Encipia

Mutant coronaviruses – they are only being human

The language of mutant viral infection and disease is dark and ominous, yet it is describing something that is essentially human – or perhaps the fact that humans are essentially viral, writes…

The two phases of the coronavirus

July 17 marked the 200th day of counting the number of infections and deaths arising from the Covid-19 pandemic, writes Dr John Egan. This count by the  European Centre for Disease Prevention and…




Maxwell’s Consumer: seeking a sustainable world

The recent uprising of the Gilets Jaunes in France is one idiosyncratic national reaction to a global problem. But global problems demand global answers and Maxwell’s demon offers a possible solution, writes…


Maxwell’s Entrepreneur: finding the edge

If there is a powerful take-home message from last week – for chief-execs and business students alike – the succinct observations of Ray Dalio, founder of Bridgewater Associates, on “thoughtful disagreement” would…


Analysis: Amazon and the power of capital

On the 150th anniversary of the publication of Karl Marx’s Das Kapital, we add our energy-dissipative view of the interactions of labour and capital in the operations of a commercial enterprise. Boil…


Analysis: an Apple that just keeps on rising

Imagine Apple Inc. as a quintessentially huge machine fuelled by investment, converting labour into value and, via sales, into revenue and profit. John Egan looks beyond the data to what is happening at…



The Labour Theory of Value

In the works of 19th century political economists, the understanding of the nature of value is of major significance. The Labour Theory of Value is its foundation stone, writes John Egan. In…