Lost in the world of screens?

Click on this link to read a rant from Truthdig by Chris Hedges about how we are all losing ourselves in the world of screens (computers/phones/etc.).  This article was contributed by Robert Stanton.

Shoot-'Em-Ups Make You Smarter

From Slate (9-14-10):

Playing violent, fast-paced video games may actually make you smarter , researchers say. Subjects who spent 50 hours playing Call of Duty 2 were able to complete timed computer tasks about a quarter more quickly, and substantially more accurately, than people who played the Sims. The results suggest that playing shoot-'em-ups increases people's ability to conduct probablistic reasoning and quickly infer useful facts from fuzzy data. "It's not the case that the action game players are trigger-happy and less accurate—they are just as accurate and also faster," said the neuroscientist who conducted the study . Researchers say the results suggest that playing video games could provide a useful performance boost to people like surgeons and soldiers who need to make quick, high-stakes decisions based on limited information.

Read original story in Bloomberg | Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2010

"Medal of Honor" game banned on US military bases

Click on this link to read a Washington Post article about how the videogame "Medal of Honor" has been banned from bases because it allows a player to assume the role of the Taliban and shoot American soldiers in the game.  Do you agree with the ban?  What are the dangerous consequences imagined by those who forbid the game?

Will Craig's List censorship eliminate its online prostitution business?

Click on this link to read a Washington Post article about Craig List's decision to "censor" prostitution ads on its site.  The article explores whether this will likely eliminate or reduce the solicitation of sexual services on the site.

Flag trampling upheld (for Baptists)

From Slate (9/3/10):

Federal Judge Overturns Ban on Flag Mutilation

U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf overturned Nebraska's ban on flag mutilation Thursday. It is unclear whether his ruling, that the law can't be applied as long as the person in question is otherwise acting peacefully, would affect only the individual who filed the lawsuit and her fellow church members or everyone in the state. "Thursday's ruling is a victory for activists from a Kansas church who trample on the U.S. flag when they protest at military funerals," the Associated Press reported. Megan Phelps-Roper, a member of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan., filed the lawsuit in July on the grounds that the ban violated her right to free speech. Westboro Baptist members often protest at soldiers' funerals across the United States because they believe troop deaths are a punishment for the country's tolerance of homosexuality. Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning has previously said that his state's ban on flag mutilation is not consistent with U.S. Supreme Court rulings that declared desecration of the flag a form of protected speech and that he wouldn't fight to save it. Should Bruning refuse to appeal, Thursday's ruling would stand.

Read original story in The Associated Press | Friday, Sept. 3, 2010

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?

David Brooks on "Moral Naturalism"

Click on this link to read a New York Times (7-22-10) column by David Brooks that explores interesting questions of human moral psychology.