Category Archives: History

Review: 2023

Posted on Monday, 25. December 2023 by hmvh

Mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war. As of 2023 I’ve officially stopped giving a shit. Continue reading →

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Review: 2022

Posted on Monday, 26. December 2022 by hmvh

2022 was a bit of a blurry blemish despite several significant events in my personal life. If it wasn’t for calendars, one could be forgiven for feeling that we’re still in 2020 or went way back to the year 1920. Indeed, 2022 may be remembered as the fuzzy period during which the world turned into a steaming pile of shit – but only in part due to pollution or climate change: it’s humanity that’s lagging behind its own technological advances. Continue reading →

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Review: 2021

Posted on Saturday, 25. December 2021 by hmvh

Although the year 2021 isn’t quite over yet, we may as well write it off now. In all honesty, sometimes I’m not sure what even happened this year because I was cooped up for most of it. I felt disconnected, as if my head was stuck in sand for most of the year — but some noteworthy events did take place after all. Continue reading →

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Revision: 2020

Posted on Saturday, 2. January 2021 by hmvh

2020 was a year of infamy. It will probably go down as the year of SARS-CoV-2 but sorry, we’re still in the middle of the very same pandemic. We still have a stretch to go. Continue reading →

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Civil unrest may be the second wave

Posted on Thursday, 25. June 2020 by hmvh

The coronavirus crisis is far from over. I have returned to working from home after a symbolic three-week stint at the company office. This should be “the new normal”. Continue reading →

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A few thoughts on the current coronavirus crisis

Posted on Friday, 10. April 2020 by hmvh

Here’s to another day of “social distancing” and “home office”. This is my fourth week of “lockdown”. City streets are deserted, roads are empty. Nature is taking a breather. My dining table has become my temporary office desk (I need the space for the monitors). This may become the “new normal”. While I’m no stranger to “remote working” and some of the luxuries it affords on account of my job functions I still think this ain’t right. Continue reading →

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Review: 2019

Posted on Wednesday, 1. January 2020 by hmvh

2019 was a year full of anniversaries, astronomical achievements, cataclysmic failures and other maladies on a global scale disrupted by brief glimmers of hope for humanity. Let’s recap, shall we? Continue reading →

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The fall of walls

Posted on Saturday, 9. November 2019 by hmvh

It was thirty years ago today that the Berlin Wall fell. The Iron Curtain had been breached, the Eastern Bloc was beginning to crumble. This most cruel of social experiments had finally run its course. A peaceful revolution was under way, and there was no stopping this tide from turning. The world was evolving. Even in a country as far away as South Africa, the developments made headlines. Continue reading →

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