Category — Political Economy

The ARTICLE 19 Freedom of Expression Virtual Handbook:

The ARTICLE 19 Freedom of Expression Virtual Handbook
The ARTICLE 19 Freedom of Expression Virtual Handbook is a resource providing access to international and best comparative standards on the right to freedom of expression. It is designed to be accessible to journalists, NGOs and others, while also providing high-quality legal information.

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Freedom of expression is necessary for scientific progress.

Outstanding Article on Politicization of Science:

Philipp Steger, editor of bridges — a publication of Office of Science & Technology at the Embassy of Austria in Washington, D.C. that I have only just recently learned of – has published by far the best analysis I’ve seen…

yes pandora’s box is pretty good, but for those who watch eu policy there is a nice set of articles below it that is just as good http://www.ostina.org/html/bridges/

Guardian Unlimited | Life | Two-thirds of world’s resources ‘used up’

The human race is living beyond its means. A report backed by 1,360 scientists from 95 countries – some of them world leaders in their fields – today warns that the almost two-thirds of the natural machinery that supports life on Earth is being degraded by human pressure.

The study contains what its authors call “a stark warning” for the entire world. The wetlands, forests, savannahs, estuaries, coastal fisheries and other habitats that recycle air, water and nutrients for all living creatures are being irretrievably damaged. In effect, one species is now a hazard to the other 10 million or so on the planet, and to itself.

“Human activity is putting such a strain on the natural functions of Earth that the ability of the planet’s ecosystems to sustain future generations can no longer be taken for granted,” it says.

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it won’t be long now.

Wikimedia Commons:

Not sure why I hadn’t run accross the Wikimedia Commons site before today, but I’m glad I finally did. Every time I find another wiki site like this I just find the concept very powerful. I just think it’s so cool that people would put their work into the public domain without the normal restrictions that copyright imposes. There are pictures, paintings, maps, drawings, audio files…and it appears new submissions are coming fast and furious.

On a side note, it’s actually pretty impressive the way the Wikimedia Foundation seems to be growing. If people start to really accept the idea of sharing content for the greater good, we may very well be on our way to a better place.

Looking at some of the premium photos, I think a masthead redesign here just may be in order…

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this is really great…..

Leiter Reports: The Horowitz Attack on Academic Freedom Arrives in Ohio

The Horowitz Attack on Academic Freedom Arrives in Ohio

The bill introduced in the state legislature is here.  (Thanks to Joshua Smith for the pointer.)  As one news story (for which I could not locate a URL) stated, the bill would regulate what professors can say in class, and that’s exactly right.  Here’s some illustrative provisions:

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gack! this is fake academic freedom, it is meant to allow ideological freedom, not academic freedom and they are not the same thing. my students in political economy for instance generally can’t pass if all they demonstrate is an understanding of work not presented in the course, likewise, i’ll mark students down for having fundamental misunderstandings or ideological understandings of economic systems, but that is what most of them want to do, they want to say ‘market freedom is good’ and never say why or even acknowledge market failure…. education isn’t about ideological freedom, i’m sorry. this bill needs to fail.

Ethics for the Robot Age:
Jordan Pollack argues that the ethical questions surrounding robotics ŠŠ should robots carry weapons, how closely should humans and robots be integrated, etc. ŠŠ should receive much more attention now before the robot revolution hits.

interesting…. some of the questions are central to our consideration of what constitutes an ethical subject, combined with our notions of control.

Ethics for the Robot Age:
Jordan Pollack argues that the ethical questions surrounding robotics ŠŠ should robots carry weapons, how closely should humans and robots be integrated, etc. ŠŠ should receive much more attention now before the robot revolution hits.

interesting…. some of the questions are central to our consideration of what constitutes an ethical subject, combined with our notions of control.

A humanist future: Now that God is dead: printer friendly version:
God is dead.

Even the confident religions know this. When their god was overwhelmingly alive he did not permit them to mingle with the followers of other gods: Now they come together to increase the volume of their protests against the noisy indifference of the scoffers in the market place. But the god of the marketplace is also dead. Secular confidence in the ability of atheistic rationality to deliver the good society has been undermined by an invasion of the angry ghosts of dead religion and by the ugly excesses of materialist consumerism.

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mmmm nihlism, tasty….

OA library of indigenous knowledge:
T. V. Padma, Digital library to protect indigenous knowledge, SciDev.Net, January 10, 2005. Excerpt: ‘South Asian countries will create a digital library of the region’s traditional knowledge and develop laws to prevent such knowledge being misappropriated through commercial patents. The plan was announced at a two-day workshop held in Delhi, India, last week by the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).

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this is very important. if ip does exist, and this is debatable, then much of it has been stolen.

Growing Up Global – written road blog:
“The writers represented here are the “privileged homeless,” according to Pico Iyer, whose brilliant, witty essay opens this collection by those who remember growing up as foreigners with families always on the move. Army brats, missionaries’ children, diplomats’ children, or those whose parents just couldn’t stay put, these adult writers still feel like strangers everywhere, longing to belong even as they fear attachment. There is sometimes a whining note of self-pity– you can hear the therapy session–and, except as metaphor, these restless essayists don’t even see the “streetbums” around them, the millions of child refugees and migrant workers who are truly homeless today. But many of the best writers, including Isabel Allende, Ariel Dorfman, and Tara Bahrampour, speak eloquently about the pain and also the riches of the search for home. Pat Conroy didn’t like the military life: “Each year I began my life all over again . . . and I think it damaged me.” In contrast, Carlos Fuentes found identity in contact, in contrast, in breakthrough. The editors provide excellent commentary and author bios.” —Hazel Rochman

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