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Category Archives: Everything Else

On the ethics (and pragmatics) of cryptography

I have a knack for crypto. Actually, to be honest, I have a knack for Lego. My mind maps the things you can do with a simple set of tools/rules and then generates simple, easy ways of doing impressive things. Good examples of this: the hexayurt or the Simple Critical Infrastructure Maps system. Applied to [...]

Five verses on the gap, and addendum

Five verses on the gap You can see and feel the gap in the quiet desperation of those well-intentioned as they age into their 30s and wonder “is this it?” It hit me late: I have no child, I am yet free One life is not enough to achieve it. The cosmic infinite inside says [...]

Four Facets of Forty (FFfF)

I think only somebody like me could decide to have a mid-life crisis. I’m good at crisis. I decided to have one of my own. My life is, by any standards, a fucking mess. I finally found an image which really does it justice: I’m a chisel. A very hard, very flat chunk of grey [...]

On losing respect for Feminism

I’ve lost respect for western models of feminism after one stupid argument too many. I have not lost respect for women, any more than losing respect for Marxism means you no longer respect Russians. The issues women face are real. However, political mistakes made in the early stages of women’s struggle in the West are [...]

I went to the same school as Julian Assange, but we learned different lessons

I want to talk a little about techno-political theories of change, and outline where the paths of Julian Assange and I diverged. Although I don’t talk about it very much, I was a cypherpunk in the 1990s. I contributed a little to a software project to protect human rights workers in China. I collaborated with [...]

Protecting democratic protest from suppression by use of sublethal chemical weapons

I have decided to do something to prevent the abuse of chemical weapons by police. If I was a lawyer I might sue. I’m an engineer: I design. So I am presenting a simple plan for a chemical weapons protection system which is suitable for construction by peaceful protesters. I am aware this is a [...]

Armed with Science… and Magic

I have been written up on Armed with Science, a Department of Defense web site. Vinay Gupta probably did not expect to serve as an inspiration for a DoD research project. As a programmer, master of Nepalese magic, editorial staff-member at the Rocky Mountain Institute and, most recently, the founder of the Hexayurt Project – [...]

A quick life update…

My life makes even less sense than usual. Remember when I was settled in Cloughjordan Ecovillage in Ireland, putting my feet up and hunkering down for the apocalypse? Yeah, me neither. I was offered a role at Hub Westminster to “do something amazing with nights and weekends” and so I did. So I’m now back [...]

Avoid Winter War: Hexayurts and #Occupy

This piece appears to form the foundation of Adbusters Tactical Briefing 18, which gets the basics but misses two important points. Hexayurt Encampment at Burning Ice, Brussels. Click for video of the winter camp. I’ve been getting a couple of pings a day about providing infrastructural support for #Occupy. I get pinged by email, on [...]

Truth and Beauty, or “what in the hell is going on, Vinay?”

Once in a while, life gets complicated. That’s not usually good news, but this time is an exception. I’ll try and keep the near-infinite complexity of the situation down to a few key core facts. * I left Ireland for a quick trip to visit the KaosPilots with Dougald (of Dark Mountain) and Barbora (of [...]