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Ann Coulter Speaking at UC Berkeley

It is with shame that I see the University of California, Berkeley attempt to prevent conservative commentator Ann Coulter from speaking on campus. And it is with deeper shame that I see protesters clogging the streets in an attempt to silence her. I know little or nothing about her, yet I am not wrong to be offended by these protesters and the university administration. They are protesting her RIGHT to speak at a university campus. Period. If there is any place in which the free exchange of ideas is an ideal which should be vigorously defended, it is the universities of the world. There have been many repressive governments, perhaps the majority of governments which have ever existed. Those governments have adopted many ideologies to defend their oppressive regimes, nationalism (the superiority of the nation), fascism and slavery (the superiority of a people group), communism (the superiority of the people), theocracy (the superiority of the state religion),  dynasty (the super

How do you measure a life?

How do you measure a life? Is it by published works? The books and the articles eked out in the frantic attempt to define oneself. The paintings painted trying to discover one's style? The money made trying to secure a future? Or is it the lessons learned discovering one's own path? Eight year in and I feel a dreadful urgency to get my dissertation written. I am racing against others who have already completed and others who are yet to complete. I race against other things as well. I race against history. The rapid and inexorable tide of discovery and technological advancement which renders whatever I am thinking today less relevant tomorrow. I work to do original research. But will the technologists of tomorrow find my work trivial? Will the almost but not quite thinking machines of tomorrow outclass my thoughts in every way? If I am racing against the future, I know the future is going to win. So what am I racing against? Perhaps, I am racing against myself..