]> http://www.jefallbright.net/taxonomy/term/131/0 en http://www.jefallbright.net/node/91 <p>Values guide a person's choices in life. More later...</p> Values Wed, 10 Mar 2004 21:24:52 -0500 http://www.jefallbright.net/node/3357 <p>In the beginning, there was music. Childhood and young adulthood floated by to a soundtrack of lyrics and rhythms and searing guitar riffs that consumed you, became you, constituted your identity, galvanized your intent, spoke your soul.</p> <p>But time passes, classrooms fade to cubicles, and a vast landscape of new music turns foreign and unexplored. For Jeff Hersh, 31, the stereo came to double as Proust's madeleine, its purpose to invoke memories rather than create them.</p> <p>"Finding music was easier when I was younger," says Hersh, a vice president at Smith Barney in New York. "In college I lived in a fraternity house with 70 guys all around me at all times, listening to various kinds of music. But as you get older, you work more, you get isolated."</p> <p>Then in November, a friend told Hersh about Pandora.com, an inventive "Internet radio" website that generates music streams — "stations" — based on one's favorite artists or songs. He started his own private thread of music that was a combination of Neil Young and Pearl Jam, Hersh says, and in an hour he heard more new music he liked than he had in the last decade, much of it from obscure bands that shared musical traits with Young and Pearl Jam.</p> Art Collaboration Collective intelligence Cooperation, competition, conflict Expert systems Groupware Knowledge representation Music Technology Technology and Society Empathy Efficiency Extropy Values Fri, 03 Feb 2006 15:51:04 -0500 http://www.jefallbright.net/node/3352 <p>Despite wide-ranging concerns about getting older, most Americans want to live longer than the current average. But not too much longer. If it were up to them, Americans on average would like to live to be 87 years old -- nine years older than current life expectancy. But there's a limit: Just a quarter volunteer that they'd like to live to 100 or older. And even if medical breakthroughs made living to 120 possible, most would say no thanks.<!--break-></p> <p>Sampling, data collection and tabulation for this poll were done by TNS.</p> <p>Quality of life is a major concern. One reason more people don't want to live to 100 is that most -- nearly two-thirds of adults -- don't think they could be that old and still enjoy a good quality of life. That consideration has a strong influence on desired longevity. Top concerns about aging include poor health, being unable to care for yourself and losing mental acuity. Lack of money, being unable to travel and being a burden on others are among the mid-tier concerns, while lowest on the list are being alone and -- in a very distant last place -- losing your looks. Beauty clearly is just skin deep. This ABC News/USA Today poll supports a joint reporting project on longevity, "Living Longer, Living Better," airing on ABC News programs the week of Oct. 24. Despite wishes for longevity, aging concerns clearly are widespread: Ninety-two percent of Americans are at least somewhat concerned about at least one of the 10 items tested in this survey, and 64 percent are concerned about five or more of them.</p> Aging and life extension Values Perspective Mon, 24 Oct 2005 11:11:01 -0400 http://www.jefallbright.net/node/3253 <p>The flip side of the steroid scandal in baseball is last week's announcement of the first cloned dog. Ballplayers are punished for using pharmaceutical technologies to improve their physical abilities, while scientists are rewarded for pushing toward a similar goal — in the words of artificial intelligence techno-visionary Ray Kurzweil, "reverse engineering our biology and then reprogramming it."</p> <p>Biological engineering is not just about curing disease anymore. The incentives and profits are moving toward drugs, gene therapies and other technologies to enhance human performance — memory, creativity, concentration, strength, endurance, longevity. Asking athletes not to partake of these advances is not just hypocritical, it's likely to be increasingly futile.</p> Human augmentation Human dignity Intelligence amplification Mental enhancement Physical enhancement Technology and Society Well-being Energy Extropy Values Tue, 09 Aug 2005 19:33:45 -0400 http://www.jefallbright.net/node/3135 <p>Are you ready for the posthuman future? That is the frightening question posed by Wesley J. Smith in his new book, Consumer's Guide to a Brave New World. Smith, Senior Fellow at the Discovery Institute and special consultant to the Center for Bioethics and Culture, has written another book that demands the attention of every thoughtful Christian.</p> <p>We are living in an age of radical transformations in science, technology, and worldview. Standing at the center of the worldview now dominant in our society is an affirmation that human beings have the right, if not the responsibility, to "improve" themselves in every way. In a culture that celebrates youth, attractiveness, and achievement, the idea of personal improvement is now being stretched beyond what previous generations could have imagined.</p> <p>"It is a natural human desire to manipulate our bodies to look better, feel better, and age better," Smith explains. "We not only wish to be free of disease, but also deeply desire to remain youthful in appearance and physical vigor."</p> <p>With "Botox parties" and cosmetic surgery now becoming routine, many Americans simply assume that personal enhancement is a basic right. Now, some want to push beyond natural biological barriers in order to achieve even greater "enhancements" in the future. We now face the undeniable truth that at least some of our fellow citizens are ready to use genetic enhancements, cloning technologies, and germ line engineering to achieve what some now call a posthuman future.</p> <p>Genetic modifications and germ line therapies differ from previous technologies of personal enhancement, Smith explains. Plastic surgery--even something as radical as what are called sex change procedures--affect only one individual's body. Nothing from those surgeries impacts the genetic inheritance passed down to subsequent generations.</p> <p>All this changes when genetic modifications and germ line technologies enter the picture.</p> <p>"What if a father could insert a gene to transform his daughter into the concert pianist he always wanted to be, or an atheist do likewise to ensure that his children would be genetically predisposed (if it proves possible) to shun religious belief?" Smith asks, adding, "And what if these modifications passed down the generations?"</p> <p>Existing medical technologies would not yet allow these developments. Nevertheless, with the successful cloning of other mammals, the completion of the Human Genome Project, and the creation of transgenic human-animal hybrids, science fiction is likely soon to become science fact.</p> <p>Smith warns that all this could lead to what some now call a posthuman race. Others are now pushing for what they call transhumanism, which Smith warns is now "organizing with the intensity of a religious revival."</p> Ethics and Morality Aging and life extension Technological conservatism Technology and Society Values Thu, 24 Feb 2005 18:40:29 -0500 http://www.jefallbright.net/node/3107 <p>Harry G. Frankfurt, 76, is a moral philosopher of international reputation and a professor emeritus at Princeton. He is also the author of a book recently published by the Princeton University Press that is the first in the publishing house's distinguished history to carry a title most newspapers, including this one, would find unfit to print. The work is called "On Bull - - - - ."</p> Ethics and Morality Politics Rhetoric Truth Empathy Values Mon, 14 Feb 2005 09:53:56 -0500 http://www.jefallbright.net/node/3034 The 2005 Edge Question has generated many eye-opening responses from a "who's who" of third culture scientists and science-minded thinkers. The 118 contributions comprise a document of 60,000 words. The New York Times ("Science Times") and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung ("Feuilliton") have been granted rights to publish excepts in their print and online editions simultaneously with Edge publication. The editors of "Science Times" and "Feuilliton", respectively, made their own selections. The Italian newspaper, Il Sole 24 Ore will follow on Sunday, January 9th. This year there's a focus on consciousness, on knowing, on ideas of truth and proof. If pushed to generalize, I would say it is a commentary on how we are dealing with the idea of certainty. Belief Philosophy Rationality Truth Values Tue, 04 Jan 2005 11:17:42 -0500 http://www.jefallbright.net/node/3296 <p>"Pleasure, love and grace are not man's to control. They come from identifying with life, and rejoicing in its splendor, vitality, and beauty. Although pleasure, love and grace are ephemeral, trust them and follow them, for they contain the meaning of life." – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe</p> "Meaning of life" Human dignity Inspiration Quotes Well-being Wisdom Energy Values Tue, 20 Sep 2005 15:13:16 -0400 http://www.jefallbright.net/node/2820 <p>In a large and growing number of schools around the country, students are learning more than just reading, writing, and arithmetic. They are learning what character education advocates call the fourth and fifth R’s: respect and responsibility.</p> <p>The formal teaching of morals and values is not a new phenomenon; rather, it has been part of democratic thought throughout history. Plato and Aristotle in the Greece of the 4th century B.C.E. believed the role of education was to train good and virtuous citizens. John Locke, the 17th-century democratic philosopher, believed that learning was secondary to virtue. "Reading and writing and learning I allow to be necessary, but yet not the chief business <a href="title/of+education">of education</a>. I imagine you would think him a very foolish fellow, that should not value a virtuous or a wise man infinitely before a great scholar."</p> Ethics and Morality Children Learning Values Wed, 21 Jul 2004 14:04:59 -0400 http://www.jefallbright.net/node/3005 <p>Scientific knowledge has a vital, if limited, role to play in shaping our moral values and helping us to frame wiser judgments. Ethical values are natural and open to examination in the light of evidence and reason.</p> <p>Can science and reason be used to develop ethical judgments? Many theists claim that without religious foundations, "anything goes," and social chaos will ensue. Scientific naturalists believe that secular societies already have developed responsible ethical norms and that science and reason have helped us to solve moral dilemmas. How and in what sense this occurs are vital issues that need to be discussed in contemporary society, for this may very well be the hottest issue of the twenty-first century.</p> <p>Dramatic breakthroughs on the frontiers of science provide new powers to humans, but they also pose perplexing moral quandaries. Should we use or limit these scientific discoveries, such as the cloning of humans? Much of this research is banned in the United States and restricted in Canada. Should scientists be permitted to reproduce humans by cloning (as we now do with animals), or is this too dangerous? Should we be allowed to make "designer babies?" Many theologians and politicians are horrified by this; many scientists and philosophers believe that it is not only inevitable but justifiable under certain conditions. There were loud cries against in vitro fertilization, or artificial insemination, only two generations ago, but the procedure proved to be a great boon to childless couples. Many religious conservatives are opposed to therapeutic stem-cell research on fetal tissues, because they think that "ensoulment" occurs with the first division of cells. Scientists are appalled by this censorship of scientific research, since the research has the potential to cure many illnesses; they believe those who oppose it have ignored the welfare of countless numbers of human beings. There are other equally controversial issues on the frontiers of science: Organ transplants-who should get them and why? Is the use of animal organs to supply parts for human bodies wrong? Is transhumanism reforming what it means to be human? How shall we control AIDS-is it wicked to use condoms, as some religious conservatives think, or should this be a high priority in Africa and elsewhere? Does global warming mean we need a radical transformation of industry in affluent countries? Is homosexuality genetic, and if so, is the denial of same-sex marriage morally wrong? How can we decide such questions? What criteria may we draw upon?</p> Ethics and Morality Rationality Science Science and ethics Values Sun, 05 Dec 2004 11:21:13 -0500 http://www.jefallbright.net/node/2427 <p>On New Year's Day, depressed by yet another article on Britain's 'happiness crisis', I took a sheet of paper, ruled it in two, and in the left-hand column began listing all the things that were getting me down. This is what I wrote: 'My grey hairs... my impending tax bill... my failure to write a bestseller... the commute to King's Cross on the Hammersmith and City Line.' (The list was actually much longer than this, but you get the gist.) Then I turned to the right-hand column and began listing all the things that were a source of happiness in my life: 'My good health... my wife and children... my friends... playing tennis (when I win).'</p> <p>To my surprise, this exercise immediately lifted my spirits, and before I knew it the items in the right-hand column outnumbered those in the left. Then I got to thinking some more. Were there other approaches I could adopt, other attitudes or ways of thinking about my life that would also be likely to increase my total sum of happiness? In search of an answer, I immersed myself in the works of Plato, Aristotle and other great philosophers. I also began reading as many self-help books as I could lay my hands on: books like the Dalai Lama's The Art of Happiness and Norman Vincent Peale's The Power of Positive Thinking - of which the cover of the UK paperback edition boasts 'over 15m copies sold'. But while these experts had many useful insights (the Dalai Lama suggested I cultivate a spirit of compassion, while Peale advised that happiness was a matter of being more optimistic), none of them spoke directly to my own experience.</p> <p>Then I heard about Authentic Happiness by Martin Seligman, a professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. In his book, Seligman describes how every New Year he takes a sheet of paper, just as I did, and draws up an inventory of his life. The difference is that instead of listing the things that are making him happy or unhappy, he writes down his key life 'domains' (love, profession, friends, play) and assigns them a rating on a scale of one to 10. Having performed this exercise every year for the past decade, Seligman says he can now see at a glance whether his happiness 'trajectory' is on the up or going down, and where there is room for improvement. 'I recommend this procedure to you,' he writes. 'It pins you down, leaves little room for self- deception, and tells you when to act.'</p> <p>As a guru of the new positive psychology movement - dedicated to the optimisation of 'positive emotions' - Seligman argues that there are no short cuts to happiness. Enhancing joy, rapture and contentment depends on our cultivating optimistic personality traits and Aristotelian virtues such as wisdom, justice, love and humanity. 'Positive emotion alienated from the exercise of character leads to emptiness, to inauthenticity, to depression and, as we age, to the gnawing realisation that we are fidgeting until we die,' he warns.</p> Hedonism Inspiration Optimism Well-being Empathy Energy Values Perspective Mon, 31 May 2004 19:11:31 -0400 http://www.jefallbright.net/node/2092 <p>There are two kinds of selfishness: the kind that says, 'I must do what will make me happy,' and the kind that says, 'You must do what will make me happy.' The first is good, the second is bad."<br /> - Kenton E. Sinner</p> Ethics and Morality Altruism Hedonism Quotes Energy Values Wed, 28 Jan 2004 18:14:46 -0500 http://www.jefallbright.net/node/1818 <p>The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself.<br /> - Friedrich Nietzsche</p> Conformity and Peer pressure Creativity Friedrich Nietzsche Innovation Quotes Values Tue, 30 Dec 2003 19:05:35 -0500 http://www.jefallbright.net/node/1785 <p>Common experience shows how much rarer is moral courage than physical bravery. A thousand men will march to the mouth of the cannon where one man will dare espouse an unpopular cause.<br /> - Clarence Darrow, Resist Not Evil</p> Ethics and Morality Leadership Quotes Empathy Values Tue, 23 Dec 2003 14:03:50 -0500 http://www.jefallbright.net/node/1698 <p>Though pride is not a virtue, it is the parent of many virtues.<br /> - M.C. Collins</p> Ethics and Morality Quotes Energy Values Sat, 13 Dec 2003 18:11:24 -0500