Author Archives: NomadWarMachine

Whose rules are they anyway?

Posted on 15th March 2015 by NomadWarMachine

I’ve been talking a lot in my various social networks, communities, collectives (whatever the heck we are!) about exactly what #rhizo14 was.  Was it a MOOC? A course? A happening? A party?  Who knows.  At the time it all began we … Continue reading →

Posted in #rhizo14, D&G, MOOC, Wittgenstein | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Wittgenstein PI

Posted on 1st March 2015 by NomadWarMachine

I’m so used to abbreviating Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Investigations  to “PI” now that I’d forgotten how funny it used to seem.  Here’s a cartoon that a friend drew for me when we were undergrads together (she gave me permission to publish it … Continue reading →

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Perceived objectivity

Posted on 28th February 2015 by NomadWarMachine

You’ve probably seen pictures of that dress – is it black and blue, or gold and white, and what does this say about our perceptual experiences?  But enough about that. There’s another discussion I’ve been having with friends recently, about … Continue reading →

Posted in #rhizo14, Rhizomes, Wittgenstein | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Words can hurt

Posted on 25th February 2015 by NomadWarMachine

Mary Magdalene by User:Vassil (File:Sépulcre_Arc-en-Barrois_111008_12.jpg) [CC BY 3.0] via Wikimedia Commons There’s an old playground saying that we used to bandy around a lot as children: Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words will never harm me. I said it … Continue reading →

Posted in #MoocMooc, Poetry | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

What’s the point of ethics?

Posted on 25th February 2015 by NomadWarMachine

It’s a frequent misconception that the Hippocratic Oath contains the phrase “do no harm”, and that means that doctors can’t do anything that might hurt their patients. But it doesn’t,  and sometimes they have to.  Primarily the thrust of the … Continue reading →

Posted in #MoocMooc, #rhizo14, D&G, MOOC, Rhizomes | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

A herd of freely associating, autonomous cats.

Posted on 23rd February 2015 by NomadWarMachine

At the moment some of us are attempting to finish an article about the collaborative autoethnography we’ve been working on since the second week of #rhizo14 (the first rMOOC?). One thing we’re attempting to characterise is the way that we zigzagged between … Continue reading →

Posted in #rhizo14, D&G, MOOC, Rhizomes, Writing | Tagged , | 3 Comments

Scribbling all over the place.

Posted on 19th February 2015 by NomadWarMachine

I’ve never been one to toe the line: my automatic reaction to being told I must do something is to say no, and I spend way longer looking for ways to thwart bureaucracy than obeying its diktats.  And I loathe … Continue reading →

Posted in #MoocMooc, Learning | 1 Comment

Institutionalisation of values

Posted on 18th February 2015 by NomadWarMachine

Man is born free; and everywhere he is in chains.  Rousseau, Social Contract, Book 1 I’m teaching my first years Rousseau and I’m (meant to be) reading Ivan Illich’s Deschooling Society – everywhere I look there are critiques of the state … Continue reading →

Posted in #MoocMooc, D&G, Politics | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Anarchy

Posted on 8th February 2015 by NomadWarMachine

As my old supervisor, Dudley Knowles, used to say, the anarchist is not typically found skulking outside the Houses of Parliament with a bomb beneath her long, black coat – the philosophical anarchist is a gentle soul with a belief … Continue reading →

Posted in #MoocMooc, Philosophy, Politics | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Sapere Aude

Posted on 7th February 2015 by NomadWarMachine

In 1784 Kant asked a question: What is Enlightenment? His answer was that it was having the courage to use one’s own reason: Sapere Aude –  dare to be wise. In order for this to happen, he said, we must be free … Continue reading →

Posted in #MoocMooc, Critical pedagogy, Philosophy | Tagged , , | 2 Comments