Blogs & articles

It's the same the whole world over...

Blog

09 Sep 2011

Matthew Taylor

Thank you to all those who offered words of comfort and support after my less than impressive Moral Maze performance this week. I have been inspired to write another post on one aspect of the debate about responsibility.

Losing it on the Maze

Blog

08 Sep 2011

Matthew Taylor

In a rather self-satisfied way, from time to time I ask the readers of this blog to listen to me on the radio.So it is only fair that I now alert you to the chance to hear me getting things badly wrong.  You can do this by tuning into the repeat of yesterday’s Moral Maze (you can also use BBC ‘listen again’).

Should we play fair with religion?

Comment

07 Sep 2011

The RSA’s strapline is 21st century enlightenment. Brenda Watson FRSA argues for more discussion of religion, which she believes has a legitimate place in public discourse.  

The twin twin towers

Blog

06 Sep 2011

Matthew Taylor

I recall the morning of September 11th 2001. I was director of IPPR and we employed an intern from New York who was that day helping us organise a conference. I vividly remember her shock and distress when I took her to one side to describe - as best I could - what was unfolding in her home town. (As an aside, it is interesting to recall that just ten years ago - before mobile phones and laptops were routinely connected to the internet - it was possible for people to go some hours before being aware that a major world event had occurred. Now, everyone would know within minutes.)

Looting sentences - you're the judge

Blog

05 Sep 2011

Matthew Taylor

There has been much comment on the sentences handed out to those involved in the August street disturbances.  An early estimate was that average sentences in magistrates’ courts were 25% higher than for similar offences, while the Guardian states today that crown court sentences are up to three times as long. Beyond the predictable split between disciplinarians (who think prison works) and bleeding heart liberals (who don’t) there is an interesting question about the nature of culpability in looting. Is it one which neuroscience might potentially help us to resolve?  

Pure, Impure and Competitive: Altruism

Blog

05 Sep 2011

Nathalie Spencer

On Tuesday Sept 6th the RSA is hosting the event: The Price of Altruism.  Oren Harman will speak about the polymath George Price, perhaps the leading contributor to the study of altruism.  In the run up to the event, I’ve been thinking more about altruism.  After some shallow digging, I uncovered three different categories of it: pure, impure and competitive. 

Where is HAL 9000?

Comment

01 Sep 2011

Along with the millions who saw 2001 A Space Odyssey, Peter Cochrane FRSA was enthralled by HAL9000. He asks whether, three decades on, advances in artificial intelligence means we are near to producing a ‘real HAL’ .

Why cancer patients need a new friend

Blog

31 Aug 2011

Matthew Taylor

Forgive my unusual reticence but I want to recognise at the outset that this post is addressing an issue which is deeply personal and emotional for those affected, and that I have no proper expertise to justify me wading in. But after a lot of thought I concluded it was better to risk my views being wrong than simply to avoid the issue…

In defence of brains

Blog

30 Aug 2011

Matthew Taylor

The backlash against what Ray Tallis calls ‘neuromania’ is in full swing. As well as Tallis (you can download my recent debate with him from the RSA website) there is, for example, a pretty damning critique of David Brooks' book, The Social Animal in a recent New York Review. Indeed on the same topic I recently endured what must be the worst argument I have ever had as an adult with my father. I am sure there were diners sitting on the other side of the restaurant who heard him slam the table and exclaim furiously ‘my appreciation of art has got sod all to do with bloody neural pathways!’.