Passengers
Last night I watched “Passengers,” a movie that was made in 2016 and can roughly be described as science fiction. It’s no masterpiece, but I liked it, which is more than I can say for most movies I see these … Continue reading →
Category Archives: Getting philosophical: life, love, the universe
Two more deaths on Mount Everest
There have actually been seven deaths on Mount Everest this week, but this article discusses the two most recent ones. Both were of climbers who were 55 years old, although I have no idea (and the article does not explain) … Continue reading →
How marijuana legalization affected the outlaw growers of Humboldt County
The New Yorker has an interesting article about the changes in the economy and society (I almost wrote “culture” there, but realized that the word has a double meaning in this context) of Humboldt County, California as a result of … Continue reading →
Now we have the “adversity” SATs
The College Board, which has been devising and administering the test known as the SATs, has announced the latest tweak they’ve devised to try to even the playing field: The College Board, which oversees the SAT exam used by most … Continue reading →
Harvard and Ronald Sullivan: the dancing bears of the university give in to student pressure
By now you’re probably read about the the dismissal of Ronald Sullivan and his wife from their posts at Harvard College’s Winthrop House: The story begins last January when the African American Law School Professor Ronald Sullivan joined Harvey Weinstein’s … Continue reading →
What’s your first memory?
BUMPED UP just for fun. [NOTE: I came across this old post of mine today, and thought it might be fun to repeat it.] I’ve always had an excellent recollection for early events in my life, with the peculiarity that … Continue reading →
This is what passes for an eminent philosopher these days: Julian Savulescu [Part II]
[NOTE: Part I can be found here.] Later on in his interview, the philosopher and bioethicist Julian Savulescu has much to say about what humans can do on the biological level to help make the world better, in the general … Continue reading →
This is what passes for an eminent philosopher these days: Julian Savulescu [Part I]
[NOTE: Part II here.] As soon as I saw the headline for this article, I thought it might be about Peter Singer. I’ve written at great length about Singer before (see this, this, and this), and the title of the … Continue reading →
Back to the cosmology drawing board
I’ve had many occasions over the years to quote this line from “Hamlet,” and I’m going to do it again: There are more things in heaven and Earth, Horatio, / Than are dreamt of in your philosophy. It was true … Continue reading →
Academics against merit
David Solway writes: The idea of merit has fallen on evil times, as has its corollary concept, objectivity… In the interests of creating a society based on the axioms of “social justice”—which is really socialist justice—the principles of professional merit … Continue reading →
The rise in unhappiness among the young
It’s almost a cliche now that unhappiness has been rising among young people. Surveys indicate that it’s a real phenomenon, and the suicide rate has increased sharply. Social media is often blamed, but as this article describes, the research on … Continue reading →
Solitary imaginings
Hope you never need this information: how to survive solitary confinement. It seems to come down to the ability to focus imagination on positives, what is called intentional imagination rather than uncontrolled imagination: Mental imagery can supplement perceptual input—but it … Continue reading →