an itinerant observer

It is difficult these days to understand what war actually is. One hears of drones hovering above deserts and cities, of cyber-attacks that paralyze hospitals and power grids, of missiles launched from thousands of miles away by operators who may never see the faces of the people beneath them. The language has become strangely antiseptic: precision strike, surgical operation, collateral damage. And yet the images remain stubbornly human. Children pulled from rubble. Mothers running through smoke. Men staring at the sky, unsure whether the buzzing overhead is a machine or fate - wounds that someone later will try to repair. In moments like these, an old poem returns to me, one I first encountered as a boy. Edwin Brock’s “Five Ways to Kill a Man.” The poem is brief. Almost unsettlingly so. Its logic is ruthless in its simplicity. Brock begins with the ancient method: you make a man carry wood up a hill and nail him to it. From there he moves through history, through crusade...

Introduction In a world filled with endless possibilities, our personal journey takes shape through a series of transformative moments that mold us into who we are. This holds true for my own story, as I reflect on the words I penned on my LinkedIn profile: "I see patients, I do research, I teach, I create/innovate, and I reinvent myself every few years." Little did I know then that these words would perfectly capture the essence of my ongoing journey of transformation. Immersed in the profound teachings of Bildung, I have come to realize the incredible accuracy of those words. Bildung is an intriguing German tradition of self-cultivation - a lifelong process in which mind and heart facilitate personal growth through self-reflection. Looking back, it becomes evident that my life has been a constant process of reinvention, leading me on a path of purpose and personal growth. Turning Points and Transformative Phases To truly comprehend the transformative nature of my j...

If you are lucky you may come across a book that challenges your assumptions, upends your convictions and knocks down your indoctrination. If you are really lucky then said book may present an alternative and limitless world view of possibilities that generates a warm fuzzy feeling within, perhaps because your assumptions have been challenged, convictions upended and indoctrination knocked down. I can safely say this has happened to me recently. After several years of sporadic reading of contemporary fiction, creative non-fiction and general non-fiction, I present to you….drum roll….Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harari! This remarkable book belonging to the genre of ‘popular science’ per it’s cover is certainly that but goes far beyond. It is a highly evocative, provocative and candid outlook on Homo sapiens (modern human beings, in other words) – where they’ve come from, but more importantly where they are headed (hence, Homo Deus alluding to humanity version 2.0). All that, ...