Blog articles published by

Colin Tudge

Donald Trump, Elon Musk, God, and the American Declaration of Independence

Colin Tudge questions the wisdom of one of America’s seminal texts How can we explain the rise and now the resurrection of Donald Trump – who didn’t simply seize power in some coup as so many autocrats have, but was actually chosen by the people in an apparently unrigged election?  The commonest explanation is that … Read more

Agriculture is by far the most important thing that human beings do – the thing we absolutely have to get right. So why won’t the powers-that-be take it seriously? By Colin Tudge

,
Small farms and farmers are disappearing at an alarming rate – and yet they are vital. Colin Tudge suggests that a prime task for humanity (among a host of others) is to re-establish agriculture as the focus of all our endeavours and to raise the status of farmers   The only people who are truly treasured … Read more

How might the world be different

In three recent blogs – The Biology of Compassion; Life is a Master-class in Cooperativeness; and The Battle for Darwin’s Soul – I have argued that a capacity for Compassion (kindness; love) is deeply embedded in our psyche. We should have far more faith in ourselves, and in “human nature” in general.  Here and in … Read more

Technology – and especially farming – for a kinder world

If we really care about humanity, and our fellow creatures, and the future, then all our technologies, like everything else, must be rooted in the “bedrock principles” of Morality and Ecology. Colin Tudge asks what this might imply in practice There’s a very wide spectrum of technologies, from the humblest of crafts to “high-tech”.  Crafts … Read more

The battle for Darwin’s soul

,
Darwin was much influenced first by the gloomy T R Malthus and then championed by the pugnacious T H Huxley. Colin Tudge suggests that if only Darwin had known the Russian naturalist and activist Peter Kropotkin the world might now be a very different place Two of the most influential books published in the 19th … Read more

Onward the Greens! 

Colin Tudge predicts big political re-alliances over the next few years – with a growing army of Greens  All political parties are coalitions. As someone once remarked re the Church of England, no two people sharing a pew think exactly the same, and this is abundantly true too of politicians sharing a bench. But some … Read more

A new bottom line

,
— and a glimmer of hope. By Colin Tudge Keir Starmer promises change – but the change he is promising is of a very limited kind. Whatever form it takes it will be within the present “neoliberal” economic paradigm: an all-against-all competition with the world at large to increase material wealth, known as “growth”. Within … Read more

Life is a master class in cooperativeness

,
Competition, beyond doubt, is a fact of life. But, says Colin Tudge, the essence of life is cooperation  It almost goes without saying that individuals gain from living in societies, and that all creatures depend to a greater or lesser extent on others of their own kind. Children need their parents. Vultures scavenge more effectively … Read more

The biology of compassion: work in progress

,
Colin Tudge introduces a new series of blogs on whether and to what extent the insights of modern biology can throw light on matters of morality, and hence on politics and economics  In a nutshell, I want to argue that humanity has been led astray these past few thousand years, and particularly over the last … Read more

The road to renaissance

Nothing short of a cross-the-board transformation – Renaissance — is needed to rescue the world from its present decline. But, says Colin Tudge, we first need to lay the foundations.