“By allowing artificial intelligence to reshape our concept of personhood, we are leaving ourselves open to the flipside: we think of people more and more as computers.”
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“Physicists struggling to reconcile gravity with quantum mechanics have hailed a theory—inspired by pencil lead—that could make it all very simple.” The New Scientist reports.
In chemistry, a free radical is the name for an atom or group of atoms having at least one unpaired electron, thus making it unstable and highly reactive. From the […]
Design and innovation consultancy IDEO, credited with pioneering the concept of design thinking, has been at the forefront of pro-social design over the past decade. Now, they are entering the […]
Larry Wall, the father of Perl programming language, says that the language he created in 1987 is very “post-modern.” Like po-mo architecture, for instance, Perl “collects features from other languages, […]
Imagine heading out West with a pair of binoculars and unexpectedly coming across a pair of passenger pigeons, birds that have been extinct for decades? Or imagine driving into the […]
Two stories this week featured young black men and race. In one story, a young black man in his mid thirties who reported that he was often harassed at work […]
Granting same-sex couples access to marriage would be far better if that access came from elected institutions rather than from the courts, says Steve Chapman at The Chicago Tribune.
“Until we find the collective will, the drive for national economic security will continue to lead to collective insecurity.” A finance professor discusses the eventual downside of coveting resources.
“Once on the fringe, about 750,000 off the grid American households pioneer green living by tapping sustainable energy from the wind, sun, and earth.” The Christian Science Monitor reports.
“Mr. Greenspan is calling for the complete repeal of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, brushing aside Republicans and Democrats who say the economic recovery would be threatened.”
“Liberals and right-wing libertarians are pressing for an end to prohibition. Forty years after President Nixon launched the ‘war on drugs’ there is a growing momentum to abandon the fight.”
Does the ability to exercise self-control determine your class? Research suggests that children with higher socioeconomic status demonstrate more self-control.
“Don’t covet your grief like a precious thing, something that justifies your every whim.” In the controversy over Cordoba House, The Economist sees a petulant America just trying to get its way.
Children’s author Roald Dahl was a socialite, fighter pilot, and spy for the British government after World War II. A new biography details the unassuming author’s foreign conquests.
A new meta-analysis shows a large majority of subjects for psychology experiments have been U.S. undergraduates, a population from which one should be wary of making generalized conclusions.
“Telekinesis. Harnessing the mind to control your surroundings. It is the stuff of fantasy. Now, that fantasy is crystallizing into reality.” The L.A. Times on consumer products that read your mind.
Experts commonly accept the Hudson River School, led by Thomas Cole, as the first true American art school and movement. They looked at the American landscape and saw something the […]
“Reports of my demise have been greatly exaggerated”, Mark Twain famously responded after reading his obituary in the New York Journal. To which may now be added “Reports of the […]
“That the Great Recession could bring hope for a major recalibration—a resetting of all the clocks—is not surprising. Unfortunately, though, it’s not happening in any meaningful way.”
“Society has clearly benefited from the invention of caffeine, so why shouldn’t we also put a touch of amphetamine in the water?” The Frontal Cortex ponders human enhancement.
As Moscow is afflicted by heat waves and smoke from neighboring forest fires, Russians are sometimes at a loss. The countries cultural wisdom turns on surviving the cold (with vodka), not the heat.
Crops with genetic modifications are cross-pollinating in unintended ways across North Dakota. The pesticide, herbicide and drought resistant strains are proving difficult to control.
“Utah may offer a better model than Arizona for dealing with illegal immigrants.” In the wake of a federal challenge to Arizona’s newest immigration law, Utah is looking for middle ground.
“The loudest and most important lesson of the Soviet experience should always be: don’t ever do this again. Children, don’t try this at home.” A new book chronicles the failed experiment.
“Government is certainly growing in the U.S., but that hardly makes us a social democracy.” William Galston of the Brookings Institution distinguishes between social insurance and social democracy.
“Odd as it may seem, the first generation that cannot imagine life without the Internet doesn’t actually consider the medium particularly important, and indeed shuns some of the latest web technologies.”
“One of the main developments in recent American literature has got to be a newly self-conscious traditionalism.” A report on this decade’s fiction finds a rebirth of classical values.
“The FCC has halted discussions amid reports spread that Google and Verizon will propose their own, less regulatory framework for Net neutrality.” The L.A. Times says the FCC must act now.
Yesterday the Senate passed the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act by unanimous consent. The bill allots $4.5 billion to fund public school food programs. The bill, which was backed by Sen. […]