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Is business... immoral?

This is not merely a theoretical question for me; it has become quite personally relevant. You see, I am the inventor of a technology, a simple, yet new technology that has the potential to benefit millions of people. I …
Placing a value on a human life

I've recently been viewing the online video course "Harvard's Justice with Michael Sandel"; in Episode 2 the concern is about cost-benefit analysis and utilitarian calculus more generally. The first example offered is …
Nature via Nurture

[JD 2455103.40] Proof we are not genetic automatons:I can speak English. I wasn't born speaking English, I had tolearn it. I could just as easily have learned Spanish or Arabic orMandarin, as indeed many people do. …
The AVP model of geopolitics

[Julian date 2455086.]I just started reading BenjaminBarber's Jihad vs. McWorld; I can't help but think that thisconflict fits the tagline for the first Alien Versus Predatorfilm:"Whoever wins, we lose." Themov…
Why "it's a metaphor" is not an answer

If you are an atheist, and you haveever tried to argue with religious people, no doubt you've heard thisclaim: "Of course it isn't really true; it's a story, ametaphor." This is meant to diffuse any empirical, logical…
A fundamental argument against abortion

The more I think about abortion, theless I can morally justify it. I don't think it's fair to call it"murder"; but I do think it is deeply immoral, indeed thatit should be illegal, punished on par with something like …
What it's like to have a penis

Because it is a significant time spentalone performing routine tasks, the shower is often a site ofcreative thoughts. Because it is a place of nudity, sometimes thesethoughts turn to one's own anatomy, and its place i…
An actual exchange, I'm sad to say

[names have been removed; however, for reasons that will become apparent it is significant that I appear White and my discussion partner, K.V., identifies as Black.] K.V.: Today, Harvard University professor ( and pers…
My answer to the Omnivore's Dilemma

Michael Pollan's book The Omnivore'sDilemma, besides popularizinglocal organic food and making millions of dollars for Michael Pollan,also presents one of the most compelling arguments I have everencountered against …
Why I oppose NOMA

There is a fairly large contingent ofscientists—good, respectable scientists like Stephen Jay Gould andNiles Eldredge—who advocate a position known as "Non-OverlappingMagisteria," usually abbreviated (somewhat strange…

pnrj

- Name: Patrick
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- Member Since: 5/3/2005
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