Zeitgeist
Attempts to commercialize wind phones spark controversy
Hmmm … The nonprofit in question appears to be https://www.littlewindphoneproject.org and while I see no reason to doubt their sincerity nor competence, I think they’re fundamentally missing the point. Wind phones gain from the DIY model; frictionless is not always better.
Memento Mori Religion in “28 Years Later”
In the 28 Days franchise, much of the world is laid to waste by an accidentally-released pathogen called the Rage Virus, which reduces human beings to almost mindless biting and eating machines. The third installment is set 28 years after the original movie and takes place in a radically re-wilded England. Nature has largely reclaimed … Read moreMemento Mori Religion in “28 Years Later”
“Hospitality at the End of Life”
Debby Waldman writes for the Washington Post on the emerging trend towards home-owners facilitating comfortable, homey venues for MAID patients traveling to states in which death with dignity is legal: In a pastoral Vermont valley, a former hospice chaplain named Suzanne runs a retreat center for artists, health-care workers and educators — and, since mid-2023, … Read more“Hospitality at the End of Life”
“Canada is Killing Itself”
Elaina Plott Calobro write for The Atlantic on the state of play in Canada, ten years after legalizing medical aid in dying: The details of the assisted-death experience have become a preoccupation of Canadian life. Patients meticulously orchestrate their final moments, planning celebrations around them: weekend house parties before a Sunday-night euthanasia in the garden; … Read more“Canada is Killing Itself”
“Freedom over death”
Michael Cholbi writes for Aeon: Freedom is a notoriously complex and contested philosophical notion, and I won’t pretend to settle any of the big controversies it raises. But I believe that a type of freedom we can call freedom over death – that is, a freedom in which we shape the timing and circumstances of … Read more“Freedom over death”
“How to draft a will to avoid becoming an AI ghost—it’s not easy”
Ashley Belanger writes for Ars Technica: As artificial intelligence has advanced, AI tools have emerged to make it possible to easily create digital replicas of lost loved ones, which can be generated without the knowledge or consent of the person who died. Trained on the data of the dead, these tools, sometimes called grief bots … Read more“How to draft a will to avoid becoming an AI ghost—it’s not easy”
“The Future of Dying”
Adam Lee writes for OnlySky on the potential of New York becoming the eleventh US state to legalize Medical Assistance in Dying, and on the secular Humanist ethical underpinnings of MAID: If we have a freedom, we can choose how to exercise it. That choice necessarily includes the right not to exercise it. Freedom of … Read more“The Future of Dying”
“We can live well, even though we don’t have a higher purpose”
Alexis Shotwell writes for Psyche on Ursula K. LeGuin’s practical philosophy: