Slate Magazine Article - Human Nature Denies Human Nature
Cheers for the Girl with a Permit!
Interesting Bits
The Thing Is - At the bioethics council, human nature denies human nature. By William Saletan: "What exactly is the alleged non-creature? Hurlbut calls it an artifact. George calls it an entity. Krauthammer calls it 'an aborted attempt to produce a human.' Council member Paul McHugh calls it a 'thing.' Council member Peter Lawler calls it 'a third category that's not life or non-life but kind of a near-life experience.' Council member Michael Sandel calls it 'an embryolike being ... the creature or the being or the thing created, the artifact.' Council member James Q. Wilson sputters, 'We can't even adequately describe these things. We're inventing names as we go along.'"
Every new video game claims that it's "immersive"; many let you play against other people online. But "massively multiplayer online role-playing games" are the ultimate time-suck. Games like EverQuest and Star Wars Galaxies are designed specifically to reward people with limitless amounts of free time: teenagers, adults with no jobs or kids, and people who don't eat. When even hard-core gamers are afraid your product will destroy their lives, it's probably time for an intervention. Thankfully, two game developers have started to see the light. World of Warcraft and City of Heroes, which both launched in the last year, are the first two online games that a busy adult can play without signing his own divorce papers.
In years past, Cates has terrorized winners by giving them the quick hook if they didn't blurt the names of their colleagues and family members out fast enough. True, this did result in what will probably be the finest moment in Cuba Gooding Jr.'s career—not merely outshouting the orchestra but joyously sprech-singing the end of his speech. And it was fun to see Randy Newman silence the musicians by reminding them that the rest of the year they worked for him. But as a rule, it's painful to watch these people—who should be permitted at least a long moment to bask—falling all over themselves to finish before they're unceremoniously drowned out and firmly ushered from the stage.
Virginia may execute a killer because he's no longer retarded. Years ago, he scored 59 on an I.Q. test, qualifying as too retarded to be constitutionally executed. (The cutoff in Virginia is 70.) He recently took another I.Q. test and scored 76. His lawyer blames the improvement on the inmate's participation in litigating his appeals--"a forced march towards increased mental stimulation," according to the psychologist who tested him. Law-and-order spin: Low test scores are a joke. Anybody smart enough to plan a crime like this one is competent to be executed. Civil rights spin: I.Q. increases with age, so the state can retest an inmate for years until he scores too high. Cynical spin: The test nails exactly the wrong people, because anybody too dumb to figure out how to score below 70 when his life is at stake really is too retarded to be executed.
Interesting Bits
The Thing Is - At the bioethics council, human nature denies human nature. By William Saletan: "What exactly is the alleged non-creature? Hurlbut calls it an artifact. George calls it an entity. Krauthammer calls it 'an aborted attempt to produce a human.' Council member Paul McHugh calls it a 'thing.' Council member Peter Lawler calls it 'a third category that's not life or non-life but kind of a near-life experience.' Council member Michael Sandel calls it 'an embryolike being ... the creature or the being or the thing created, the artifact.' Council member James Q. Wilson sputters, 'We can't even adequately describe these things. We're inventing names as we go along.'"
Every new video game claims that it's "immersive"; many let you play against other people online. But "massively multiplayer online role-playing games" are the ultimate time-suck. Games like EverQuest and Star Wars Galaxies are designed specifically to reward people with limitless amounts of free time: teenagers, adults with no jobs or kids, and people who don't eat. When even hard-core gamers are afraid your product will destroy their lives, it's probably time for an intervention. Thankfully, two game developers have started to see the light. World of Warcraft and City of Heroes, which both launched in the last year, are the first two online games that a busy adult can play without signing his own divorce papers.
In years past, Cates has terrorized winners by giving them the quick hook if they didn't blurt the names of their colleagues and family members out fast enough. True, this did result in what will probably be the finest moment in Cuba Gooding Jr.'s career—not merely outshouting the orchestra but joyously sprech-singing the end of his speech. And it was fun to see Randy Newman silence the musicians by reminding them that the rest of the year they worked for him. But as a rule, it's painful to watch these people—who should be permitted at least a long moment to bask—falling all over themselves to finish before they're unceremoniously drowned out and firmly ushered from the stage.
Virginia may execute a killer because he's no longer retarded. Years ago, he scored 59 on an I.Q. test, qualifying as too retarded to be constitutionally executed. (The cutoff in Virginia is 70.) He recently took another I.Q. test and scored 76. His lawyer blames the improvement on the inmate's participation in litigating his appeals--"a forced march towards increased mental stimulation," according to the psychologist who tested him. Law-and-order spin: Low test scores are a joke. Anybody smart enough to plan a crime like this one is competent to be executed. Civil rights spin: I.Q. increases with age, so the state can retest an inmate for years until he scores too high. Cynical spin: The test nails exactly the wrong people, because anybody too dumb to figure out how to score below 70 when his life is at stake really is too retarded to be executed.
thank you, thank you.
-Girl With a Permit
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joy...! |
3:38 PM