William Sundwick

The Social Imperative

It’s been 26 years since publication of Robert Putnam’s Bowling Alone, and we seem to be even worse off now, a generation later, than when it first came out …

How I Do This — AI-free

Warp & Woof has a well-established routine for its production — I don’t use any AI chatbots in it! My writing is its own reward …

Fiscal Responsibility — What’s That?

I am not an economist, but lots of real economists are trying to scare me into thinking that the dollar is doomed, and the exploding deficit is responsible. What does this mean for me?

What Keeps those Family Researchers Employed? Some time ago, my ten-year-old grandson, who shares the Sundwick family name, asked me where the Sundwicks came from. His dad referred him to me. Unfortunately, I had only a vague understanding myself of our family’s origins. What I knew came from my late cousin John (also a Sundwick)Continue reading “Thinking About Genealogy”

Engineering Values and Virtue

The engineer’s job is to make things that work. This can be quite complicated, and it requires both education and practice in certain modes of thinking. It requires a design, a model, testing and measurement of that model, then usually some constraints related to costs. Patience, humility, and a certain level of creativity are allContinue reading “Engineering Values and Virtue”

Deep Meaning of Politics

If we concede that world systems consist of people (as well as other things in nature), we have to acknowledge that politics, and politicians, are here to stay.

Aren’t We All Rentiers?

When we own capital, and then charge people to use it, but don’t give it to them, we become rentiers, to use the economic term invented by David Ricardo

AI: What’s Really Happening Here?

I’m not really an AI doomer, but I thought I might put in a word for control of these new technologies, and for THE PUBLIC INTEREST, not just the tech industry!

Bureaucratic Decay

Things do fall apart over time, even organizations — bureaucratic decay of all kinds of organizations can be forestalled with some planning and energy, but perhaps not prevented entirely …

Are “Leaders” Really So Special?

Leadership may or may not require certain skills, may or may not be contingent on the nature of the group to be led, or may simply be an emergent property of the organization — but whatever constitutes leadership should be available to all!