Mutterings: a personal blog.

  • Stop the Boats? Sure. Just Tell Me What Happens Next.

    We hear it on repeat: “Stop the boats.” And on the surface, it makes sense. Who wouldn’t want borders under control? Who wouldn’t question a system that sees tens of thousands entering illegally while taxpayers fund the consequences? But here’s the part no one wants to talk about: What exactly do you expect to happen…

  • The Illusion of Affordability:

    How Cheap Money Created a False Economy Across the developed world, house prices have soared, consumer debt has exploded, and governments have spent as if tomorrow doesn’t matter. The result? A modern economy built not on productivity or savings, but on the illusion of affordability — powered by artificially low interest rates and the quiet…

  • How Governments Work — The Illusion of Exchange

    At first, governments strike a deal with you. You work, you build, you create. In return, they offer security, infrastructure, the rule of law — the basics of civil society. Fair enough. But the deal doesn’t stay equal. As your productivity grows, so does their appetite. They introduce taxation, calling it your “contribution.” But it’s…

  • The Growing Demand for Caregivers in South Africa

    South Africa faces a rapidly growing demand for trained caregivers due to an ageing population, rising chronic illness rates, and an underdeveloped formal care economy. This presents a significant opportunity for scalable, socially impactful caregiver training and placement models. The gap between available services and national needs is both urgent and expanding. Key Demand Drivers…

  • The Pitfalls of LLMs in Coding: Lessons for Better AI

    If you’ve used ChatGPT, Claude, or any of the current LLMs to generate code, you’ll know the drill: they almost get it right… and then don’t. For anything beyond the most basic requests, they often miss the mark — and suddenly you’re deep in a debugging rabbit hole, politely wrestling with a very confident but…

  • Are AI and LLMs Just Another Stepping Stone in Human Progress?

    Throughout history, every major technological advancement has reshaped the way societies work, think, and live. From the printing press to the industrial revolution, the automobile, and the internet, each paradigm shift has amazed those who lived through it, offering previously unimaginable capabilities and disrupting the status quo. Today, we’re witnessing the rise of Artificial Intelligence…

  • How Low Interest Rates Drive House Prices Up

    For many, the dream of homeownership has become increasingly distant over the past three decades. While various factors contribute to the ever-rising cost of housing, a powerful, often unseen engine has been relentlessly pushing prices upwards: persistently low interest rates. This extended period of relatively cheap borrowing has fundamentally reshaped the housing market, creating both…

  • The Future of Security and Convenience — Reusable Biometric Credentials

    In today’s digital age, security and privacy are paramount. As technology advances, the traditional methods of authentication, like passwords and PINs, are becoming increasingly insufficient. This has led to the rise of biometric credentials—methods that use unique physical or behavioral human characteristics for identification. This whitepaper explores the concept of reusable biometric credentials, detailing their…

  • Evaluating RICA: Is SIM Registration Effective in South Africa?

    In South Africa, the Regulation of Interception of Communications and Provision of Communication-Related Information Act (RICA) was introduced in 2003 with the aim of combating crime and enhancing national security by regulating the registration of SIM cards and the interception of communications. However, nearly two decades since its inception, questions persist regarding the effectiveness of…