Went to see Robert Sapolsky at California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park.
He is always good to keep up on.
For a more arcane route he came from studying baboons to neurology.
He is speaking much about the definitional difference between man and other animals.
Essentially his conclusion (my words) not much. What is, is in degree not kind.
There remains a group who limit it to the content of the "mind".
Which brings to "mind' one of my favorite seventeenth century quotes from John Locke "beasts abstract not" a quote as attractive for its elegance as its content.
Look soon for my new blog NIEM (Neural Information Ethical & Moral).
I think this idea will be the most important I have had, Not necessarrily the most fun or entertaining.
Niem appetizer.
What is NIEM? an acronym (of course). Neural Information Ethical & Moral.
There has always been an information ethics. often implied but not always. When we speak to each other in even the most informal terms there is an implied factor of trust. We basically agree on definitions of words for instance.
But in the sense of NIEM I am talking about a greater more holistic idea. We are in an age where there are extreme, even terminal, challenges to the individual’s ability to consume and act on information.
Firstly it is important to realize that an ethic does not need to be attainable. They most often are not. Who is truly an All Good Man.? yet many of us strive to be good. We are not purely just but strive for justice. It is clear to us what the direction of our ethics is.
It will become the same with NIEM.
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