June 2010
Steak, lobster, apple pie, vanilla ice cream, 7UP
24.06.10 | 15:02 • Filed in: News
That was what Ronnie Lee Gardner ate for his last meal. He was executed by firing squad in Utah a few minutes after midnight on June 18th. A victim of a terrible childhood, Gardner went on to kill two people, one a lawyer in 1985. Most likely he will be the last to be executed by this barbaric method. His surviving family apparently played Lynrd Synyrd’s “Free Bird” as the 4 real bullets from 5 shooters (one was a blank) pierced his heart. Timothy Egan has a good piece on capital punishment in general and this method in particular. Regardless of the victim’s heinous offenses, to me, capital punishment is nothing more than state-sanctioned murder. It does not deter. It should be abolished.
The Last Generation?
17.06.10 | 15:50 • Filed in: Science
Peter Singer, a professor of bioethics at Princeton, wrote a stimulating piece for the Times’ new “The Stone” blog which addressed reproduction and the future of the planet. Over 1200 people responded, many furious with Singer’s seemingly aloof posture. At the end of the essay he posed a handful of provocative philosophical questions:
I highly recommend reading this piece and the followup Singer felt obliged to write after so much feedback. As a recent father, I struggled with the moral implications of bringing a child into a world that certainly will be more complicated, overpopulated, and polluted than mine was when I was born.
If a child is likely to have a life full of pain and suffering is that a reason against bringing the child into existence?
If a child is likely to have a happy, healthy life, is that a reason for bringing the child into existence?
Is life worth living, for most people in developed nations today?
Is a world with people in it better than a world with no sentient beings at all?
Would it be wrong for us all to agree not to have children, so that we would be the last generation on Earth?
I highly recommend reading this piece and the followup Singer felt obliged to write after so much feedback. As a recent father, I struggled with the moral implications of bringing a child into a world that certainly will be more complicated, overpopulated, and polluted than mine was when I was born.
Forget Carbon Fiber Bikes...
03.06.10 | 22:55 • Filed in: Sports
