Robert Winter @rw@qoto.org

Site etiquette indicates my first toot should be by way of an introduction. Seldom comfortable tooting my own horn (pun intended)* I'll keep this brief(ish).

I am a philosopher and historian based in Sydney and currently a doctoral candidate at the #Macquarie Business School; researching Edmund #Burke and his implications for executive leadership.

I chose to undertake my study in a business school, grubby though commercial ends may seem to elevated minds, because Burke was an intensely practical thinker. As he noted:

'‘The End of learning is not knowledge but virtue; as the End of all speculation should be practice of one sort or another… [for] Knowledge is the Culture** of the mind; and he who rested there, would be just as wise as he who should plough his field without any intention of sowing or reaping.'***

In this context, it seems fitting to attempt to apply Burkean research to practical ends.

I am also a passionate advocate for technology reform, which drew me to Mastodon, as I do not think unrestricted access to an individual's data is necessary for the provision of services. #ProtonMail, #Signal, #Threema, #NextCloud, #Mastodon and co. are all demonstrating that FAANG methods are not the only viable way of providing digital connections.

N.B.:
*Thinking intended puns, I am always reminded of the joke about a man who entered a local newspaper's pun contest. He sent in ten different puns, in the hope that at least one of the puns would win. Unfortunately, no pun in ten did.

**Culture in the original sense of ploughing for sowing later.

***Burke, A Note-Book of Edmund Burke, 82-83.

#introductions