We can’t wait to see blackhat, the new Michael Mann film about computer hackers who take down the international banking system. In the meantime, our favorite film about computers and hackers continues to be “The Social Network.” Above is one of our favorite scenes from this film. What’s yours?
Foie gras is a fancy food delicacy, and until a few days ago, it was also an outlaw product in the State of California. A federal judge in Los Angeles–our childhood hometown, by the way–recently issued a judicial order enjoining (i.e. prohibiting) California public officials from enforcing a law criminalizing the sale of foie gras in the Golden State. In summary, since the sale of foie gras is legal under various federal laws, the judge ruled that local laws prohibiting the sale of foie gras are “pre-empted” (i.e. displaced) by such federal laws. But was this the “right” result as a matter of law, or an unauthorized assertion of federal judicial power? Specifically, what is the source of a federal judge’s power to veto a State law? Continue reading
Here is the abstract of one of our thought experiments, which we have been working on over the holidays:
This paper explores two possible connections between hard cases in law and Newcomb’s Paradox in philosophy. One is that Newcomb’s Problem is like a “hard case” in law–i.e. a choice problem with conflicting and equally logical solutions. The other is that the “superior Being” in Newcomb’s Problem and the mythical Judge Hercules in Ronald Dworkin’s theory of law are the same person. In particular, we claim that Judge Hercules, who we would rechristen Judge Bayes, has the near-perfect ability to predict the outcome of hard cases …
Our paper is about 3000 words. Fear not. We will make a complete draft of our paper–tentatively titled “Hard Cases, Newcomb’s Problem, and the Prediction Theory of Law”–available soon via SSRN. Addendum (1/13): Here is a link to our working paper.
According to our friend Walter Olson at overlawyered.com: “CNN, NYT, AP, NBC, ABC, the BBC, Guardian, Telegraph, and the CBC, will *not* be running Charlie-Hebdo cartoons, though a number of American publications did so, including Daily Beast, Vox, and Bloomberg. No UK paper on Thursday morning runs the cartoons on its cover — though the Berliner-Zeitung in Germany publishes a full spread of them.” Is there a pattern here? New media versus old? Continue reading
We finally saw the film Judgment at Nuremberg for the first time last night at the annual meeting of the American Association of Law Schools (AALS) in Washington DC. This film depicts the trial of four Nazi judges accused of committing crimes against humanity. These German judges, who were tried by an ad hoc American military tribunal, had used their judicial authority to enforce evil Nazi laws … which brings me to the so-called “war on drugs.” Continue reading
“Oh, man.” (Props to kottke for the pointer.)
Hopefully It’s Interesting.
In Conversation with Legal and Moral Philosophers
PhD, Jagiellonian University
Books, papers, and other jurisprudential things
Ramblings of a retiree in France
BY GRACE THROUGH FAITH
Natalia's space
hoping we know we're living the dream
Lover of math. Bad at drawing.
We hike, bike, and discover Central Florida and beyond
Making it big in business after age 40
Reasoning about reasoning, mathematically.
I don't mean to sound critical, but I am; so that's how it comes across
remember the good old days...
"Let me live, love and say it well in good sentences." - Sylvia Plath
a personal view of the theory of computation
Submitted For Your Perusal is a weblog wherein Matt Thomas shares and writes about things he thinks are interesting.
Logic at Columbia University
Just like the Thesis Whisperer - but with more money
the sky is no longer the limit
Technology, Culture, and Ethics
Just like the horse whisperer - but with more pages
Poetry, Other Words, and Cats
prior probability 