Continuing arguments over gun rights and violence brought to mind Tocqueville’s observation that he knew “no country where there prevails, in general, less independence of mind and less true freedom of discussion than in America.” This, for Tocqueville, occurred because “In America, the . . . . Continue Reading »
Transhumanists insist that we are quickly approaching [R1] the moment at which technology will become an unstoppable and self-directing power that will usher in the “post-human” era. To get us from here to there requires the invention of “artificial intelligence” (AI), computers and/or robots that become “conscious” and self-programming, independent of human control. Actually, these advocates would say “who” become conscious: Transhumanists believe that AI contraptions would become self-aware and thus deserve human rights. Continue Reading »
Mary Ann Glendon wrote nearly a quarter century ago that “a new form of rights talk has come into being” in contemporary America, in which rights are “presented as absolute, individual, and independent of any necessary relation to our responsibilities. Continue Reading »
Wesley J. Smith’s article “The Coming of Medical Martyrdom” highlights a troubling trend in Canada that would see physician’s religious rights sacrificed. But it’s not just in Saskatchewan this is happening.
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Via Hit & Run , I see that Reason is revisting the controversy over the South Korean massage industry. The nutshell version is that Korea has traditionally regarded massage as a vocation exclusive to the blind, but sighted masseurs have in the last few years been lobbying for massage licenses. . . . . Continue Reading »
Both Will and Helen, right here on this blog, have instructively discussed the difficulties associated with the often promiscuous assignment and declaration of rights in political discourse today. If we look at the American founding narrowly from the perspective of its Lockean influence, . . . . Continue Reading »
Helen is fond of telling me that I "haven’t gone far enough." Turnabout is fair play. The trouble with rights language isn’t that it clings, fluke-like, to an existing moral framework . If rights were simply an inefficient middle-man, I wouldn’t mind keeping them around. . . . . Continue Reading »
Well, not exactly, but if pretending to be part of a group is really the only way to express solidarity with anyone anymore, I guess I’ll roll with it. For those incurious souls who didn’t find it necessary to follow the CNN headline Blind Masseurs Jump from Bridge , the facts are . . . . Continue Reading »
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