It’s time for the regular rush of Thursday Q&As. A special self-congratulatory note has to go to the Thursday Thumb-Twiddler, celebrating it’s one year anniversary. Yay, me!
So let’s start off with that anniversary edition:
1. If the President called up and said that he’d do his darnedest to implement any one policy or program you chose, what would you choose? The only one I can think of off-hand is ending the current discriminatory policy toward gays in the military. It’s counter-productive, stupid, and just plain wrong.
2. Is there scientific knowledge best left undiscovered? I think if one could learn enough about how the human mind works to be able to truly control it — altering what self means, in essense — I think it would be wildly dangerous. It could have some benefits, but it would almost inevitably lead to tragic results on a world-wide scale, making the tyrannies of the past seem positively quaint and benign by comparison.
But I think trying to suppress scientific research has its own grave costs, to the point where it’s probably better to simply hope I’m wrong than to try and make sure the djinn never leaves the bottle.
3. If you could proclaim a new national holiday, what would it be and how would we celebrate it? I’m drawing a blank here (demonstrating that I don’t simply grab questions that are easy hits out of the park for me). I can’t think of any particular cause that deserves a national holiday that isn’t already (or couldn’t be) covered in some sense by what we already have.
And then there’s the Thursday Threesome.
Onesome: Rain, rain- Some people love rainy days every once in a while. Are you one of them? Do they make you want to curl up in bed with a good book or going walking through the mist? Or would you rather it just go away? Absolutely. I’m more of the curling up type, though I might also stare out the window. I could definitely live in a rainier climate than Margie could.
Twosome: Go away- If you could go away to just one place, where would you go and why? Probably back to Britain. If that’s too broad, to the West Country. If that’s still too broad, to Cornwall. Or maybe Wales. Depends on my mood, or how long I’ll be there, or where I’ve recently been.
Domestically, I’d like to visit Santa Fe again some time.
Threesome: Come back another day- What’s the one place you’ve been to that you would like to go back to another time?See above.
One possible drawback to my new departmental assignment is that I’m not sure I’ll be able to justify Gartner in Orlando this fall (plus we’re sort of not happy withy Gartner at the moment, which makes it even less likely). Darn.
And then there’s the 3xThursday:
1. What do you think is totally unethical but legal? Oh, hell, any number of things. Well, let me clarify a bit — I differ between immoral (evil) and unethical (societally/socially harmful). I think there are any number of things that people do under the protection of civil liberties that are unethical (not to mention immoral), but which are legally protected — and which should be, for that matter. Gossip in professional circles, for example, is often unethical but not illegal (and rarely actionable).
The best thing I can think of, offhand, is for corporate execs to garner huge personal bonuses whilst their company (under their leadership) is foundering. Perfectly legal, and I can even argue that it’s practical to offer such bonus plans — but it is professionally unethical to accept such rewards.
2. What do you think is ethical but illegal? That one’s a bit more difficult, because of the difference between moral and ethical. Part of the problem is that committing illegal acts is (to the extent that it damages the fabric of law and order) intrinsically unethical to at least some degree. So it’s often a matter of balancing a greater ethical (benefitting the order of society) need against the intrinsic ethical/societal benefit of obeying the law. (That differs from the innumerable cases where one can, or must, act in a moral fashion against an immoral law.)
Hmmm. Have to think about that one.
3. So who do you think is more unethical? Porno actors or politicians? I’m not sure I know enough of either set of individuals to say. I don’t think either profession is particularly unethical, per se, though unethical (and immoral) people certainly can be found in both (as in most professions).
Bonus Question for Comments: So are white lies good or bad? They sure are.