by aastokes | Jun 23, 2026 | Essays, Research
Ask an engineer for the best solar cell and, if they are honest about what “best” means, they will ask a question back: best under what constraints? That return question is the subject of this third essay in my techno-crofting series. Most of the...
by aastokes | Jun 19, 2026 | Essays, Research
From Systems to Societies In my previous post on techno‑crofting I began to write about systems: energy, food, materials, the flows that have to cross the boundary when you live at the edge. But systems aren’t the whole story. People have to want to live with them....
by aastokes | Jun 14, 2026 | Essays, Research
What is techno-crofting? There is a tiny brewery on the shore of a sea loch in the north-west Highlands that has been bothering me for years (full disclosure: it belongs to my parents). It bothers me, not because of the beer—which is excellent—but because of what it...
by aastokes | Jan 23, 2026 | Essays, Research
The tree of life forms a concise snapshot of the history, and linkages between, all life forms on Earth. Another way to look at this diagram is to imagine what the world would have been like if history had played out differently. If the evolutionary game was run...
