A practitioner of applied ethics, Peter Singer helped launch the animal rights movement during the 1970s, then later took a controversial stance on euthanasia. These days, the Princeton philosopher is working on less contentious issues. His 2009 book is called The Life You Can Save: Acting Now to End World Poverty, and the core argument gets nicely distilled by the three minute video above. Along the way, Singer raises some basic but essential questions about how much we value human lives, both emotionally and economically. Is it worth a pair of shoes to save the life of a child? Many would say unequivocally yes if asked the question. But every day we make choices to the contrary. And that’s what Singer wants to undo. Watch the video. Read the short book. And visit Singer’s web site (thelifeyoucansave.com) and finally find out where you can make a donation that will save a young life today.
Note: You can listen to a 2009 interview with Singer where he talks about how small sacrifices can make big differences, and why we should make them (Download the MP3 here).
Back in 1934, John Wooden started fleshing out his definition of success – something that shaped his teaching and coaching for decades to come. His definition is not about power, prestige, and material possessions. It’s about something more uplifting. Filmed back at the TED conference in 2001, Wooden elaborates on this philosophy handed down by his father. RIP coach and teacher.
So far, the BP oil spill has remained fairly abstract. We’ve seen it depicted in graphs and satellite images. Now we get to see it right up close. These photos show in brutal detail exactly what’s happening to the wildlife in the Gulf of Mexico. Consider the photos a very quick glimpse into the larger environmental disaster caused by this spill. Spread these pictures far and wide. BP doesn’t deserve to keep this mess a distant idea.
The MODIS instrument, on board NASA’s Terra and Aqua satellites, is capturing images of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The spill began on April 20, 2010 with the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig. This short video reveals a space-based view of the burning oil rig and, later, the ensuing oil spill through May 24, 2010. The oil slick appears grayish-beige in the images and changes due to changing weather, ocean currents, and the use of oil dispersing chemicals. Images in the video time series were selected that show the spill most clearly. The full image archive is available on the MODIS Rapid Response Web site at https://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/
As he grows older, Woody Allen increasingly finds himself positioned as the philosopher filmmaker. Fresh Air host Terry Gross asked him some heavy existential questions in an interview last year. (Listen here). And, more recently, we have Allen grappling with some big life questions in an interview conducted by Father Robert E. Lauder in the Catholic magazine, Commonweal. The conversation begins:
RL: When Ingmar Bergman died, you said even if you made a film as great as one of his, what would it matter? It doesn’t gain you salvation. So you had to ask yourself why do you continue to make films. Could you just say something about what you meant by “salvation”?
WA: Well, you know, you want some kind of relief from the agony and terror of human existence. Human existence is a brutal experience to me…it’s a brutal, meaningless experience—an agonizing, meaningless experience with some oases, delight, some charm and peace, but these are just small oases. Overall, it is a brutal, brutal, terrible experience, and so it’s what can you do to alleviate the agony of the human condition, the human predicament? That is what interests me the most. I continue to make the films because the problem obsesses me all the time and it’s consistently on my mind and I’m consistently trying to alleviate the problem, and I think by making films as frequently as I do I get a chance to vent the problems. There is some relief. I have said this before in a facetious way, but it is not so facetious: I am a whiner. I do get a certain amount of solace from whining.
It’s no secret. Many writers have written their masterpieces under the influence of various liquids and chemicals, ranging from fairly innocuous to not. This month, Lapham’s Quarterly has pulled together a list that correlates great works with contributing substances. Here’s a quick sample:
What’s the likelihood that we’ll ever find extraterrestrial life? Many scientists would argue that the chances are slim. When you get down to basic essentials, you need water and moderate temperatures for life to take off. And it’s unlikely that these conditions exist beyond our planet. That’s the basic argument. But now Dr Alan Tunnacliffe, an award-winning researcher at Cambridge University’s Institute of Biotechnology, steps in and tells you about rotifers, tiny animals that can withstand extreme temperatures and survive in almost waterless conditions. It’s an intriguing five minutes of video that will get you thinking about the possibilities.
As part of a special multimedia project, Ericsson (the telecom company) asked 20 thinkers to “share their view on the drivers of the future and how connectivity/broadband is changing the world.” What will life be like in 2020? How will the world evolve? What habits and needs will people have? What kinds of technologies will they use to make life easier? New talks are being added to the collection each week (find them all here), and above, we’re featuring one such talk by Don Tapscott, the author of Wikinomics and Grown Up Digital. He sees the next generation of leaders changing the world, and for the better. They have grown up on the web. They think differently because their brains are wired differently. They’re smarter. And they’re ready to initiate sweeping changes in the way we do things. It’s a rather hopeful talk (a rarity these days). If you’re having problems watching the Tapscott video, you can also watch it here.
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