Philosophy 101 Unit 1

Please post a comment by Tuesday’s class for participation credit for this week.

Prompts and Questions:

• “Those Who Sacrifice Liberty For Security Deserve Neither.” - Ben Franklin. Is Franklin right?
• Dreyfus is attempting to combat the inflated hype surrounding the Internet. In what ways has the Internet been hyped? Does it live up to the hype, or does it fall flat?
• Dreyfus makes a big deal out of the failure of search. What similarities do you see between his arguments and Searle’s arguments against strong AI? Is search really a failure? If not, what does this imply about artificial intelligence?
• Dreyfus thinks the body is the source of meaning, relevance, and significance. Why are Dreyfus’ arguments for this view? What implications does this hold for our engagement with the Internet? Is Dreyfus right to be skeptical of the Internet?
• Dreyfus thinks that distance learning is necessarily deficient. Are his criticisms reasonable? If you have had any experience with distance learning, do his criticisms ring true?
• Dreyfus focuses much of his criticisms at the very notion of ‘telepresence’. He says “Whatever hugs do for people, I’m quite sure telehugs won’t do it.” Are interpersonal relationships over the Internet necessarily deficient? What might Clark say in response?
• Dreyfus thinks that the Internet is symptomatic of the nihilism of the contemporary age, and he sides with Kierkegaard in seeing this nihilism reflected in the press, the media, and the way people behave on the Internet. Is the modern age really nihilistic? If so, is this nihilism a product of the technology or does it reflect something deeper about contemporary culture, or perhaps about human nature?
• Does the internet represent an overload of information? Is this dangerous to our democracy, or to our individual freedoms? Is this something we are prepared to handle, or does the technology move too quickly for us to keep up?
• In the conclusion of the book, Dreyfus distinguishes his criticisms of the Internet from Plato’s criticisms of written language. What is Plato’s view, and why does Dreyfus think his criticisms are different?
• Should the network be neutral? Do the telecommunications companies responsible for building the infrastructure of the network have a legitimate claim to those pipes? Should the internet be a public utility like water and electricity, or is it a luxury item that is rightfully under the control of private interests?

Also, for those interested in the security issues we discussed in class, I strongly recommend watching the Frontline documentary Spying on the Home Front (which you can stream online). It is extremely well done, and goes in depth to both sides of the argument. 

Also, check the following resources on the NSA Wiretapping scandal:

NSA has massive database of Americans’ phone calls (USA Today, who originally broke the story)
NSA Warrantless Surveillance Controversy [Wikipedia]
AT&T Whistle blower’s Evidence [Wired]
Discussion of Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) [Wikipedia]

Net Neutrality:

Vint Cerf (Father of the Internet and Chief Internet Evangelist for Google) on Net Neutrality.
Net Neutrality is about freedom of speech
Lessig on the Law