First Blog

Mankind has many enemies, not the least of which is himself.  What is remarkable is the list of enemies crosses multiple scales of physical dimensions, psychological dimensions, and biological dimensions.  When added up, the enemies list is long with dangers striking from everywhere. The short list of sources includes himself, nature, species, toxins, microorganisms, and more. Many are new, with the list of enemies growing as do we.  For example, a list only thirty years ago would not include the prion (of mad cow disease fame). In fact, the more you know about the agency of humans the more enemies you can find, and they become ever more lethal. The more you know about our world, the more threats you can perceive. Enemies for the metallurgist, the biologist, the climatologist, the naturalist, and so on are in abundance. Reading this very general list, one may wonder how we make it through life. Compound this with companion lists at the various life stages, and your wonder expan

Lessons from Afghanistan, over the centuries. A. You cannot have peace until you settle all scores?  B. First, we tear down our own world, and destroy all enemies. Then we'll talk peace.  C. We kill the Infidel in loving service to Allah.

We all have enemies.  More than you think. From Sun Tzu, in his notable Art of War , we learn “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”   This was not really original to Sun Tzu but a well understood aphorism at the time. Not all of us are going to war in the sense of physical battles.   However, all of us have enemies of one form or another.   For almost everything you do, there is an enemy that wishes to defeat success.   You have your personal enemies, private enemies, and unknown enemies.   Below we list a group common to us all.   Effectively, while they appear to be opposites, it is stronger to say that one defeats the other, or undoes it, or overturns it, or destabilizes it.   Enemies. The enemy of XXX is YYY. For example the enemy of belief is d