I think the point is, not that we are completely different people, one moment to the next, but that we should embrace change rather than fight it. Life and the world around us is constantly changing and we are better off for changing with it.

Re your hypothetical letter, you can only address it to the persona you last knew, so to speak. Upon renewed communication, you’ll learn how that person has changed, and maybe you will too a little or a lot.

I think that depends on how you define ‘civilisation’. My inclination is that most people would say civilisation has ended if life is drastically different to how they perceive their life/world they live in. Think ‘civilisation as we know it’ rather than a dictionary definition.

However, I disagree that it’s not an existentisl threat, if only on the basis of possible crop failiures on a massive scale (reduced crop yields are a global issue already). Don’t underestimate the impact of food shortages on everything else, we in the west have become accustomed to easy access to food.

No problem, we all have slightly different ways of describing things!

I stand corrected! At least in terms of the commodity price. A product made from a raw material can become relativly cheaper through mass production or bulk buying. Also factor in weight re transport costs etc. I’ve always had the impression that it had a good value, if not mega pricey, at least in a way that made it unfavourable for uses like this.

They haven’t transferred the money to anyone else. An ethical investment fund just selects businesses that meet certain criteria, e.g. no weapons manufacturers or tabacco companies. They haven’t given a penny back to anyone, not even made a donation to e.g. a non-royal family charity or good cause, as far as I’m aware. They’ve just changed the source of funds for the renovations that this particular income was reported to being used for.

Indeed, not an antipodean magpie. Either that or it got lost…

Don’t worry, lead isn’t that toxic. It takes a lot more exposure than the occasional handling to get heavy metal poisoning from it. But yes, odd to use lead as a weight (or put a weight in, perhaps it’s a heat-sink?) it’s fairly expensive. It could be a lead alloy which makes it more malleable, though a small peice of pure lead like that I’d expect to be easily bendable, but not compressable like clay.