Updated March 29, 2023 Matt Yglesias argues that the old British class system had a lot of features that were eerily similar to recent trends in political correctness. For example, educational institutions, particularly at elite levels, have embraced DEI, but…
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Is Wokeism bringing back a colorblind aristocratic class consciousness?
Posted in Discrimination, Philosophy and ethics
You can’t get no satisfaction from reducing your own personal carbon footprint.
Almost all moral reasoning concerns ideas about how we treat one another (including other sentient beings). Hence, what is moral depends upon what other people do. Driving on the right side of a busy highway is moral (and driving on…
We need a better concept of collective morality to be able to deal with climate change
Suppose God told you that you would go to hell if the median human faith of humanity is insufficient when you die. If the median faith of humanity is good enough, then everyone goes to heaven, but if not, than…
Posted in Environment, Philosophy and ethics
The campaign to change our pronouns is partly caused by the Sapir-Whorf theory of linguistics
Updated 3/31/23 If people used the pronoun ‘ki’ when referring to the earth, would that make people treat the earth more environmentally? That is the hypothesis of Robin Wall Kimmerer the author of Braiding Sweetgrass. She doesn’t like calling the…
Posted in Philosophy and ethics
Blockchain NFTs have nothing to do with ownership rights. They are merely collectables and receipts for donations.
NFTs are not property rights just like Bitcoin is not money. Property rights are usually described as a bundle of rights, but every concept can be described as having a bundle of qualities, so what matters is determining what qualities…
Do we have a responsibility to develop more millionaire superheroes?
Peter Singer’s book called The Life You Can Save is about one of his most famous thought experiments: Suppose on a walk you notice a young girl drowning in a lake. If you can swim, and you can save her…
Posted in Millionaire Superheroes, Philosophy and ethics
Argument from authority is necessary for scientific progress.
Sir Isaac Newton said, “If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants.” Every scientific advance is based on the work of others and so we need to know what scientific work is accurate so…
Posted in Culture, Philosophy and ethics
Medianism 