Suggested readings, 17 January 2021

Here are some interesting articles I've read over the past week I think are worth checking out.

Diarmaid Ferriter, “Efforts to avoid ‘public scandal’ created the greatest scandal of all.” 15 Jan, Irish Times.

"It is so cruelly ironic that the concerted and co-ordinated efforts to avoid 'public scandal' created the greatest scandals of all."

Dylan Matthews, “The F Word: the debate over whether to call Donald Trump a fascist, and why it matters.” 14 Jan, Vox.

"Back in 2015, no fascism expert would use the word to describe Trump. In October 2020, they were inching closer, but most dismissed the term as likely an exaggeration or distraction."

Greg Miller, “The enduring allure of conspiracies.” 14 Jan, Knowable Magazine.

Are conspiracy theories more prevalent and influential today, or does it just seem that way?

Stuart Ritchie, “Do you know how Covid really spreads?” 15 Jan, UnHerd.

"Endlessly repeating an outdated slogan is unforgivable now that the science has moved on. Airborne transmission isn’t an afterthought -- it might even be the main way the virus spreads. It’s time to break the inertia, and change the message altogether."

Stuart Ritchie, “Does vitamin D really help combat Covid-19?” 13 Jan, New Statesman.

"Many more trials of vitamin D and Covid-19 are on the way, so we’ll get a more definitive answer soon. Until then, let’s lay off the overblown claims about near-magical substances and sinister conspiracies. It might feel unsatisfying but, as with so many parts of the coronavirus debate, the only sensible scientific view on vitamin D is one of uncertainty."

Christopher J. Snowdon, “Rise of the Coronavirus Cranks.” 16 Jan, Quillette.

"Until the first vaccine arrived in December, COVID scepticism offered people a way out. If the dangers of the virus were being overhyped by fearmongers, and lockdowns were entirely ineffective, then societies could reopen secure in the knowledge that there was nothing that could be done to reduce the death toll (which would, in any case, be a fraction of what we were told). The comforting lie that trade-offs could be avoided has proved irresistible to those who have surrendered to confirmation bias and constructed a parallel and preferable version of reality."

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Should We Use Neuroenhancement Drugs to Improve Relationships?

A version of this article was printed in Humanism Ireland , July-August, Vol. 147 (2014) L ove, it is fair to say, is probably the strongest emotion we can experience. It can come in many different forms: love of one’s parent, sibling, or child. Though most people consider romantic relationships—which include companionship, sexual passion, intimacy, warmth, procreation and child-rearing—as the most significant component of one’s life; and it is probably the thing we find discussed more than anything else in novels, films and music. Committed romantic relationships tend to occur within the institution of marriage—something that is ubiquitous to most, if not all, cultures. Indeed, relationships today, which are primarily love-driven, are not just confined to marriages, as many couples sustain relationships outside of wedlock. Being in a love-driven relationship is considered important for most people, as it contributes to happiness—something we a...

Is Adult Incest Wrong?

An version of this article was printed in Humanism Ireland , March-April, Vol. 151 (2015) Incest is something most people find morally objectionable and it's one of the most common of all cultural taboos. The British Medical Association’s Complete Family Health Encyclopaedia (1990) defines incest as “ intercourse between close relatives,” that usually includes “intercourse with a parent, a son or daughter, a brother or sister, an uncle or aunt, a nephew or niece, a grandparent or grandchild.” The Oxford English Dictionary ’s definition is a little broader: it doesn’t confine incest to just intercourse, but to “sexual relations between people classified as being too closely related to marry each other.” Most countries have some kind of law against incest—though consensual adult incest is not a crime in France, Spain, Russia the Netherlands, and a host of countries in South America. In England and Wales, however, t he Sexual Offences Act 2003 ...

The ethics of high-tech “conversion” therapy

An edited version of this article was printed in Humanism Ireland , September-October, Vol. 148 (2014) I n an earlier post I discussed the imminent prospect of biological manipulating our different love systems and some of the ethical implications that might follow from it. This topic originally appeared in an article published in 2008 by Oxford ethicists Julian Savulescu and Anders Sandberg, who argue that it might be possible, in the next number of decades or so, to biologically manipulate and enhance our quality of love. They propose that we could supplement our relationship counselling sessions with prescription ‘love drugs’—ones with the purpose of improving intimacy and commitment between partners. With emerging biotechnologies like this, which includes recent work in neuroscience, psychopharmacology and other related areas, it will also be possible to consider the prospect of using them to manipulate brain systems to diminish and alter the capacity fr...

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