Friday, May 21, 2004

Philosophy at one Community College. There is a nice profile of the flourishing philosophy program at Bergen Community College in the May 21 Chronicle of... [The Leiter Reports: Editorials, News, Updates] 3:58:44 PM    comment []

How free is free will?. Lauren Slater's new book about 10 landmark psychological experiments has ignited a firestorm in the psychological establishment. But whatever her shortcomings as a reporter, Slater is asking profound questions about human nature and its limitations [Salon.com] 7:24:40 AM    comment []

Why We Built the Ivory Tower. After nearly five decades in academia, I exit with a piece of wisdom for those who work in higher education. By Stanley Fish. do your job; don't try to do someone else's job, as you are unlikely to be qualified; and don't let anyone else do your job. In other words, don't confuse your academic obligations with the obligation to save the world; that's not your job as an academic; and don't surrender your academic obligations to the agenda of any non-academic constituency — parents, legislators, trustees or donors.  . . . Performing academic work responsibly and at the highest level is a job big enough for any scholar and for any institution. And, as I look around, it does not seem to me that we academics do that job so well that we can now take it upon ourselves to do everyone else's job too. We should look to the practices in our own shop, narrowly conceived, before we set out to alter the entire world by forming moral character, or fashioning democratic citizens, or combating globalization, or embracing globalization, or anything else. [New York Times: Opinion] 7:20:46 AM    comment []

Collie or Pug? Study Finds the Genetic Code. Scientists say they have found genetic variations that allow them to distinguish among 85 dog breeds and to identify an individual dog's breed with 99 percent accuracy. By Mark Derr. [New York Times: Science] 7:14:11 AM    comment []

Are You a Potential Terrorist?. A Florida company that helped the government launch Matrix also provided the feds with the names of 120,000 people who, according to its statistics, were likely terrorists. [Wired News] 7:13:12 AM    comment []

The War's Dark Side: Filling in the Blanks. Two striking documentaries about journalists in Iraq suggest how rarely the harshest images have penetrated American newscasts until now. By Caryn James. [New York Times: Business] 7:13:01 AM    comment []

U.S. May Get a Privacy Czar. Congressional representatives introduce a bill that would require the federal government to create a chief privacy officer position. Every federal department and agency also would get a privacy head. By Kim Zetter. [Wired News] "There's a bill" may be more accurate than "U.S. may get a privacy czar." 7:11:43 AM    comment []

Steve Silberman's reading list for Allen Ginsberg's Beat Generation course Steve Silberman's reading list for Allen Ginsberg's Beat Generation course Boing Boing buddy Steve Silberman sez: "In 1977, poet Allen Ginsberg taught a course called "The Literary History of the Beat Generation" at Naropa Institute in Boulder, Colorado. I was in the course, and a couple of friends of mine and I just turned the suggested reading list into a gateway to the texts themselves. If you ever wished that your English-lit teacher had been the author of "Howl"..." Link (thanks, Mark!) 7:11:09 AM    comment []

Spam Adversaries to Meet, Debate. Alleged spammer Scott Richter and SpamCop founder Julian Haight will meet next month to duke it out in a public debate. It could get nasty. By Amit Asaravala. [Wired News] 7:07:51 AM    comment []