Plato and pop culture

Click on this link to read a column by Princeton philosopher Alexander Nehamas that applies Plato's critique of poetry in The Republic to the contemporary argument about violent video games (and a court's recent rejection of a California attempt to regulate them).

Disaster at the Top of the World

Excerpt from NY Times Article
Policy makers need to accept that societies won’t make drastic changes to address climate change until such a crisis hits. But that doesn’t mean there’s nothing for them to do in the meantime. When a crisis does occur, the societies with response plans on the shelf will be far better off than those that are blindsided. The task for national and regional leaders, then, is to develop a set of contingency plans for possible climate shocks — what we might call, collectively, Plan Z.

Link to the the NY Times article
 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/23/opinion/23homer-dixon.html?pagewanted=1&emc=eta1

Article submitted for posting by Virginia DeMers

Autism Gives Woman An 'Alien View' Of Social Brains by Jon Hamilton

The story leads into some interesting thoughts about empathy. Below is an excerpt from the program and a link to the NPR article.

People like Daxer have taught scientists a lot about how typical humans interact socially, says Simon Baron-Cohen, a professor of developmental psychopathology at the University of Cambridge in the U.K.
"We didn't really focus on how complex social development is until people with autism pointed out to us that this is something that doesn't always just develop naturally," Baron-Cohen says.
Most children quickly figure out the importance of making eye contact, how to read facial expressions and social cues, and how to fit into a group.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129379866&ft=1&f=1001

Performance Rights Act under consideration by Congress

Click on this link to read a Washington Post story (8-23-10) about a new piece of legislation that seeks to resolve controversies over Internet radio stations, among other issues.

Target faces boycott due to political sponsorship

When Target gave money in July to a pro-business group in Minnesota, the company thought it was helping its bottom line by backing candidates in its home state who support lower taxes. Instead, the retailer has found itself in a fight with liberal and gay rights groups that has escalated into calls for a nationwide boycott and protests at the company's headquarters and stores. It is an embarrassing stumble for a company that has carefully cultivated an image of urbanity and hipness -- and that has earned goodwill with the gay community along the way.  Click on this link to read the full story from the Washington Post (8-19-10).

Don't send in the clones

Click on this link to read a New York Times column (8-10-10) by Maureen Dowd that argues for the importance of diversity in picking college roommates.  Dowd worries about services that now help incoming students to pick roommates matched exactly like themselves.  Do you agree that living as a roommate with someone very different than oneself is a good preparation for future life and profession, or could such a selection turn out to be disastrous? 

"Grey market" for I-phones heats up in China

Click on this link to read a Washington Post (8-9-10) story about the red hot market in China for the new I-Phones and I-Pads (and their counterfeit clones).  Are attempts to suppress this illegal market futile, as with other forms of prohibition (software and song pirating, etc.)?

Pressure on Craig's List to stop sex service advertising

Click on this link to read a Washington Post article (8-9-10) about a young girl's crusade to end the Craig's List ads that helped enslave her in the sex trade.  Craig's List has responded that it is already taking steps to regulate the ads.

Did a cell phone photo create a sexual offender?

Click on this link to read Tom Lyons' column in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune (8-8-10) about how a man was arrested for taking a cell phone photo of two 15 year old flashers.  Do the details provided by Lyons suggest that he should be charged as a sexual offender?  Or is Lyons correct that this would be an overreaction?  How have cell phone photos and videos changed the nature of a variety of crimes?