philosophy
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On the ethics of eating.
It took violence and oppression to create our world … which we can recognize without perpetuating.
autotroph, carbon cycle, carbon uptake, chaos machines, diet, energy, ethics, ethics of eating, ethics of veganism, evolution, evolution of intelligence, evolution of life, evolution of neurons, food, food web, gene duplication, gratitude, heterotroph, human diet, legacy of oppression, legacy of violence, life, moral philosophy, oppression, origin of intelligence, origin of neurons, philosophy, plant competition, plants, prehistory of intelligence, prehistory of violence, the cost for us to be here, thermodynamics of life, trees, utilitarian, utilitarianism, vegan, veganism, vegetarian, why we can think
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On vengeance and Ahmed Saadawi’s ‘Frankenstein in Baghdad.’
We all share blame for the ills perpetrated in our names, but some among us are made to suffer outsize portions of the costs.
Ahmed Saadawi, Albany, Arabic fiction, cocaine, cooperation, Correction, Correction (pt. ii), Correction part 2, corrections, evolution of cooperation, evolution of eusociality, forgiveness, forgiving, Frankenstein, Frankenstein in Baghdad, incarceration, injustice, Iraq, jail, jail poetry, Jonathan Wright, justice, Lori Milks, mass incarceration, most provable murder case I have ever seen, murder, murder victims, neurology, neuroscience, philosophy, poetry, poetry in jail, prison, public defender, punishment, rehabilitation, reprisal, restorative justice, retribution, Saadawi, teaching in jail, teaching poetry in jail, terrorism, the healing power of forgiveness, the neurology of justice, vengeance, victims of terrorism, violence, War on Drugs
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On Ann Leckie’s ‘The Raven Tower.’
You should read Ann Leckie’s ‘The Raven Tower,’ a beautiful novel set in a fascinating world.
A Century of Denial in Medicine, animal cognition, animal communication, animal language, animal welfare, Ann Leckie, Aristotle, babies, Babies Don’t Feel Pain, battle of the gods, biology, children, circumcision, compliments, confirmation bias, David Chamberlain, difference between gender and biological sex, do fish feel pain, elective surgery, fantasy novels, fish, fish pain, flawed assumptions, Frans de Waal, gender, genital mutilation, gods battling, human infants, hurting infants, hurting newborns, infant, Irad Kimhi, language, Mama’s Last Hug, mathematics, non-human animal cognition, non-human language, objectification, objectification of non-human animals, observational biology, philosophical argumentation, philosophy, prayer, primacy of language use, progressive fantasy, quantum computing, scientific ignorance, set theory, superposition of states, the emotions of babies, The Raven Tower, Thinking and Being, translating mathematics into words, vaccination, world building
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On suboptimal optimization.
If you’re hoping that self-driving cars will prevent traffic jams, think again. They might be designed to make traffic worse.
Adam Millard-Ball, AI, artificial intelligence, atomic weapons, automation, capitalism, carbon costs, carbon emissions, carbon emissions from driving, carbon tax, climate change, cost benefit analysis, cost to park, did Heisenberg know linear algebra, driving, economics, finite, finite mathematics, general education requirements, global warming, graffiti that confuses self-driving cars, Heisenberg, Heisenberg and linear algebra, Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, intentionally causing traffic jams, linear algebra, linear optimization, math, math panic, matrices, matrix, maximizing utility, minimizing costs, negative externalities, nuclear weapons, parking, parking fees, parking in cities, philosophy, pollution, pollution is free, pricing carbon, pricing externalities, public utility, quantum mechanics, robot cars, robot drivers, self-driving car, self-driving cars causing traffic jams, taxing carbon, taxing emissions, taxing pollution, teaching math, traffic, traffic laws, traffic patterns, trolley problem, university degree, university policies, university policy, usage fees, Werner Heisenberg, why didn’t Germany have atomic weapons, why is it free to pollute, why isn’t pollution taxed
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On artificial intelligence and solitary confinement.
Just like us, an AI will sometimes make mistakes. But at least we can offer explanations. An algorithm might inscrutably destroy somebody’s life.
administrative detention, AI, algorithm, Anscombe, artificial intelligence, automated image analysis, babies, California, color, confirmation bias, corrections, criminal justice, Department of Corrections, gang, gang crime, Google Researchers Are Learning How Machines, how we learn language, identifying gang activity, image analysis, In a Dark Dark Room, Indiana Prisoners’ Writing Workshop, isolation, jail poetry, language, Learn, learning to speak, learning to talk, linguistics, lockdown, Ludwig Wittgenstein, neural networks, newborns, paradox, Philosophical Investigations, philosophy, poetry, Pouncho, prison poetry, shape, SHU, solitary, solitary confinement, solitary watch, teaching poetry in jail, the philosophy of language, Wittgenstein
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On parenting and short-term memory loss.
Caring for young children wrecks havoc on your brain. I’ve heard it’s temporary. And, to make a better world, more men need to do it.
Abdel Haleem, Abrahamic faiths, Anthropology of Childhood, attention span, banishment, banishment of Sita, Beverly Strassmann, childhood, Christian, Christianity, contract law, David Lancy, developing brains, Dogon, Dorothy Dinnerstein, Draupadi, Draupadi in the gambling hall, early development, Emily Wilson, emotional development, family, fatherhood, feminism, feminist, gambling, Garry Wills, gender equality, gender parity, gossip, inequality, Islam, Jewish, Judaism, Mahabharata, Mary Beard, memory, Mermaid and the Minotaur, misogyny, Muslim, parenting, patriarchy, Penelope, philosophy, polygamy, polygyny, preschool development, Quran, shirking responsibility, Sita, Telemachus, The Odyssey, value, what matters in life, What the Qur’an Meant, What the Quran Meant and Why It Matters, who should parent, Women and Power, women’s work
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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 the history of time travel.
Sometimes we have to prove ourselves wrong.
Back to the Future, best time travel movies, Chronocriminales, closed timelike curve, free will, Godel, James Gleick, John Hospers, Kurt Godel, Looper, Nacho Vigalondo, Oedipus, paradox, philosophy, Stephen Hawkins, Terminator, time travel, time travel films, time travel paradox, Time Travel: A History, Timecrimes, Trump, who built the pyramids
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On Facebook and fake news.
Fake news is frustrating, but Facebook makes your brain worse *by design*.
Archaic Torso of Apollo, big ideas take time, boredom, branding, Brawndo, building a website, Cal Newport, climate change, distraction, Donald Trump, duping Facebook users, fabrication, Facebook, fake news, family band, faux-politically-conscious liberals, Franz Kafka, Google, Google ad dollars, holiday album, holiday record, Hotmail, Idiocracy, Indiana Prisoners’ Writing Workshop, irony, Johnny Fuerza, mass incarceration, Myspace, obsession with fame, Pages to Prisoners, persuasion, philosophy, Rainer Maria Rilke, Silicon Valley stole the election, social media, The Recognitions, the signature is worth more than the art, Twitter, undergraduate degrees, vegan, vegetarian, William Gaddis, Yahoo, you must change your life
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On a guaranteed basic income.
No one among us created the world.
computers, consciousness, correspondence collaboration, creditworthiness, criticizing social studies of finance with Lazzarato, Digital subjectivation and financial markets, exhaustion, free will, guaranteed basic income, gut bugs, hireability, human augmentation, implicit violence, intestinal fauna, market design, microbiome, narrative explanation, neurological consequences of tools, neurology, no cloning theorem, philosophy, physics, prostitutes, quantum mechanics, sex work, stock market, testosterone, the human drive for storytelling, the perception of freedom might well be good enough, Tim Christiaens, tool use, toxoplasma, uncertainty principle, wealth tax, welfare, working parents
Frank Brown Cloud 