Webdiary - Founded and Inspired by Margo Kingston

"One year after the Indian Ocean tsunami, what are the lessons? The biggest one is that it was the type of disaster to which policymakers pay too little attention – one that has a very low or unknown probability of occurring, but that creates enormous losses if it does occur. Great as the death toll, physical and emotional suffering of survivors, and property damage caused by the tsunami were, even greater losses could be inflicted by other disasters of low (but not negligible), or unknown, probability." Richard Posner

The issues surrounding the possibility of a pandemic of the H5N1 strain of avian flu are extraordinarily complex, encompassing medicine, epidemiology, virology, and even politics and ethics. Moreover, there is tremendous uncertainty about exactly when H5N1, which now primarily affects birds, might mutate into a form that is transmissible between humans, and how infectious and lethal it might be. Henry Miller

"Avian influenza is an infectious disease of birds caused by type A strains of the influenza virus. The disease, which was first identified in Italy more than 100 years ago, occurs worldwide. For much of that past century, and for all the years before, avian influenza was not an issue of widespread (let alone global) concern because these viruses did not normally infect species other than birds and pigs. Today things have changed, people are catching the "bird flu" and dying. The recent run on available prophylactic drugs in developed nations points to how much of a concern it has become. It has become something to concern all the peoples of our planet; for should things change again and the virus begins to spread amongst us multitudes may die, and even if it doesn't kill us it is going to change the life lived by many millions worldwide." Craig Rowley

"The news of Murdoch's grand plans to dominate the Internet and China's cyberspace crackdown has got me thinking about the future of the Internet and e-democracy once again. I think about the millions of ordinary people using the World Wide Web to connect with each other and see this as an essential tool for power dispersal.  The age of the Internet has brought with it exciting, fresh ideas about the disintermediation of power and peer accountability. But who is responsible for the standards and functions of the network itself? I came across this recent article by Bill Thompson on openDemocracy.net in which he charts the history of Internet governance, reflects on what has been lost as accountability passes from the hands of the geeks to those of the politicians and lawyers, and offers his proposal for redressing the democratic deficit." Craig Rowley

"A group of conveniently accommodating imaginary 'experts' are invoked by Duffy, who claim that we are fighting a war against terrorism - a spurious claim in itself - largely for the sake of 'evolutionary theory'. Having mentioned the war for dramatic effect it is immediately discarded, to be replaced by a quote from a noted historian who supposedly legitimises the imaginary experts by claiming that Darwin's theory of evolution is the 'most important idea of all time'. Apparently it is more important, to Duffy at least, than the idea of brotherly love and tolerance." Phil Uebergang

"Recently Australia's Minister for Education, Brendan Nelson, gave his qualified support for Intelligent Design (ID) to be taught in school science classes alongside neo-Darwinian evolutionary origins theory. The debate that has been occurring in the U.S. looks set to come to Australia. The fundamental question seems to be - is Christian doctrine forcing its way into the science classroom at the expense of scientific teaching? But is this the appropriate question? Ignoring those who contribute nothing more than mindless disparagement of religion, there are interesting ethical issues underlying this controversy." Phil Uebergang

On both sides of the Creation/Evolution debate there was character assassination, wilful misunderstanding, deliberate misrepresentation, unqualified intellectual arrogance, childish insulting, and all without much effort to really listen to the other side. So how does a person go about having a belief, and defending it, without falling into the moral quagmire of intolerance of another’s belief?" Origin of the species debate organiser Phil Uebergang

‘Did the universe and life evolve, or was it specially created in six days?’ Here are the third and final arguments in the debate on origins.