Will the Bionic Woman be there?

Check out the website for the Human Enhancement & Nanotechnology Conference, coming up March 27-29. I won't be able to go myself, but it sounds excellent. From their website:

As an example of an ethical issue, bionic limbs (e.g., for greater
strength or vision) and neural chips implanted into one's head (e.g., for
on-demand access to the Internet and software applications) may give the
individual significant advantages in many areas, from sports to jobs to academia.
But these technologies may hold health risks-similar to steroid or Ritalin usefor
enhancement purposes, as distinct from therapy-as well as raise ethical concerns
related to fairness, access, and general societal disruption.Therefore, it is no
surprise that, on both sides of the debate, the ethics of human enhancement is
believed to be the single most important issue inscience & society in this
century.

Titular Tomfoolery

The Diagram Prize, awarded since 1978, honors annually the 'oddest' book title published in the previous year. Among this year's nominees:

Baboon Metaphysics by Dorothy L. Cheney and Robert M. Seyfarth
Strip and Knit with Style by Mark Hordyszynski
The 2009-2014 World Outlook for 60-milligram Containers of Fromage Frais by Philip M. Parker

The winner will be revealed on March 27. Last year's nominees included Cheese Problems Solved and If You Want Closure in Your Relationship, Start With Your Legs.

A daily dose of brain food

I've said it before elsewhere (see here), and I'll say it again: bookmark Arts and Letters Daily, a daily-updated website of the Chronicle of Higher Ed. It links to massive numbers of intriguing and thoughtful and provocative posts around the web. Interested in contemporary culture, politics, the GRE, sex reform, yoga versus lawn chemicals, John Milton, Karl Marx, the definition of liberalism, graphic novels? Then investigate this site. You'll be hooked.

Philosophy-Latin Connection of the Day

Immanuel Kant (1724-1804), Prussian (German, more or less; nit-pickers on this point reveal themselves as perhaps too well-read in European history) philosopher known for the development of deontological ethics and transcendental idealism (look 'em up, folks, they're fascinating).

Anyway, in his 1784 work "An Answer to the Question: What is Enlightenment?", Kant appropriates as a rallying-cry of sorts a Latin phrase, as follows:

Enlightenment is man's emergence from his self-imposed immaturity. Immaturity
is the inability to use one's understanding without guidance from another. This
immaturity is self-imposed when its cause lies not in lack of understanding, but
in lack of resolve and courage to use it without guidance from another. Sapere
Aude! "Have courage to use your own understanding!"--that is the
motto of enlightenment.

Mirabile visu!

It's true - I've not posted since October. But I hope to resume, starting with this very post.

A nifty link for anyone interested in contemporary, accessible, non-jargon-y philosophical writing is www.philosophynow.org. It is a subscription service, but their site offers more than a few freely readable links to fun and brain-stimulating stuff, like their Dear Socrates advice column.

Speaking of stimuli... President Obama's administration has been active in keeping the White House blog updated, at http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/. Keeping yourself informed about public affairs is one of the most crucial (and interesting!) things a smart and curious individual can do. Give it a try.

Figure of Speech Gets Own Movie

I have no idea what the plot of Charlie Kaufman's new movie, Synecdoche, New York, is about (aside from a miniature reconstruction of New York, which might well be a McGuffin). But I do intend to go and see the film because of its prominent titular reference to the figure of speech with which we are so familiar from our Vergilian translations.

Three cheers for literary references in movies! Huzzah! Huzzah! Huzzah!

(And if you're a young whippersnapper who didn't understand my reference to a McGuffin, look it up and learn a bit of cinematic history.)

Sacred Moly!

It's been quite the long while since I've posted. That's what a full-time job teaching public high school will do to one's free time...

I'm looking forward to attending a talk this coming Tuesday evening at Williams, by Classics prof Luca Grillo of Amherst College. Title: "'De Amicitia', or on the Cold War between Cicero and Caesar." It's at 7 pm in Griffin Hall - tell your friends! If you're one of my students and you're reading this, show up and get extra credit...