Peter Forbes – Medium

Peter Forbes

Against Sapiocentrism

In the late 1980s, I published a poem, ‘Auden’, in the Spectator, in the style of his late 1930s sonnets on various themes. My poem tried…

Jul 11, 2022

Against Sapiocentrism

Jul 11, 2022

What is Life?

“Biology expands our vision of life, letting us see beyond our experiences of being alive, look back over billions of years of living…

Aug 1, 2021

What is Life?

Aug 1, 2021

Man of Moments:Louis MacNeice

Philip Larkin, in an obituary of Louis MacNeice said “he was… a town observer: his poetry was the poetry of our everyday life, of…

Mar 21, 2021

Mar 21, 2021

The Extractivist Era

“Extractivism” is not a word much bandied about today; “populism” is. But the latter is misnomer: the project that brought Trump to power…

Feb 6, 2021

The Extractivist Era

Feb 6, 2021

Get Back to Catch a Falling Star on the Endless Highway

Frank Zappa once commented on the difference timbre makes to any melody, citing the notion of trying to play ‘Purple Haze’ on bagpipes…

Jun 11, 2020

Jun 11, 2020

Plants are Parallel Processors

It’s that time of year when gardeners can’t keep up with the burgeoning growth of their plants. We can only tackle one job at a time and…

May 10, 2020

Plants are Parallel Processors

May 10, 2020

Tendrils Alive

I have accidentally come across a very remarkable plant. Cobaea scandens is a climbing annual from Mexico that grows to three metres from…

Apr 25, 2020

Tendrils Alive

Apr 25, 2020

Britannia’s Unlikely Rise and all too predictable fall

How, in the 19th century, did a small, previously marginal, North West European country manage to install its Queen as Empress of India…

Jan 28, 2020

Jan 28, 2020

How the Warfare State Failed

That’s us — Great Britain, the UK — I’m talking about. If the term “Warfare State” is unfamiliar to you, as it will be to most I will…

Jul 20, 2019

How the Warfare State Failed

Jul 20, 2019

How Dumb Can Smart Get?

AI and Big Data are the future, obviously. Humans are such feeble things and, anyway, free will has been proven to be an illusion. But…

May 3, 2019

May 3, 2019

Peter Forbes

Peter Forbes

I write about biomimicry and nanoscience in books and review science books for the Guardian and Independent. Teach Narrative Non-fiction at City University.

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