Thanks Cassius! I just filled out the member profile.
About me: I'm a Canadian journalist in my mid-fifties based near Berlin, Germany, at present. I'm interested in many things, including history, geopolitics, economics, entrepreneurial business, science, and existential risks to humanity and the biosphere (climate disruption, uncontrolled artificial superintelligence, and automated weapons platforms) and possible approaches to dealing with them constructively.
In addition, I'm a long-time Ultimate frisbee player (since 1993). I was founding director of the Beach Ultimate World Championship tournament series for the sport's Great Grand Masters (48 years +) age division. I initiated, organised and hosted Beach Worlds in Portugal in 2017 and on Sardegna, Italy, in 2018. I was also founding captain of the GGM division German national team in 2017. I very much like team sports, tournaments, and events, and perhaps can claim with some justification that I'm not a bad organiser.
I mention this because I wonder whether the Friends of Epicurus might evolve into something like a Rotary Club or Lions Club in future. I think that might be a valuable evolution, and I could probably be helpful with organisational aspects of such an endeavour, if in due course folks decided to go in this direction. But we can discuss that later.
I'm interested in Epicurus because I think he's the sanest, most humane, sensible and rational of the classical philosophers. In essence, his philosophy is no different from my own, developed independently long before I had any awareness of Epicurus.
The antiquity of Epicurus' insights provides a welcome connection to the 'long now,' a reminder that humanity has been around for a long time, and that it has been possible to have a sane, sensible, superstitions-free, and empirically grounded worldview for a long time, even before modern science.
I tend to think a lot about where humanity and the biosphere are heading in our era of exponential changes in science and technology, and the attendant risks of those exponential technologies. I find it salutary to look both backward and forward in time to embed an awareness of our present historical moment's significance.
It's good to connect with people with whom one shares a worldview (and an interest in the 'long now'). I hope to connect with fellow admirers of Epicurus' perspective.
If there is anyone in the greater Berlin area who is a member of this forum, please let me know, and perhaps we can meet up.
Posts by Jasper Sky
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