Category Archives: Philosophy

Fair or foul?

Posted on September 19, 2014 by F. E. Guerra-Pujol

Was the Facebook mood experiment “fair” or “foul” from an ethical perspective? Is it even possible for ethics to produce a determinate or “right” answer to this question? Several armchair philosophers, for example, have concluded that Facebook’s recent study of user behavior is … Continue reading →

Posted in Current Affairs, Ethics, Philosophy, Science, Web/Tech | Tagged Experiments, Facebook, Michelle Meyer, Research Ethics | Leave a comment

Trolley problems

Posted on September 6, 2014 by F. E. Guerra-Pujol

Here is the 34-word abstract of our latest paper, a work-in-progress with the title “Trolley Problems“: This paper proposes a novel and probabilistic solution to the famous “trolley problem” in moral philosophy. In short, we would solve the trolley problem … Continue reading →

Posted in Bayesian Reasoning, Economics, Philosophy | Tagged moral philosophy, Trolley Problem | Leave a comment

Do memes exist?

Posted on August 31, 2014 by F. E. Guerra-Pujol

To us, memes are like the luminiferous aether in Newtonian physics–a purely make-believe or hypothetical entity that does not really exist “out there” in space or time. In footnote 56 of our autobiographical essay, for example, we write: … despite my general admiration* … Continue reading →

Posted in Empty set, History, Philosophy, Science | Tagged Ether, Memes | 1 Comment

“What scientific idea is ready for retirement?”

Posted on August 30, 2014 by F. E. Guerra-Pujol

That’s the 2014 annual question posted on the website edge.org. (Previous Edge questions include “What is your dangerous idea?” (2006) and “What questions are you asking yourself?” (1998).) As we explain in our post of 8.31.14, we would retire Richard Dawkins’s evolutionary … Continue reading →

Posted in Philosophy, Science | Tagged Memes, Richard Dawkins | 4 Comments

The legal philosophy of red-light cameras

Posted on August 25, 2014 by F. E. Guerra-Pujol

Many cities around the world have installed high-tech red-light cameras at busy intersections to increase safety and raise traffic revenues — although some cities are already starting to phase-out these cameras. The debate over the legality of such cameras not only presupposes that many drivers run red … Continue reading →