James Plunkett

@jamestplunkett.bsky.social

7379 Followers 1781 Following

Interested in more human ways to govern our lives together, and how technology can help. Blog: https://medium.com/@jamestplunkett 🏳️‍⚧️

A photo of a stage at a music venue
A photo of the inside of Sichuan public library
A photo of Tracey Veronica O'Brien
A picture of a palm tree.
A photo of a book: Richard Hoggart, The Uses of Literacy.
A bag of Tony’s Chocolonely chocolate
A photo of the cover of a book adorned with skyscrapers. Ivan Illich, Tools for Conviviality
The metropolitan cathedral in Liverpool.
A photo of a chocolate cookie covered in sprinkled nuts in a silver wrapper.
A photo of a colourful painting, books, and a lead lined glass ceiling in Bethnal Green Library
The cover of a book called Notes on Complexity by Neil Theise
A photo of a book, Social Emergence: Societies as complex systems. R Keith Sawyer.
An AI-generated sketch of a kangaroo nose to nose with a donkey. The kangaroo has a combination Australian and UK flag on its cheek.
Buildings in Melbourne in the early morning in winter.
Screenshot from a heat pump app showing temperate and electricity use throughout the day
A fossil museum in a pub
A photo of the inside of a pub with a fireplace and wooden furniture
A picture of a trans pride flag fluttering in the sun on Regents Street in London.
A pear growing in a community garden in Hackney, east London
A slide from a presentation - ‘Where we started’ and ‘Where we are now’
A flyer for an event in Oxford titled The public philosopher: a day in honor of Jo Wolff
A warning note from a train booking website: "You can bring a bike on the return journey only."
A photo of apricots on a tree in a community garden in Hackney
A screenshot from a comment by Gemini's AI. It shows the Gemini logo and it says: "I cannot directly highlight the text in the document. However, I can provide the grammatical improvements in a way that you can easily find and apply them in your document."
A photo of the Barbican with St Giles Cripplegate chapel in the background
The opening instructions for a recipe: “2 to 3 days beforehand, make the miso marinade and marinate the fish.”
A photo of some yellow courgettes ready to harvest
Until lately, the best thing that I was able to think of in favor of civilization, apart from blind acceptance of the order of the universe, was that it made possible the artist, the poet, the philosopher, and the man of science. But I think that is not the greatest thing. Now I believe that the greatest thing is a matter that comes directly home to us all. When it is said that we are too much occupied with the means of living to live, I answer that the chief worth of civilization is just that it makes the means of living more complex; that it calls for great and combined intellectual efforts, instead of simple, uncoordinated ones, in order that the crowd may be fed and clothed and housed and moved from place to place. Because more complex and intense intellectual efforts mean a fuller and richer life. They mean more life. Life is an end in itself, and the only question as to whether it is worth living is whether you have enough of it. I will add but a word. We are all very near despair. The sheathing that floats us over its waves is compounded of hope, faith in the unexplainable worth and sure issue of effort, and the deep, sub-conscious content which comes from the exercise of our powers. — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Pictures from an abandoned swimming pool
A photo in a church of a projector screen with an audience in front for a talk at the Hackney history festival.
Notes for Peel interview His advisers and zealots Sheepshanks Dr Rob Secretary of [illegible] Test of their sincerity will carry me publicly Grounds of claims Takes up because useful for marine not for me personally Gave up profession in early life to follow science hence invented Machine Gave the government all that sacrifice and undertook at their wish to make it for them *made no* [illegible] The public insist that the money expended has gone into my pocket Unless the government do [illegible] public act this cannot be disproved if they do anything it will rebut it if they do not the public will continue to say that it is because I have been paid 2 Refused during that period 2000 3 Twelve years of labor advance of money 4 Eight years of anxiety and indecision preventing every other arrangement Doubt about Engineers [sic] life 5 Govt wished me to make it for them - it was discontinued from causes under which I had no control - it was abandoned by Govt Other men of science rewarded Airy 1300 Buckland 1000 Peacock 1800 Herschel Baronet Sedgwick 1000 Whewell 2000 [illegible] to all sorts of people Scarletts [sic] compensation
The cover of a book Charles and Ada: The computer’s most passionate partnership, by James Essinger