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“As Adam Elkus has argued in Slate, the trouble with imparting “human” values onto computers is that different humans value competing things under varied circumstances. In that sense, the true lesson of Moral Machine may be that there’s no such thing as a moral machine, at least not under the circumstance that the site invites its visitors to explore.”
In addition to recent debates around the Confederate flag and statues and memorials to confederate war heroes have been arguments around the names of buildings on college campuses and the ways in which we should remember past historical figures who have recently become unpopular. How should we view or judge historical figures? With the standards of today? Or of their time? Important figures often leave complicated legacies that make it difficult to characterize them simply.
The case of Woodrow Wilson is an interesting one. He helped built Princeton University into much of what it is today in addition to having been a US President. At the same time he held deeply racist views and acted on those views and helped resegregate the federal workforce. How do we reconcile our views on such a person?
Below are some interesting articles on the topic.
The first one briefly summarizes the issue. The following ones are opinion pieces.
Princeton will keep Woodrow Wilson’s name on buildings, but also expand diversity efforts
Here are four opinion pieces on the question
Erasing Woodrow Wilson’s name is not that easy
http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/30/opinions/zelizer-woodrow-wilson-princeton/
Woodrow Wilson’s racism isn’t the only reason for Princeton to shun his name
The Case Against Woodrow Wilson at Princeton
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/25/opinion/the-case-against-woodrow-wilson-at-princeton.html
What Woodrow Wilson Cost My Grandfather
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/24/opinion/what-woodrow-wilson-cost-my-grandfather.html
Yale Removes Calhoun Name: We Can’t Erase History or Erase It
“One of the goals of chopping away at history is to simplify it into a simple battle between the good, who remain, and the evil, who are wiped away. But that’s not the way history works, nor is it the way politics works.”
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/444919/yale-removes-calhoun-name-foolish-erasure-history
Interesting article that addresses the issue of the practical value of learning history.
“It isn’t enough for a commander in chief to invite friendly academics to dinner. The U.S. could avoid future disaster if policy makers started looking more to the past.”
“For too long, history has been disparaged as a “soft” subject by social scientists offering spurious certainty. We believe it is time for a new and rigorous “applied history”—an attempt to illuminate current challenges and choices by analyzing precedents and historical analogues.”
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/09/dont-know-much-about-history/492746/
“This is how history is made — or rather, how the hue and cry of the present and near past gets lodged into the long-term cultural memory or else is allowed to quietly fade into an inaudible whisper. Public education has always been a battleground between cultural forces; one reason that Texas’ school-board members find themselves at the very center of the battlefield is, not surprisingly, money.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/14/magazine/14texbooks-t.html
“Out drinking with a few biologists, Jad finds out about something called CRISPR. No, it’s not a robot or the latest dating app, it’s a method for genetic manipulation that is rewriting the way we change DNA. Scientists say they’ll someday be able to use CRISPR to fight cancer and maybe even bring animals back from the dead. Or, pretty much do whatever you want. Jad and Robert delve into how CRISPR does what it does, and consider whether we should be worried about a future full of flying pigs, or the simple fact that scientists have now used CRISPR to tweak the genes of human embryos.”
http://www.radiolab.org/story/antibodies-part-1-crispr/
A really great website devoted to debunking popular conspiracy theories.
“Metabunk.org is dedicated to the art and pastime of honest, polite, scientific investigating and debunking. It is primarily a discussion forum, however the focus is on providing concise useful resources, and attempting to avoid repetitive debate and arguments.”
“Conspiracy theories can be stubborn, particularly in the echo chamber of the internet.
“One persistent belief in some quarters is that the government — or business, perhaps — is deploying a fleet of jet aircraft to spray chemicals into the sky to control the population, food supply or other things.”
“Even in an industry where minority workers sometimes appear to be favored for highly desirable jobs,” the two concluded, “employers may still fall prey to symbolic discrimination, relying on deeply embedded stereotypes about minority groups during the interview process.”
“Consider that for state-run lotteries as a whole, only about 60 cents of every dollar goes back to ticket buyers in the form of winnings, an analysis of United States Census Bureau data shows. The flip side is that in the long run, players as a group lose about 40 percent of the money they put into the lottery, and the chances of a big win are vanishingly small.”
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