In a recent post, I tried to start a deeper discussion with Milan about what it means to act ethically in these needful times with respect to climate change.
I’m not sure if he meant this post as a response to my post, or as a response to the ongoing discussion on carbon ethics – but [...]
Archive for the ‘Technology’ Category
On Carbon Ethics, Individual action, and the Value of Slow Travel
Posted in Capitalism, Cross Canada Trip, Ethics, Philosophy, Technology, Trains, global warming on November 27, 2009 | 4 Comments »
Carbon Ethics and Future Worlds
Posted in Cross Canada Trip, Ethics, Philosophy, Pragmatics, Technology, global warming on November 20, 2009 | 3 Comments »
The Walt Disney company calls some of its imagineers “futureologists”, specifically if they work on Tommorowland or on the Future Worlds Pavilion at Epcot Centre. They are charged with visioning and representing futures. Futures are aspects of the present that project forward in time rather than space, so that we can anticipate what is to-come. [...]
High Speed Rail in Canada
Posted in Cross Canada Trip, Technology, Trains on November 19, 2009 | 12 Comments »
High Speed Rail in Canada is characterized by being in the past. It’s something that was (the Turbo, the Bombardier LRC), or never was but perhaps could one day be (the JetTrain). It’s also characterized by existing, but not really existing (many Via trains hit 100mph in normal service, but their overall schedules are hardly [...]
“Chic-ness” and Cheapness – the materiality of the modern aesthetic
Posted in Body Phenomenology, Capitalism, Ethics, Food, Pragmatics, Pubs, Technology, Things, coffee, writing on November 13, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
We find today everywhere examples of mass produced luxury. Sitting in a coffee house atop dark wood chairs, next to a floor to ceiling fireplace adorned with an exotic artwork, I am both everywhere and nowhere. Starbucks, or Second-Cup, even the new-look Macdonalds embrace an architecture of bare wood, rock and leather wingback chairs alongside [...]
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 [...]
Travel Update: Day 1, Morning
Posted in Cross Canada Trip, Pragmatics, Technology, Trains on September 3, 2009 | 2 Comments »
As I write this we are just pulling out of Bellingham station. I opted for business class tickets in the short legs on either end of my trip, since the extra cost was negligible (from Bellingham to Seattle it was 5$ extra, and from Buffalo to Toronto only 4$). My feelings about this choice are [...]
Construction and Value
Posted in Capitalism, Pragmatics, Technology on September 2, 2009 | 2 Comments »
Construction is an interesting aspect of social reality – it reflects (or merely “is”) the values of our time. The values of 1945 are very clearly “in” this Kettle Valley Railroad trestle – it was built both quickly and to last, without expense spared. Its importance likely concerned the strength of redundancy in Canadian rail [...]
Upcoming Rail Journey
Posted in Philosophy, Technology, Trains on September 1, 2009 | 8 Comments »
This Thursday I am leaving on a rail odyssey that will take me from Bellingham to Seattle, to Chicago, to Buffalo, and finally to Toronto. Four days of trans and layovers crossing Washington State, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York before crossing into Canada and arriving in Toronto, [...]
Canada Line Review
Posted in Capitalism, Pragmatics, Technology, Trains on August 30, 2009 | 6 Comments »
I have now ridden the RAV (Canada) line twice – from Bridgeport to Broadway, and from Broadway to Waterfront. While it is nice to have a subway running through south Vancouver, I can’t say riding the “new” train felt like a revolution in Vancouver transport. To really understand how the RAV line sits in Vancouver’s [...]
Summer Ponderings, Existential Crisis, Meaning and Purpose
Posted in Being, Body Phenomenology, Capitalism, Ethics, God, Philosophy, Pragmatics, Technology, Things, beginning, global warming on August 27, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
“Back in touch”
This summer I have not spent much time reading and writing. In other words, I have not done much philosophy. I’ve found myself wondering, “What is the point of philosophy?”, “What is philosophy for?”. Of course, easy and bad answers to these questions exist. The usual solution is to posit some principle which [...]
