jag går mina morgonpromenader lyssnar jag med nöje på Louise Epstein och Agnes Wold, två radiopersonligheter som har åsikter om både det ena och det andra. Liksom dessa två anser jag att daglig brutal dränkning av hela…
Jag undrar om det är någon mer som noterat att folk verkar ha slutat säga ’jag tycker’ eller ’jag tror’ – nu är det ’jag tänker’ för hela slanten. Vad är problemet med detta kan man ju undra. Först lite definitioner (en yrkesskada efter alla år av att producera vetenskapliga…
Självklart visste jag att det någon gång skulle bli ett slut på Nordegren & Epstein i P1. Men jag blev förvånad över hur starkt jag reagerade när beskedet väl kom. Jag förstår att det, efter 12 år, kan vara dags att göra något annat. Allt har sin tid. Förändring behövs…
The challenges Lots of people. How do they live? There are more people than the world can sustain without ever more technical interventions. Does anyone consider the energy these interventions might need to satisfy the richer and most able financially, who manipulate their personal economies so well? More humans, more…
Ivor Ralph (Rafe) Edwards The title is from something my father used to say. I always thought it rather odd. Surely the more one knows the better? Today, we are overwhelmed by information and data. As I get older I process it more slowly, as colleagues, friends and family have…
Have you heard someone say “change is good” recently? I have, more than once, and I don’t like this expression. Change is something different from before. It is not intrinsically good, nor bad. The reason for change may be good or bad or something in between; and the result may…
On warfare, propaganda and difficult choices The government of Sweden has now abandoned a 200-year-old strategy to keep out of formal military alliances. There may well be compelling reasons for a change – many politicians argue that there are - but the forced pace of this decision and the lack…
Last time I went to the airport I heard a woman saying to her friend “Isn’t it odd that we managed to put people on the moon before figuring out that it would be a good idea to put wheels on suitcases”. Quite so, I thought. In the 1960s we…
Att tro att det finns total objektivitet och EN sanning i infekterade politiska debatter förefaller naivt, i vissa fall rentav på gränsen till livsfarligt. Många hänvisar till att de ’lyssnat till vetenskapen’ när de uttalar sig i olika frågor. Men vad betyder det egentligen? De flesta forskare vinnlägger sig om…
Waking up this morning, I have a few blissful seconds of serenity before a deep feeling of gloom washes over me, like an unstoppable wave. The sadness and anger over what’s happening in the world, our world, my world, fills every crevice of my half-awake mind, and I struggle to…
Dear Mr. Putin, Please stop this war before you damage your reputation completely by being responsible for the loss of ever more lives. You are waging a war apparently on the basis of a POSSIBLE threat from the Ukraine and NATO. If there are any grounds for such a threat…
Having left my employment last year, I’m not sure what to say when people ask me “what do you do?” To explain that I do all sorts of things, thinking, reading, writing, volunteering in a school, dog-walking, not to mention being a working board member of two family companies would…
To say, “I hate yellow” or “I hate sausages” is trivializing a dangerous word. Saying, “I hate Catholics or Jews or Muslims or whites or black people or…..” is not just harmful, hurtful and dangerous, it is illogical The United Nations has the following to say about hate speech. “Hate…
Experts have surfaced throughout the world in almost every discipline and walk of life. Look for a definition of ‘expert’ on Google and find that Oxford Languages has the first place with, “a person who is very knowledgeable about or skillful in a particular area” – fine but then see…
Having returned safely from our first trip abroad since 2020, I was struck by the clarity of vision with which I regarded our flat as I stepped into the hall, so familiar and welcoming, and yet, for a fraction of a second, like a place I saw for the first…
In August we took two dear friends on a day trip to Vinga, a small island with an impressive lighthouse, well-known in Sweden as the birthplace of the troubadour and poet laureate Evert Taube. The island is some ten kilometres west of Göteborg, the lively harbour, industry and university city…
There is an increasing debate going on about ‘assisted dying’ in the UK and elsewhere. In Britain there is a proposal going through the UK parliament for ratification now. We have always followed a course of action with our patients that is based on a Christian belief in the overall…
Mine is full of concerns and, if I started to think about the way the world seems to be heading in even a slightly neurotic way, I would be afraid. Anyone reading this who has also kept up with the current news might agree that the current global scene is…