In a focused interview this afternoon, US President Barack Obama opened up about the future of offshore oil extraction for the US in the wake of the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. […]
Gavin Chait
Economist, data scientist, entrepreneur, author. Fascinated by the frontiers of human progress: innovation vs ignorance; wealth vs poverty. Oh, and coffee. @GavinChait and https://gavinchait.com
The road to liberty is bewildered by fascists, oh and American "libertarians" like Rand Paul
I saw a New York Times headline reading “The Randslide and Its Discontents” and assumed it was about the South African currency (which I hadn’t known was in trouble … it isn’t). This […]
Who should be held responsible? BP, Sovereignty, Personhood and the Corporation – Part 3
Not everyone can be Bill Gates or Steve Jobs. We would all love to be the person who invented the microchip or founded WalMart. We can’t be. It may be that we […]
Who should be held responsible? BP, Sovereignty, Personhood and the Corporation – Part 2
On 23 November 2009, the family of a challenger to the incumbent governor of Maguindanao province in the Philippines were on their way to file his certificate of candidacy. They were accompanied […]
Who should be held responsible? BP, Sovereignty, Personhood and the Corporation – Part 1
On 20 April, pressure built up in the well 1,500 metres beneath the Deepwater Horizon, an exploratory oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. The pressure catapulted up the pipeline, overcoming the […]
Why we should scratch Peter Gabriel's back
The O2 squats on the banks of the Thames on the Greenwich peninsula in south east London. Within it is the 23,000 seater O2 Arena. On 28 March it was not full. […]
Free the people by freeing their bank accounts
It didn’t happen and it wouldn’t have worked anyway. UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling, was expected to legislate that every bank in the UK provide a free bank account to […]
The wisdom of ANC's Julius Malema on rape
Julius Malema hadn’t risen to prominence when I decided to leave South Africa. That kick-back came after he used the not inconsiderable power of the ANC Youth League to get Jacob Zuma […]
Getting democracy right one restaurant at a time
You’re going to find this outrageous. Last week, the wife and I went out for dinner to a new restaurant in our neighbourhood. The food was awful and the service insulting. Afterwards […]
The intelligence of natural selection; Charles Darwin, Africa and human evolution
The first human-like creature to pick up a pointed stick and use it as a tool to slay another creature changed everything. Instead of waiting for the accumulation of random genetic variations […]