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Friday, May 10, 2019

Suffering and Virtue: Art of asking good questions

Martha Minow on the art of asking good questions Harvard Law Today [article includes video of the lecture]- In a last lecture to the graduating classes of J.D.s and LL.M.s, the former HLS dean invokes “The Next Generation” to impart final words of wisdom
“In her Last Lecture to the Harvard Law School graduating class, 300th Anniversary University Professor and former HLS Dean Martha Minow focused on the art of asking good questions—a talent she told the students would be key to their work in the future, and a skill that they should “cherish and cultivate.”  “I would like more time with all of you,” she told the graduates at Austin Hall in April. Her informal talk was peppered with humor and personal reflection, even invoking her love of “Star Trek.” She also referenced two of her favorite commencement speeches, one by author J.K. Rowling, and one by humorist Art Buchwald, quoting the latter in its entirety: “Graduates, we the older generation are leaving you a perfect world. Don’t louse it up.”…



Study: Participating In Arts Boosts Sense Of Wellbeing

Commissioned by BBC Arts, it represents the first time that researchers have explored how creative activities, such as acting in a play, singing in a choir, or playing an instrument or painting, can help manage emotions and mood. It found three main ways in which people use creativity as coping mechanisms to control emotions. – The Stage




Visionary Photographer Edward Weston on Creativity and the Importance of Cross-Disciplinary Curiosity

“In this age of communication… who can be free from influence, — preconception? But — it all depends upon what one does with this cross-fertilization: — is it digested, or does it bring indigestion?”

Visionary Photographer Edward Weston on Creativity and the Importance of Cross-Disciplinary Curiosity
“Invention, it must be humbly admitted, does not consist in creating out of void, but out of chaos,” Frankensteinauthor Mary Shelley observed in contemplating how creativity works. All creative people recognize this chaos — the chaos of influences, inspirations, memories, and stimulations, cross-pollinating in the mind to germinate the seed of something we dare call original: our very own contribution to the world, tessellated of these myriad existing worlds we carry within us. Rilke knew this when we composed his exquisite meditation on inspiration and the combinatorial nature of creativity


Theories of Punishment by Travis Joseph Rodgers

Suffering and Virtue 

For creatures like us, suffering is an inevitable part of life. Yet we have clashing intuitions about its value: on the one hand, all suffering seems bad; this is part of the very notion of suffering. On the other hand, some suffering seems to be good, because it can fortify us in various ways. In this book, Michael Brady defends the value of some suffering because of its role in cultivating and expressing virtues that are essential to a good life for human beings. Brady's extremely clear and careful account of suffering and its value is a demonstration of how philosophy can be therapeutic: if we can absorb the lessons he is offering, we may find our lives more bearable and more meaningful.


CNN – “Special counsel Robert Mueller’s prosecutors didn’t want former FBI Director James Comey’s memos released because they feared that President Donald Trump and other witnesses could change their stories after reading Comey’s version of events, according to an argument they made in a January 2018 sealed court hearing. The newly released record gives a rare glimpse into the Mueller team’s concerns at a time the special prosecutors were publicly silent about their work — and before redacted versions of Comey’s memos were made public.
A court order on Tuesday forced the Justice Department to provide a transcript of the hearing to CNN as part of a lawsuit over access to the Comey memos. The Justice Department implored a federal judge to keep the memos under seal after CNN and other news organizations asked for their release. Mueller’s plea to keep the memos under seal coincided with negotiations with Trump’s legal team over a potential interview with the President at Camp David, planned for the days following the court hearing and which ultimately fell through. At the time of the late January hearing, several other witnesses to the Comey developments had already spoken to Mueller…”


Banks Now Let Users Verify Their Identities Using a Blockchain App
  Banks now let customers digitally verify their identities in a “privacy-enhanced and secure way” using blockchain technology with a mobile app called Verified.Me which is a joint Canadian-U.S. government program.

Ethics of identity in the time of big data
  In the context of big data & surveillance capitalism, this paper argues that by sketching two ethical frameworks arranged to defend our compartmentalized identities, this amounts to promoting the dis-integration of our selves. One framework connects with natural law, the other with language, and both aim to create a sense of selfhood that breaks away from its own past, and from the unifying powers of big data technology.


'Reporting from the Front Lines'

Two ethics centers funded by craigslist founder Craig Newmark kick off today with live-streamed events from New York City.

Journalism is in a fight.
The media continues to go up against the threat of information warfare, and the ethical challenges that come with it. That will be a topic of conversation today at a special event in New York City. And even if you’re not in New York, you can join in.
The Poynter Institute and the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism will explore a number of fronts in the battle and the best practices for media organizations at Reporting from the Front Lines of the Information Wars.
The symposium marks the formal launch of Poynter’s Craig Newmark Center for Ethics and Leadership and Columbia’s Craig Newmark Center for Journalism Ethics and Security. In February, Newmark, founder of Craigslist, gave a $5 million grant to Poynter and $10 million to Columbia University.
Poynter President Neil Brown will lead guest speakers today who also include Newmark, Poynter Senior Vice President Kelly McBride, Rappler founder Maria Ressa and New York Magazine Senior Correspondent Irin Carmon. The event also will feature the standards editors at The New York Times, CNN and USA Today.
The program runs all day at the Columbia School of Journalism in New York City, and is scheduled to be livestreamed on Poynter’s website.