We all know the story: In 1967, three years after winning the heavyweight title, [Muhammad] Ali refused to be conscripted into the U.S. military, citing his religious beliefs and opposition to American involvement in the Vietnam War. The U.S. government declined to recognize him as a conscientious objector, however, because Ali declared that he wouldContinue reading “The Trials Of Muhammad Ali”
Monthly Archives: January 2015
My Favorite Reader
For as long as I have been married, my wife has been my favorite reader. She reads and offers comments on almost everything I write, from the brief posts here (and at The Cordon) to my books. She reads my angry emails, my applications for various academic offerings–nothing is too long or too short orContinue reading “My Favorite Reader”
Schwitzgebel On Our Moral Duties To Artificial Intelligences
Eric Schwitzgebel asks an interesting question: Suppose that we someday create artificial beings similar to us in their conscious experience, in their intelligence, in their range of emotions. What moral duties would we have to them? Schwitzgebel’s stipulations are quite extensive, for these beings are “similar to us in their conscious experience, in their intelligence,Continue reading “Schwitzgebel On Our Moral Duties To Artificial Intelligences”
Flirting With Perfection: Spelling It Out
We often dream of perfection, but we rarely, if ever, achieve it. There was one exceedingly minor business, in one all too brief period, in which I did attain such heights: my spelling prowess in my early school grades. I do not know if I ever attained the competency levels of those who excel atContinue reading “Flirting With Perfection: Spelling It Out”
Mark Bennett Is A Sexist Tool
Over at the blog Defending People, Mark Bennett, a Houston-based criminal defense lawyer, writes a long, technical, closely argued post critiquing Danielle Citron‘s putative rebuttals of arguments–based on First Amendment concerns–against her proposals for ‘revenge porn’ laws. Bennett titles his post ‘F**ing Danielle Citron’ and at the end signs off thusly: P.S. “F**king” is fisking.Continue reading “Mark Bennett Is A Sexist Tool”
An Officer’s View On The NYPD Protests: Still Blinkered
Steve Osborne, proudly standing with his back to the Mayor and the city of New York, comes to tell us why the New York City Police Department has been throwing an extended tantrum that would put a toddler to shame. (Interestingly enough, the NYPD has given itself a ‘time-out’ and like harried parents everywhere, weContinue reading “An Officer’s View On The NYPD Protests: Still Blinkered”
Kill All The Cartoonists; God Will Sort Them Out
You read or view a satirical piece or a cartoon in a newspaper or a magazine. It offends you; you are enraged; your deepest sensibilities–personal, religious–have been ravaged and injured. Unable to assuage your feelings by acknowledging the abstract free speech rights of those who have so insulted you, and still caught up in aContinue reading “Kill All The Cartoonists; God Will Sort Them Out”
Wishful Dreaming And Running On Cold Mornings
Last night, my preparations for bed included a little collection of running gear: tights, shorts, gloves, hat, an inner layer, and finally, an outer sweatshirt. I was planning to make a return to a running routine after having been diverted and distracted back in December. I had checked in with my running partner to seeContinue reading “Wishful Dreaming And Running On Cold Mornings”
Starting Them Early: Beauty Spas For Little Girls
Loving parents can now take their children, especially young girls, to spas for manicures, pedicures and hairstyling. There are times, and they recur quite often, when I wonder about the wisdom of having brought a child into this world. This is one such. Our culture creates and sustains a toxic atmosphere for women from cradleContinue reading “Starting Them Early: Beauty Spas For Little Girls”
Heisenberg On Minimal Theoretical Change In Scientific Revolutions
In ‘Abstraction in Modern Art and Science’ (from Across the Frontiers, Harper Torchbooks, New York, 1974) Werner Heisenberg wrote: How does a revolution in science come about? The answer: By trying to change as little as possible; by concentrating all efforts on the solution of a special and obviously still unsolved problem, and proceeding as conservativelyContinue reading “Heisenberg On Minimal Theoretical Change In Scientific Revolutions”
Samir Chopra 