6,688 research outputs found
Possible preferences and the harm of existence
No full textHow good or bad is a person’s life? How good or bad is a world? In this dissertation, I will attempt to answer these questions. Common-sense would dictate that if a person’s life would be extremely bad, then bringing her into existence is a bad thing. Not only is it bad for the person who lives it, but also, it is bad because it makes the world a worse place. A world populated only by individuals who have lives full of unrelenting misery and suffering is certainly worse than a world only populated by individuals who are extremely well off. If we can measure the value of a person’s life and the value of a world, then we can determine how good or bad our lives are and how good or bad the actual world is. Investigating these issues and providing satisfactory answers to these questions is immensely important.
In this dissertation I argue that all actual human lives are so bad that it would have been better had all of us never come into existence. I also argue that our world is worse than an empty world. The nucleus of my view consists of the following two claims:
i. Each person has an interest in acquiring a new satisfied preference.
ii. Whenever a person is deprived of a new satisfied preference this violates an interest and is thus a harm with a finite disvalue.
If one holds both (i) and (ii), then one is a deprivationalist. Any deprivationalist will have to claim that existence is worse for all actual persons than non-existence. I also show that deprivationalism presents a clear strategy for escaping The Repugnant Conclusion and The Mere Addition Paradox. For a deprivationalist, the Non-Identity Problem is neutralized as well. Parfit’s challenge in Reasons and Persons was to devise a theory of beneficence that could escape these cases without leading to other unacceptable conclusions. Parfit failed to find a theory—“Theory X”—that would meet these requirements. If the conclusions in this dissertation are correct, then deprivationalism is a good candidate for Theory X
Do dolphins benefit from nonlinear mathematics when processing their sonar returns?
No full textAn interview with author Tim Leighton about the paper
Opportunities for linking young surveyors across professional surveying member organisations and FIG
No full textTim Di Muzio on 'Sabotage'
No full textIn a series of essays published in 2013 and 2014 on capitaspower.com, political economist Tim Di Muzio explored the concept of ‘sabotage’ as it applies to capitalist power. I recently rediscovered these essays and was so impressed by them that I have reposted them here as a single piece.
About the author: Tim Di Muzio is a researcher at the University of Wollongong. He is the author of numerous books, including Debt as power, Carbon capitalism, and The 1% and the Rest of us
1996-1997 Tim Gautreaux
No full textTim Gautreaux is the author of three novels and two earlier short story collections. His work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Best American Short Stories, The Atlantic, Harper’s, and GQ. After teaching for thirty years at Southeastern Louisiana University, he now lives, with his wife, in Chattanooga, Tennessee. (Photo credit: Randy Bergeron)https://egrove.olemiss.edu/grisham_res/1023/thumbnail.jp
First person - Tim Petzold
No full textFirst Person is a series of interviews with the first authors of a selection of papers published in Biology Open, helping researchers promote themselves alongside their papers. Tim Petzold is first author on ‘ Connexin 41.8 governs timely haematopoietic stem and progenitor cell specification’, published in BiO. Tim conducted the research described in this article while a PhD student in Julien Bertrand's lab at the Department of Pathology and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Switzerland. He is now a postdoc in the lab of Holger Gerhardt at the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association, Berlin, Germany, investigating developmental biology – previously his focus was on how blood stem cells develop and now it has shifted to how the vascular system develops
Tim Seibles, 40th Annual ODU Literary Festival
No full textTim Seibles is the author of several poetry collections including Hurdy-Gurdy, Hammerlock, Buffalo Head Solos, and Fast Animal, which was a finalist for the 2012 National Book Award. In 2013 he received both the Pen Oakland Josephine Miles Award for poetry and an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Misericordia University for his literary accomplishments. His latest collection, One Turn Around the Sun, has just been released. Tim is the current Poet Laureate of Virginia and is a Professor of English at Old Dominion University where he teaches literature as well as classes in the MFA in writing program
Tim Seibles, 39th Annual ODU Literary Festival
No full textTim Seibles is the author of several poetry collections including Hurdy-Gurdy, Hammerlock, Buffalo Head Solos, and Fast Animal, which was a finalist for the 2012 National Book Award. In 2013 he received both the Pen Oakland Josephine Miles Award for poetry and an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Misericordia University for his literary accomplishments. His latest collection, One Turn Around the Sun, has just been released. Tim is the current Poet Laureate of Virginia and is a Professor of English at Old Dominion University where he teaches literature as well as classes in the MFA in writing program
Global Media Ideas - Infinite Pathways to Creative Succes - Tim Chang - Part One.mp4
No full textDuring the X Media Lab: Global Media Ideas summit in June 2011 media and technology writer Brad Howarth conducted interviews with industry experts for Creativeinnovation. This video is part one of Brad Howarth's interview with Tim Chang about his role as Partner at Norwest Venture Partners (Palo Alto). Tim focuses on investments in mobile, gaming, digital media, and also leads Norwest Venture Partners's investment practice in China and Asia-Pacific. Tim shares tips on how to get an introduction to a Venture Capital; the elements of a good pitch and follow-up. And what he looks at when considering a deal - The 3Ts: Team, Traction, Tier 1 co-investors
2015 MLK Lecture: Tim Wise
No full text2015 MLK Series Lecturer, anti-racism author and activist Tim Wise speaks on privilege and the harms of inequity
- …
