-
EVENT: Wellcome Lecture in Neuroethics: Neural chemical systems mediate social behaviour in the ‘Tragedy of the Commons’: implications for ethics and the clinic.
Prof. Robert Rogers, Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience, Senior Research Fellow, Jesus College Oxford 29 February, 5.30 p.m. Seminar Room 1, Oxford Martin School, 34 Broad Street (Map: http://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/contact/) Recent research has highlighted the role of neurochemical systems, such as serotonin and oxytocin, in the expression of value-laden behaviours involving ‘trust’ or ‘fairness’, in dyadic exchanges…
-
Australia’s ‘Gonski Review’ of school funding
Australia’s Federal Labor government can expect a major headache come Monday. Pundits of all stripes are limbering up for the expected fracas that will erupt when the Government releases their long awaited commissioned report on school funding, and their response to it. The report, written by a panel headed by University of NSW Chancellor David…
-
Should we Encourage Atheists to get into Foxholes?
‘There are no atheists in foxholes’, as the saying goes. This is of course an exaggeration. There have always been some atheists in foxholes. With millions of military personnel representing this or that country around the world it seems inconceivable that no atheists whatsoever would be occupying foxholes. The Richard Dawkins Foundation appears to like…
-
Obligatory Ventilation: why Elective Ventilation should not be elective
On the BBC’s Moral Maze this evening, the question of elective ventilation was discussed at some length. (For those who missed it, the program is still available here). There were several striking features of that discussion, but one argument that stood out was the argument against elective ventilation based on the importance of respecting the…
-
Warsi on ‘militant secularism’.
Here are my initial thoughts on Baroness Warsi’s recent outburst on the subject of ‘militant secularism’. There are two. The first relates to her reference to ‘totalitarian’ regimes. Can anyone out there tell me what ‘totalitarianism’ is? Does the term refer to a distinct category of regime, or is it simply a fancy new name…
-
Back from the grave: Should we allow Elective Ventilation?
Mary is 62 years old. She is brought to hospital after she collapsed suddenly at home. Her neighbour found her unconscious, and called the ambulance. When they arrived she was deeply unconscious and at risk of choking on her own secretions. They put a breathing tube in her airway, and transported her urgently to hospital.…
-
H5N1: Why Open the Stable Door?
Professor Paul Keim, who chairs the US National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity, recently recommended the censoring of research that described the mutations which led to the transformation of the H5N1 bird-flu virus into a form that can be transmitted between humans through droplets in breath (in ferrets, the number of mutations required is frighteningly…
-
Sergei Lavrov’s Deontology
In Syria, Assad has sought to silence protests against his dictatorial regime using violence. Refusing to be cowed, the protests have resisted. The regime has since escalated the violence. As I write, the Syrian army continues to use massive force against a mainly civilian population. There is little doubt that serious crimes are being committed.…
-
Reflexiones sobre el caso Contador
Dick Pound afirma, en su autobiografía titulada Inside Dope que repasa los años que pasó luchando contra el dopaje al frente del Comité Olímpico Internacional (COI) y de la Agencia Mundial Antidopaje (AMA), que un periodista de L’Equipe solía referirse a él como “el sheriff del salvaje oeste”, porque se concibe como el chico bueno…
-
Reflections on Contador’s case
Dick Pound says in his autobiography Inside Dope, that a L’Equipe journalist used to call him the “sheriff from the Wild West”. The reason for this nickname is that Dick Pound thought of himself as the good guy who was in charge of catching the bad guys: the athletes who used enhancing-performance substances. Dick…