tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79169301148567989152011-12-18T03:55:45.494-08:00Philosophy Blog and History of Ideas Blog. Comments on the History of Ideas and on contemporary IssuesJoehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17609635136422662376noreply@blogger.comBlogger92125TheSkepticalPhilosopherhttp://feedburner.google.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7916930114856798915.post-22204001453720901132009-09-22T18:29:00.000-07:002009-09-22T19:06:44.555-07:002009-09-22T19:06:44.555-07:00

George Will on Sunday wrote a short article about the lessons of our failed nation building in Bosnia. If nation-building could ever be successful, we'd expect it to work in Bosnia: If Bosnia -- situated in placid and prosperous Europe; recipient of abundant aid and attention from the United States, the European Union, NATO and the United Nations -- is so resistant to nation-building, what are

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17609635136422662376noreply@blogger.com3http://skepticalphilosopher.blogspot.com/2009/09/humility.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7916930114856798915.post-25408001932958537882009-09-21T13:55:00.000-07:002009-09-21T14:14:41.526-07:002009-09-21T14:14:41.526-07:00

Bryan Caplan today mentioned the idea of achieving immortality via uploading one's brain to a computer. I've heard others propose such a concept, such as Ray Kurzweil, or seen it appear in fiction, such as in William Gibson, or in Stephen King's Lawnmower Man. It's a tantalizing idea.Nonetheless, based on what I said earlier about consciousness and teleportation, my biggest fear is when you

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17609635136422662376noreply@blogger.com0http://skepticalphilosopher.blogspot.com/2009/09/uploading-our-brains-to-computers.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7916930114856798915.post-51258945417072736272009-09-18T04:41:00.000-07:002009-09-18T16:56:06.264-07:002009-09-18T16:56:06.264-07:00

I've been reading Herodotus' Histories, and there's a short interesting story about a Persian named Otanes. A group of magi (priests) briefly seized control of Persia in the 6th century BC. Seven conspirators, including Otanes and Darius led an insurrection which led to Darius becoming sole monarch of Persia. After the insurrection, but before Darius had been declared King, according to

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17609635136422662376noreply@blogger.com2http://skepticalphilosopher.blogspot.com/2009/09/ive-been-reading-herodotus-histories.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7916930114856798915.post-29111478640626390202009-09-14T13:45:00.001-07:002011-03-26T09:18:37.399-07:002011-03-26T09:18:37.399-07:00

A new British Charles Darwin biopic called Creation premiered at the Toronto film festival last week and is set to be released in the UK, Australia, New Zealand and three other European countries over the next several months, but it isn't going to be released in the US. The question is why. The British Daily Telegraphy thinks it's because the movie is too controversial for American audiences:

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17609635136422662376noreply@blogger.com0http://skepticalphilosopher.blogspot.com/2009/09/are-american-filmgoers-so-opposed-to.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7916930114856798915.post-21886155293507107752009-09-13T09:10:00.001-07:002009-09-13T12:50:38.454-07:002009-09-13T12:50:38.454-07:00

Robin Hanson has an interesting commentary on the possibility of using animals that are genetically modified not to feel pain for animal testing and livestock. The idea is that people would have fewer moral qualms about eating meat from an animal that didn't experience the pain of slaughter and that people would approve of animal testing if the animals didn't suffer.This reminds us of

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17609635136422662376noreply@blogger.com1http://skepticalphilosopher.blogspot.com/2009/09/pain-free-animals-utilitarian-calculus.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7916930114856798915.post-37112587238575728952009-09-12T11:07:00.000-07:002009-09-12T11:41:22.183-07:002009-09-12T11:41:22.183-07:00

I concur with Will Wilkinson. There's nothing healthy in this insistence that we never forget 9/11: Those most insistent that we “never forget” 9/11 are those who need our continuing collective complicity in the erosion of our civil liberties, in the weakening of the rule of law, in the unjustified invasion of unrelated foreign countries and the murder of their people, in the policy of

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17609635136422662376noreply@blogger.com0http://skepticalphilosopher.blogspot.com/2009/09/forget-we-shall-never-forget-mantra.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7916930114856798915.post-71335229576208120542009-09-11T15:13:00.000-07:002009-09-11T15:58:16.241-07:002009-09-11T15:58:16.241-07:00

Glamour blogger Shallon Lester brought this issue up last week. Why are guys sometimes attracted to those emotionally unstable, unpredictable women? She suggests, I think guys secretly like the drama. Maybe it makes them feel alive or brings some action to their otherwise dull lives. Or, perhaps it reminds them of the chaos of their own family life as a child ... Or, they could just be weak

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17609635136422662376noreply@blogger.com2http://skepticalphilosopher.blogspot.com/2009/09/why-are-guys-attracted-to-crazy-girls.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7916930114856798915.post-44408550611989887512009-09-09T19:41:00.000-07:002009-09-21T14:33:33.323-07:002009-09-21T14:33:33.323-07:00

I’ve just been reading Herodutus’ Histories. In his discussion of the Persians, he writes (Book I, chapter 133) that they decide upon important matters by first getting drunk and debating and coming to a decision while drunk. Then, the next day when they are sober they deliberate and decide whether they want to stick to the decision made. If they decide yes, they go through with it. If they

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17609635136422662376noreply@blogger.com2http://skepticalphilosopher.blogspot.com/2009/09/persian-strategy-deliberating-while.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7916930114856798915.post-74188275801037304972009-09-08T14:05:00.000-07:002011-03-26T10:17:20.143-07:002011-03-26T10:17:20.143-07:00

I like to think of myself as an open-minded person (I think most people assume they are). Where do I come up with such a judgment? Well, I notice that sometimes I change my mind. But really how is it that I change my mind? How do I form new opinions? In the first place, from experience, when introduced to new topics about which I have little or no previous experience, I'm pretty credulous.

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17609635136422662376noreply@blogger.com0http://skepticalphilosopher.blogspot.com/2009/09/open-mindedness.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7916930114856798915.post-78037655106057397812009-09-07T10:26:00.000-07:002011-03-26T10:12:49.948-07:002011-03-26T10:12:49.948-07:00

Robin Hanson's recent post on the issue the supreme court is deciding this week of whether corporations have the right to support political candidates, got me thinking about influence. Corporations have been prohibited from contributing to campaigns of federal candidates since 1907. The idea behind preventing corporations from contributing to candidates is that their substantial wealth will

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17609635136422662376noreply@blogger.com0http://skepticalphilosopher.blogspot.com/2009/09/how-influential-are-corporations.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7916930114856798915.post-19186040664329450312009-09-06T13:32:00.000-07:002009-09-06T13:56:03.513-07:002009-09-06T13:56:03.513-07:00

A study released recently talks about the negative effects of attempting to stem brain drains (ht Ian Vasquez). The authors argue, somewhat surprisingly, that the brain drains aren't nearly as bad as the underlying factors that are encouraging the brain drain. For example, probably history's biggest brain drain would be the emigration of primarily Jewish Europeans during the era of Nazi Germany

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17609635136422662376noreply@blogger.com0http://skepticalphilosopher.blogspot.com/2009/09/on-brain-drain.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7916930114856798915.post-74681520902221397542009-09-03T12:44:00.000-07:002009-09-03T13:03:05.098-07:002009-09-03T13:03:05.098-07:00

Steven Pinker wrote an article last April about the rapid decline in the level of violence throughout history. The essay is adapted from his talk at TED. We've gone from a 15-60% chance that you would die by being killed by another person in hunter/gatherer times to less than a 1% chance in the 20th century. The question is why. Pinker presents four possibilities:The first is that the

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17609635136422662376noreply@blogger.com0http://skepticalphilosopher.blogspot.com/2009/09/why-has-violence-declined-so-much.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7916930114856798915.post-956400498163240812009-09-02T08:55:00.000-07:002009-09-02T09:38:47.745-07:002009-09-02T09:38:47.745-07:00

At Wired they have a story about music composed to appeal to tamarin monkeys. Monkeys don't like our favorite music and generally don't respond to it emotionally. So a composer and some scientists wrote music, "based on the pitch, tone and tempo of tamarin calls." The monkeys did respond to this music. You can listen to two samples at the wired article. It's definitely not the most appealing

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17609635136422662376noreply@blogger.com0http://skepticalphilosopher.blogspot.com/2009/09/music-for-monkeys.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7916930114856798915.post-66209761409679735562009-09-02T07:17:00.000-07:002009-09-02T08:23:15.266-07:002009-09-02T08:23:15.266-07:00

Alvin Johnson tells the story of how the prominent Chicago economist Frank Knight switched from philosophy to economics while studying at Cornell. Knight's philosophy professors apparently thought Knight wasn't suited for philosophy and told him so. Johnson thought Knight was a good student, so he asked these professors, who told him, in Johnson's words: It isn't that he's devoid of ability,

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17609635136422662376noreply@blogger.com2http://skepticalphilosopher.blogspot.com/2009/09/skepticism-is-good.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7916930114856798915.post-6912613230966709172009-08-29T10:49:00.000-07:002009-08-29T11:45:15.554-07:002009-08-29T11:45:15.554-07:00

David Friedman has a post on why we assume that after we die we will continue to exist, in a way, say as a ghost or disembodied soul. He thinks it has to do with our perception of the world in terms of individuated things and our perception of the preservation and perpetuation of individuated things (think the Theseus' Ship Problem). It's a very interesting discussion and worth reading.I have a

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17609635136422662376noreply@blogger.com0http://skepticalphilosopher.blogspot.com/2009/08/why-we-assume-we-are-immortal.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7916930114856798915.post-13972298330659776872009-08-28T17:00:00.001-07:002011-03-26T10:02:28.225-07:002011-03-26T10:02:28.225-07:00

It's always been a puzzle why it is that people live longer than they can possibly produce offspring. Women usually have menopause at around age 50, so we'd expect that people would pretty much expect people to die around 50, since after that age they can't reproduce, and thus there would be no selective pressure for longer life. One recent study suggests that longevity past 50 can be explained

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17609635136422662376noreply@blogger.com3http://skepticalphilosopher.blogspot.com/2009/08/why-do-we-live-longer-than-we-can.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7916930114856798915.post-13729612710034346102009-08-27T12:01:00.000-07:002009-08-27T14:37:02.003-07:002009-08-27T14:37:02.003-07:00

Daniel Krawisz, makes an interesting case against intellectual property, talking about the fallacy of intellectual property being considered as part of essential property rights. he talks about the practical side (that a government is necessary to enforce it) and the moral side, (the moral value of rights and whether intellectual property rights fit among them). He makes some worthwhile points

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17609635136422662376noreply@blogger.com1http://skepticalphilosopher.blogspot.com/2009/08/how-intellectual-property-harms.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7916930114856798915.post-83913220111662875992009-08-24T18:19:00.000-07:002009-08-24T19:04:55.324-07:002009-08-24T19:04:55.324-07:00

Interesting debate over at the NY Times about whether John Yoo should be fired from his post at Berkeley for his memos giving the Bush administration legal cover for torture. Two of the commentators they solicited think he should be fired, the other three are against it.I side with the minority on this one, believing that he should be fired, though agreeing with them that the prudent course of

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17609635136422662376noreply@blogger.com1http://skepticalphilosopher.blogspot.com/2009/08/john-yoo-and-academic-freedom.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7916930114856798915.post-54956965554987945512009-08-22T14:21:00.000-07:002009-08-22T15:11:55.341-07:002009-08-22T15:11:55.341-07:00

Mark Perry at Carpe Diem posted several days ago a series of posts about rising tuition and disinvestment in faculty. There has been rapid increases in college tuition, at an average 7.74% annual rate (twice that of inflation) since 1978. Tuition has increased significantly faster than the increase in the cost of health care, which has only increased at an average rate of 6% annually. As I

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17609635136422662376noreply@blogger.com0http://skepticalphilosopher.blogspot.com/2009/08/higher-ed-costs.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7916930114856798915.post-8763498403427254382009-08-20T08:11:00.001-07:002009-08-20T08:58:05.783-07:002009-08-20T08:58:05.783-07:00

I was just reading some commentary on the legalization of same-sex marriage in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont, Maine, and New Hampshire. And Steve Capman notes Opponents of same-sex marriage reject it on religious and moral grounds but also on practical ones. If we let homosexuals marry, they believe, a parade of horribles will follow—the weakening of marriage as an institution,

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17609635136422662376noreply@blogger.com0http://skepticalphilosopher.blogspot.com/2009/08/slippery-slopes-and-gay-marriage.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7916930114856798915.post-61543540181030182422009-08-19T13:46:00.000-07:002011-03-26T09:57:55.818-07:002011-03-26T09:57:55.818-07:00

Just skimming through Ambrose Bierce’s Devil’s Dictionary, an amusing book of humor. Here are some definitions that caught my eye: GENEALOGY, n. An account of one's descent from an ancestor who did not particularly care to trace his own. HARBOR, n. A place where ships taking shelter from storms are exposed to the fury of the customs. HEAVEN, n. A place where the wicked cease from troubling

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17609635136422662376noreply@blogger.com0http://skepticalphilosopher.blogspot.com/2009/08/devils-dictionary.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7916930114856798915.post-22502532591245352332009-08-17T16:14:00.000-07:002009-08-17T17:39:37.686-07:002009-08-17T17:39:37.686-07:00

I just finished reading Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, and I must say that the movie is much better. Philip K. Dick has a mind-bending quality about him, a real knack for surreality and intriguing premises, but he's not a very good writers. His characters don't have much range, his descriptive ability is limited and he isn't really good at evoking emotions. He's actually quite good at

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17609635136422662376noreply@blogger.com0http://skepticalphilosopher.blogspot.com/2009/08/movies-that-are-better-than-their.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7916930114856798915.post-36003323845312693962009-08-16T15:49:00.000-07:002009-08-16T17:43:42.730-07:002009-08-16T17:43:42.730-07:00

I was reflecting on the Health Care debate recently and thought back to something I read a few weeks back about the tax burden of different income classes. For 2007 in the U.S., the top 1% of income earners paid more in taxes than the bottom 95% (ht: Mark Perry). This really shows how much more progressive our tax system is than people, and this during a year when Bush was still

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17609635136422662376noreply@blogger.com0http://skepticalphilosopher.blogspot.com/2009/08/forgotten-man.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7916930114856798915.post-84615124295534319232009-08-15T13:18:00.000-07:002009-08-15T16:01:08.800-07:002009-08-15T16:01:08.800-07:00

Taney's Dred Scott vs Sanford has almost intrigued me since I read it my "Politics & Society" Seminar at St. John's College way back in 2003. It's a decision that just flat out seems wrong, but, from a legal standpoint, it's hard to tell why. Clearly slavery is morally wrong, but the supreme court isn't really supposed to judge on morals, but only on the laws. It's up to congress to pass laws

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17609635136422662376noreply@blogger.com1http://skepticalphilosopher.blogspot.com/2009/08/dredd-scott-definition-of-property.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7916930114856798915.post-25695449379194752392009-08-14T23:40:00.000-07:002009-08-15T00:03:48.203-07:002009-08-15T00:03:48.203-07:00

There was an article last April about Microsoft being sued on the claim that Word 2007 & 2003 violated someone else's patent (ht Jeffrey Tucker): Microsoft "unlawfully infringed" on a patent that describes how programs go about "manipulating a document's content and architecture separately."The ruling is absurd for a number of reasons. First of all, it's a clear case of judicial tourism. The

Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17609635136422662376noreply@blogger.com0http://skepticalphilosopher.blogspot.com/2009/08/software-patents.html