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Protectionist deities vs. the economy of fun: ownership of virtual possessions
Do players in online games have a right to their virtual possessions? As discussed by Erin Hoffman in an essay the matter is a legal quagmire. Real money is involved, people have assaulted each other over virtual thefts, China now recognizes people’s right to their virtual property while the US does not. As virtual worlds…
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Why the cheating objection to smart drugs doesn’t work
The BBC reports today that increasing numbers of people are using prescription drugs like Ritalin—intended as a treatment for children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)—to boost alertness and brain power. Reports of the increasing popularity of ‘smart drugs’ are synonymous with concerns about cheating (see here, here, and here): surely, the worry runs, taking…
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The voluntary termination of pregnancy: a snapshot of the Italian situation
The Italian law governing the voluntary termination of pregnancy is very often brought into question. This law, proclaimed in May 1978 (Italian Law 194/1978), doesn’t admit a right to abortion, but allows the termination of pregnancy in some specific situations and only in the hospitals of the national health service. The law establishes a difference…
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Bailing out banks
Last week the US congress agreed to a US$7 billion bail-out for the banking sector. This Tuesday, the UK government followed suit with its own bail-out – though with some fairly serious strings attached. In the US case in particular, there was some strong public opposition to the bail-out, with many people claiming that bankers…
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If evolution grinds to a halt, we move on
According to professor Steve Jones human evolution is grinding to a halt. The reason is, at least in the developed world, we have so good living standards and hence low mortality that we are not suffering any selection. He also argues that the mutation rate has been reduced because changes in reproduction and the larger…
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Identifying Sperm Donors, Genetic Privacy and Public Benefit: How to Have Your Cake and Eat It Too
A story in today’s Daily Mail reveals some of the harms experienced by children born to sperm donors. Since 2005, children born to sperm donors have had access to the identity of the man who donated sperm that created them. But prior to that point, donors were not required to disclose their identity. These children…
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Fishing outside the reef: the illusion of control and finance
Humans regularly see patterns where there are none, but stress makes this tendency worse. Some new studies suggest this may be making the current market troubles worse. Jennifer Whitson and Adam Galinsky (Lacking Control Increases Illusory Pattern Perception, Science 3 October 2008 Vol. 322. no. 5898, pp. 115-117) demonstrated that when people feel they lack…
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Refusing to refer: thus conscience doth make cowards of us all
In Victoria next week a proposal to make abortion legal in certain circumstances is due to be voted on by the upper house. Some doctors, as well as the Catholic church, have attacked one clause in that legislation, as it is said to deny doctors the right to conscientiously object to abortion. But what is…
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Knowledge may be power, but is it healing?
The explosion of medical information on the internet is a good thing, right? Patients worried that their condition is not being taken seriously, those who want a second opinion but are worried about upsetting their GP by asking for it, and those with symptoms too trifling or embarrassing to take to a doctor—all these people…