Category Archives: ideas

Panopticon

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Many journalists claim that “if we’re not careful, we’ll end up in a ‘Big Brother’-type society”. They’re too late. Here are two perspectives on this:

First, from Simon Jenkins

When the council can bug you for fly-tipping, when prisons can record conversations with defence lawyers, when any potentially criminal act can justify electronic intrusion – and when ministers resort to the dictator’s excuse, “The innocent need not fear” – warning bells should sound.

And a lighter, but equally powerful video

The title of this post, ‘panopticon’, refers to a prison designed by Jeremy Bentham, where all inmates can be watched from a single location, and don’t know whether they are being watched or not. The idea is that this will make them behave all the time, for fear that they could be under surveillance.

I think one of the saddest things about the ‘Big Brother state’ is that its main premise is flawed- people who are motivated to break the law aren’t really discouraged by the ‘threat’ of surveillance. So the huge price we’ve paid (selling up a massive chunk of our civil liberties) buys nothing.

Clean desk = open mind?

Because of radical changes to our office layout in the past few weeks. all of our team have had to clear their desks and consider their filing habits much more than usual.

I’ve actually found the discipline of keeping a clear desk (by which I mean, empty in-tray, nothing else except phone and computer) has really helped my sense of organisation and productivity. I have the feeling that I can choose my own priorities- that I can choose what is important over what is urgent. I also appreciate having the space to spread out whatever it is I’m currently working on!

That said, I can see how keeping things filed and clearing one’s desk could easily become a substitute for ‘real’ work.

Inclusive Christmas

A great post from Aidan on how buying Christmas presents with a bit of consideration can make the whole thing more inclusive.

I think Aidan has it just right. Although Fair Trade didn’t feature quite as much for us this year, we did make quite a few presents. It’s a great feeling to know you’re giving something personal and unique (it’s often cheaper too!)

The other thing that Aidan’s post reminded me of is how much power we have as customers. Trying to track down Fair Trade gifts might feel discouraging at first, but before long, it will create pressure on mainstream retailers to change their ways. For example, many mainstream retailers now stock organic cotton, a change they would never have come up with were it not for small pioneering shops taking the lead.

Dishwashing your keyboard

Read about it here

My favourite tip:

I popped ALL the keys off to allow the keyboard to completely dry (either draw, write down where the keys go, or take a picture so you can put ‘em all back in the right place)     

There speaks the voice of experience!

 

Crack in the floor

At Tate Modern today, saw Doris Salcedo’s Shibboleth. ShibbolethLiked it. 

Knowing and Gettier’s gotcha

In a philosophy class last night, I was reminded of why I enjoy philosophy so much. In 1963, an American philosopher called Edmund Gettier wrote a three-page paper that upset thousands of years worth of consensus on the definition of knowledge.

I was amazed at the thought of such a short piece of thought having such a big impact, but also the simplicity of the form of his ‘counter-examples’. So simple, in fact, that I can give one in this blog post!

The historic definition of knowledge had three parts. To say you have ‘knowledge’ of something, you need:

  • Truth (the thing you claim to know must be true)
  • Justification (you must have reasonable grounds for your claim to knowledge)
  • Belief (you must genuinely believe something to say you ‘know’ it)

This would seem a fairly comprehensive definition of knowledge, but Gettier found a gaping hole in it. Take the following example:

You are walking through London, at two minutes to noon. You’re not wearing a watch, and so look at Big Ben to check the time. It shows the time as 11.58. So, you have justification for believing something which is also true. But is your claim to know the time watertight?

Imagine the following condition applies to the scenario:

Unknown to you (and those around you), Big Ben stopped working at 11.58pm the night before. In this case, your ‘knowledge’ about the time is mere coincidence. Does it still seem right to claim that you ‘know’ the correct time?

(This ‘counter-example’ is not one that Gettier used in his paper, but it has exactly the same form. You can probably think of other ‘counter-examples’ pretty easily)

Philosophers have responded to Gettier in a number of ways. One approach is to add an extra condition to the definition of knowledge- that the match between the way the world is and your knowledge is non-accidental. Other philosophers have argued for a narrower definition of justification, which would exclude Gettier’s counter-examples. However, there doesn’t seem to be a neat answer to Gettier’s challenge yet (see this Princeton lecture).

First world results on a third world budget | Special reports | Guardian Unlimited

First world results on a third world budget | Special reports | Guardian Unlimited

 Interesting comparison of Cuban healthcare vs. UK healthcare. For me, this was a very interesting point:

The trouble with the NHS, some say, is that it is not a national health service but a national sickness service. The focus is not on keeping us well, but keeping us alive. Hospital intensive care units take priority in the public mind over diet and exercise campaigns.

Cuba is admired by public health experts in Britain and around the world for putting the horse before the cart. Unable to afford too many hi-tech operating theatres, it focuses its efforts on keeping its people well and picking up illness early – when it’s easier and cheaper to treat.

Someone once told me that because the NHS was set up just after WWII, it became incredibly good at acute care, but not so good at prevention and day-to-day stuff.

Guardian Unlimited | Comment is free | A police state? Crying wolf wont protect civil liberties

Guardian Unlimited | Comment is free | A police state? Crying wolf wont protect civil liberties

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Here’s what I think:

 A couple of dangerous assumptions here:

1. We used to have far fewer protections for civil liberties, so we shouldn’t complain about the present situation

2. New technology allows new intrusions to civil liberties- we should intervene in new ways because we can

I also think the writer is wrong to put (fully justified) anxieties about automatic and compulsory state collection of personal information (id cards, DNA databases etc) and the more questionable libertarian right to smoke in a public place in the same boat.

Where does this assumption that collecting reams of personal data for no immediate use has some kind of benefit come from?

I think the writer is quite right to say that the debate on civil liberties should be nuanced, and that both left and right can get it wrong by being too shrill. However, he then goes on to muddy the waters with some of his own faulty logic…

Switching courses?

I’m considering switching courses at Birkbeck, from combined Politics, Philosophy and History to straight Philosophy.

One major reason is that I find Philosophy a lot easier (and did better in the exam). Also, I like the fact that Philosophy tends to consist of shorter readings, where you really get your teeth into the writer’s argument.

Great book

I got a brilliant book for my birthday: How to be a Graphic Designer, Without Losing Your Soul

This thoughtful book by Adrian Shaughnessy treads a different path to your typical design book. Steering away from ‘applied’ knowledge, Shaugnessy gets into the ethics and practicalities behind setting up and practising as a designer.

Highly recommended! [Thanks Rachel :-)]