Behavioral Science, Public Policy, Ethics
The President of the United States has issued an executive order (see here) – government agencies are to use ‘insights’ from behavioral sciences to better serve the American people. In my view this is a good thing. Science is our frie…
Read MoreJudging a person by their friends.
Jim A.C. Everett www.jimaceverett.com In case any readers have been living under a rock for the last few days, the ‘hard-left’ candidate Jeremy Corbyn has been elected Leader of the British Labour Party (see here for the BBC profile on him)…
Read MoreGuest Post: Self defence and getting sacked
Written by Dr Nicholas Shackel Cardiff University If you were attacked at a work party you would expect the person who attacked you to get sacked. In this case (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/11846084/London-Zoo-love-rivals-i…
Read MoreThe Virtuous Homophobe
A few days ago, Kim Davis was released from jail, where she had spent the past few days. Davis, as you probably recall, is the Kentucky county clerk who was jailed for her refusal to issue marriage licenses to gay couples (more technically,…
Read MorePost-Vacation Musings: How rude should I be to my mother?
Written by Andreas Kappes A couple of years ago, my mother flew in from Germany to visit and help us with looking after my daughter during a school break. One night, I can’t remember the exact circumstances, she angrily told me: “Stop being…
Read MoreGuest Post: Bullying in Medicine
Written by Christopher Chew Monash University Today, the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS), the peak representative organization for the surgical profession in Australia, released the results of the Expert Advisory Group convene…
Read MoreGuest Post: Pervitin instead of coffee? Change in attitudes to cognitive enhancement in the 50’s and 60’s in Brazil
Written by Marcelo de Araujo State University of Rio de Janeiro CNPq – The Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development How does our attitude to drugs in general shape our reaction to “smart dru…
Read MoreThe moral limitations of in vitro meat
By Ben Levinstein and Anders Sandberg Almost everybody agrees factory farming is morally outrageous, with several billions of animals living lives that are likely not worth living. One possible solution to this moral disaster is to make in …
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Less cooperation, please
Written by Joao Fabiano Since the idea of enhancing human morality was proposed – and perhaps long before then – there has been a great deal of scientific research directly or indirectly inspired by the goal of improving human moral d…
Read MoreGuest Post: Must we throw out the brain with the bathwater? Marc Lewis on addiction
Written by Anke Snoek Macquarie University When neuroscience started to mingle into the debate on addiction and self-control, people aimed to use these insights to cause a paradigm shift in how we judge people struggling with addictions. Pe…
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