Flashbacks

While it sometimes feels like everything that has happened over the last fourteen years is documented here on Rawls & Me, that is obviously not the case. As a trip down memory lane, I roasted some sweet potatoes with red onions and halloumi for dinner, a very simple dish that I used to make a lot back in 2006 or so.

Otherwise, I started off my work day with a highly productive Skype conversation on static versus dynamic conceptions of sustainability, a topic that lead me to read through a number of literature reviews. Going through old issues of American Political Science Review, I found this quote from 1953 that seems as valid back then as today:

“One of the greatest gaps in current political science literature and research involves the relationship of the physical science and technology to political values and processes”

And then this:

“In brief, this book is an examination of the impact of the growth and use of energy upon an evolving civilization and institutions. Its major thesis is that the extent to which man employs and converts the various forms of energy conditions the type of social and political organization which are established”.

While I am generally sceptical of technological determinism, I think this is all very true and something that has direct relevance for my project on nuclear democracy.