ethics
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On extraction.
The womb-suckers are trying to eat your children. Poke a soda straw into the future and sluuurp, away they go. Hopes and dreams, metabolized today into so many dollar bills. I spend a fair bit of time with drug dealers. Most are ethical people – they wanted to ingest drugs, and they knew some other people who…
45, alternative energy, ancient sunlight, anti-life, arctic drilling, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, arctic refuge, atmospheric science, big government Republicans, Bolsonaro, Brazil, carbon, carbon neutral, chemical energy, children, cigarettes, climate change, climate destabilization, CO2, coal, coal industry, combustion, diet for a healthy planet, Donald Trump, drill, drilling, drug dealers, eating the future, ethics, extraction, feedback loop, fossil fuels, future-eater, gasoline, global warming, gold mines, greenhouse gases, hamburgers, hydrocarbons, Jair Bolsonaro, laziness, lobbyists, meth, methamphetamines, national parks, natural wonders, nature, oil, oil subsidies, peril, petrolium, PotUS, pro-life, propaganda, rehab, renewable energy, routine, self-destructive behavior, selfishness, solar energy, solar power, starvation, starving future children, stored sunlight, Trump, vegan, Venus, wildlife refuge, womb sucker
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On violence and gratitude.
Although I consider myself a benevolent tyrant, some of my cells have turned against me. Mutinous, they were swayed by the propaganda of a virus and started churning out capsids rather than helping me type this essay. Which leaves me sitting at a YMCA snack room table snerking, goo leaking down my throat and out…
animal cruelty, animal life, animal welfare, apoptosis, appreciation, autotroph, biology, biology from a cell’s perspective, cancer, cancer biology, cell biology, cell death, cellular biology, cold, competition, consciousness, cooperation, cost, defection, DNA, do plants have feelings, doom, eat more plants, ethics, farming, gamete, genetics, germ cell, herbivore, heterotroph, immunology, inevitable death, irrationality, metastasis, microbiology, molecular biology, multicellular organisms, other perspectives, photosynthesis, plant-based diet, plant-based lifestyle, programmed cell death, psych experiment, psychology, Richard Dawkins, sacrifice, self sacrifice, selfish gene, sick, somatic cell, Suzana Huculano-Houzel, terrorism, The Human Advantage, the inevitability of death, tyrant, value, vegan, veganism, vegetarian, violence, viral infection, virology, virus, we value what we pay for, wine, wine tasting
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On empathizing with machines.
With sufficient power to pursue its goals, an AI might destroy the world. But then, we’d probably do it too.
AI, algorithm, apocalypse, artificial intelligence, Burt Helm, computer games, decision-making, empathy, end of the world, ethics, Facebook, Facebook advertising, Facebook algorithm, Frank Lantz, goals, GPS, Grand Theft Auto, GTA, Guantánamo, machines, money, morality, neural networks, paperclips, philosophy, the algorithm, tools
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On ethics and Luke Dittrich’s “Patient H.M.”
When scientists act unethically, it undermines trust in science … which breaks my heart, since the scientific method is awesome.
A Story of Memory Madness and Family Secrets, Arieh Warshel, biochemistry, brain surgery, cell biology, data, enzymology, epilepsy, ethics, fraud, GCC185, graduate school, human experimentation, immunofluorescence, ketosteroid isomerase, KSI, lobotomy, Luke Dittrich, medial temporal lobe, membrane trafficking, memory, MIT, MPR, Patient H.M., primary data, psychosurgery, publish or perish, reproducibility crisis, research, research ethics, RhoBTB3, science, scientific method, shredding files, Stanford, Suzanne Corkin
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On CRISPR and the future of humanity.
Human embryos were edited to confer HIV resistance: a simple experiment that presages scary things.
assisted reproduction, CRISPR, DNA editing, ethics, Gattaca, genetic control of intelligence, genetic manipulation, genetically-modified organisms, genome, impact factor, in-vitro fertilization, neurodiversity, research ethics, research journal rankings, scientific publishing, tilting the scales of the genetic lottery, Xiangjin Kang
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On Gerry Alanguilan’s “ELMER,” his author bio, and animal cognition.
In ELMER by Gary Alanguilan, chickens suddenly gain intelligence and have to fight against murder, oppression, and prejudice.
abortion rights, Andy Hartzell, animal cognition, chicken, David Duchovny, ELMER, empathy, ethics, evolution, Fox Bunny Funny, Frans de Waal, Gerry Alanguilan, graphic novel, Holy Cow, Homo naledi, live your ethics, Peter Singer, speciest, suffering, teleological misconception, teleology, vegan, vegetarian
Frank Brown Cloud 