Every Civilisation Gets This Choice. Most Fail

ChatGPT Image Feb 18, 2026, 07_46_07 PM

We keep talking about the Great Filter like it’s a cosmic bear trap: some external horror waiting in the dark, a gamma-ray burst, a plague, a meteor with bad manners. Something that happens to you. Something you can blame. Something that lets you die with your dignity intact, whispering, “Well, what could we do?”

But what if the Filter is not outside.

What if the Great Filter is a mirror.… Read the rest

The Comfort of Hate

ChatGPT Image Dec 31, 2025, 05_36_58 PM

In our time, there is a fashionable sport which requires no equipment, no training, and very little courage. One simply sits down, opens a screen, and begins to despise strangers with excellent confidence. It is convenient because it feels like action, but it is mostly posture. It also has a small side effect: it eats the mind from the inside, slowly, politely, like rust that never announces itself until the … Read the rest

A Strange Thing Happens When You Say “It Works”

ChatGPT Image Dec 25, 2025, 10_28_37 PM

A man I knew used to carry a small object in his pocket. Not a charm exactly—he would have laughed at that word—but something smooth he could roll between his fingers when he was anxious. He said it helped him focus. It gave his hands something to do while his mind calmed down. Later I saw the same man in a church, doing almost the same thing with a prayer … Read the rest

Noon To Noir

By Eric Le Roy

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Content 18+ As we study history together, I often show documentary films to my students. When these films are about the distant past, there is a voice (or person-moderator) who walks us through the information, using whatever illustrations can be mustered. But as we get nearer to modern times the documentaries come to life: actual human action in black and white. From the late 19th … Read the rest

The Sex Talk. India.

Content advisory 16+ With a population of more than 1.32 billion people, you might think that Indian citizens would be more forthcoming when talking about sex and educating their young about safe sex practices. India reports a huge number of teenage pregnancies and a staggering amount of sexual abuse. However, sex education in India remains a very controversial topic.

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In 2007, the Central Government announced the launch of the Adolescence … Read the rest