You might be wondering how a concept car could signal that the future has already arrived. Concept vehicles, we normally think, project futures that may or may not arrive. For instance, the minivan was first shown by Lancia in 1978 – but it didn’t “arrive” until Chrysler’s great success in the 1980s.
However, what we can [...]
Archive for September, 2009
The arrival of the future. Part 3 of 3: BMW’s GINA project
Posted in Art, Capitalism, Pragmatics, Things, beginning on September 25, 2009 | 1 Comment »
New Page – Cataloguing this summer’s adventures
Posted in Photography, Trains on September 25, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
I thought it would be in good form to create an easier way for people to trace through the cross country adventures I’ve had this summer, so I created a page on the blog to facilitate this – with links to all the relevant posts, in order, and also links to photos. I even posted [...]
The arrival of the future. Part 2 of 3: Unmaned Aerial Vehicles
Posted in Ethics, Philosophy, Technology, beginning on September 24, 2009 | 19 Comments »
As children the notion of unmanned aerial attack vehicles, engaging human targets with their computer brains, was reserved for the realm of dystopian science fiction. However, vehicles that can fly autonomously are possessed by the military of the United States and Israel. Machines that engage human targets under no direct supervision by a pilot are [...]
The arrival of the future. Part 1 of 3: The iphone
Posted in Capitalism, Pragmatics, beginning on September 24, 2009 | 1 Comment »
As modern technological individuals, we’ve been trained to expect the arrival of the future. “The future” is characterized by the automation of simple human tasks (skip to 1:40), the automation of war (in the sense of the machines become automatons), and the becoming increasingly emotional and physical of human-computer interfaces. Humans can remarkably bad at [...]
Social Beliefs and Personal Values
Posted in Capitalism, Ethics, Pragmatics on September 20, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
I often make the case that torture in the middle ages was a moral act. Given what people believed about the afterlife, torture wasn’t just morally neccesary or acceptable, in certain situations it was downright deserving of approbation:
“The penal law sought to save [the accused's] soul. For this reason, a convictd person who confessed could [...]
Values
Posted in Being, Capitalism, Ethics, Philosophy, global warming on September 19, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
We all have them. They’re what drive us, what we strive for. What we sometimes have to give up. What we set up as provisional ideals, goals, projects. What guide us through difficult decisions. What we ponder over. What we die for (or from).
When our ideals differ from those of others, we have values for [...]
York Debating Society
Posted in beginning on September 16, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
In Victoria this summer I promised Erin Rennie that I would attend at least one meeting of the York debating society – and today for the first time I attended a meeting. Today for the first time I attended a meeting of the While I’ve been meaning to check them out for years, I’ve always [...]
First week back, and a new blog
Posted in Ethics, Philosophy, Pragmatics, beginning on September 13, 2009 | 1 Comment »
It’s Sunday – meaning I’ve been back in Toronto for an entire week. I’ve been to many parties, seen many familiar faces. I have one class, two jobs, other papers to write – it will be a busy term. But, there will still be time for reflection.
It’s hard to know what to write when I’m [...]
Rail Journey Across America: Conclusion
Posted in beginning on September 7, 2009 | 2 Comments »
As the sun goes down and we pass through Oakville, I feel the journey gathering to a close. There is an uncanny famiiliarity to being back in Canada. Strange to be home after having become at-home with being in a strange land (with not-being-at-home). America really is a different land to the one we have [...]
Trip Photos
Posted in Uncategorized on September 7, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Sorry these were so long in coming – internet access along the way was really rather spotty, and I didn’t want to spend my layover in Chicago holed up in a Starbucks when there was city to explore.
So here they are, or least the ones worth web publishing. The first day includes the trip from [...]
