Glen recently penned (err.. keyboarded) a reply from an economist’s perspective to this post by Mark Kleiman on temptation and responsibility, and wondered if I had anything to say in philosopherese. Mark asks whether a person who tempts another party into self-destructive behavior is immunized from responsibility (Glen talks about legal responsibility; I’ll stick to […]

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Amy notes a prime instance of reductio creep.

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Opponents of war with Iraq have been arguing for some time now that, however depraved he may be, Saddam Hussein is a “rational actor,” if only in the narrow strategic sense that would make him deterrable and, by extension, make invasion unnecessary in order to contain him. I’d like to add to that the radical […]

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You can download a demo of Mike Doughty‘s new song American Car until January 1st. Doughty songs tend to grow on me over time, but having listened to it a couple times, I already like it. Opening line: “My circus train pulls through the night / full of lions and trapese artists / I’m done […]

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The Guardian reports that Malaysia is banning white folk from advertisements: But Malaysian officials this week pulled the plug on the adverts, saying they were “an insult to Asians” and could give Malaysians an inferiority complex. “Why must we use their faces in our advertisements? Aren’t our own people handsome enough?” the deputy information minister, […]

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Stanford’s bold decision to proceed with stem cell research is heartening, though the attempt to defuse criticism by claiming that somatic cell transfer isn’t “cloning” struck me, at least initially, as silly. Of course, it’s not reproductive cloning, but the term “therapeutic cloning” has long been the accepted one for this sort of procedure. But […]

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[Courtesy of Prema.]

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Slashdot has linked the TechCentralStation debate. I blushed ever so slightly at the editor’s kind appraisal. Most of the comments so far appear to be tilting my way, but then, that’s more or less what I’d expect on Slashdot.

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Colleague Kerry Halferty-Hardy just pointed out to me this Time article which reveals that in college, Trent Lott was one of the most strident opponents of ending a whites-only policy in his fraternity. I guess that’s one of “all these problems” that would’ve been avoided had we enjoyed another serial intern-groper in the White House […]

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The administration has finally decided that the smallpox vaccine purchased on the taxpayers’ tab should be made available to citizens who want it… as Chuck Peña and Vero DeRugy have been arguing for months.

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