The Mysterious End of the Indus Valley Civilization

Number of words: 489 What happened to the Indus Valley civilization and how did it end? Some people (among them, Gordon Childe) say that there was a sudden end to it due to an unexplained catastrophe.  The river Indus is well-known for its mighty floods which over-whelm and wash away cities and villages. Or a … Read more

The Essence of Cultural Vitality Across Nations

Number of words: 388 History has numerous instances of old and well-established civilizations fading away or being ended suddenly, and vigorous new cultures taking their place. Is it some vital energy, sonic inner source of strength that gives life to a civilization or a people, without which all effort is ineffective, like the vain attempt … Read more

The Uncharted Territories of Human Experience

Number of words: 1,074 My early approach to life’s problems had been more or less scientific, with something of the easy optimism of the science of the nineteenth and early twentieth century. A secure and comfortable existence and the energy and self-confidence I possessed increased that feeling of optimism. A kind of vague humanism appealed … Read more

A Historical Overview of Japan’s Feudal Era

Number of words: 1,036 In 1942, the Japanese people were one of the anachronisms of the modern world, for although they had acquired the material assets and trappings of modern civilization philosophy, mentally they were still struggling to emancipate themselves from the fetters of feudalism and barbaric mysticism.  In appearance there is no such thing … Read more

The Dichotomy of Bravery in Warfare

Number of words: 342 The Japanese soldier was proving a formattable foe: he was brave beyond belief, trained in jungle warfare and resourceful. He was extremely mobile and used bicycles pinched from the local population to speed his advancement where roads were available. His equipment and uniform, other than the imperial guards, was light, motley … Read more

The Perils of Overconfidence in Global Conflicts

Number of words: 520 Europe was a long way off and although it had been overrun by Hitler’s armies, nobody believed for a moment that England would be successfully invaded, particularly as the battle of Britain had ended in defeat for the luftwaffe.  As far as the Japanese were concerned, although they were obviously in … Read more

The Dynamics of Cooperation in Social Structures

Number of words: 445 From the lofty summit of this mathematical achievement, we had a commanding view of evolutionary dynamics. We could reveal the precise conditions for natural selection to favor cooperation over defection in populations that are structured around sets. One simple conclusion that we could draw from Corina’s work was that the more … Read more