Brian’s Links 4 January 2012: Ethics, Environment, Economics

Hey, isn’t that Sauron’s Palantir? Dreher’s quick response on a long article concerning how intelligence data is now being assembled.

Of what value is a language or a culture? This particular article has some errors due to sensationalism (aren’t all cultures “one of the oldest surviving human cultures”?), but the loss is real.

Should the Pope wear his seat belt? I think he should, after all, he is supposed to be an example to others.

Wealth. The Pope says redistribute it. (See paragraph 5.) Pretty basic Christianity, really.

Occupy philosophy.

LA votes to end corporate personhood.

What if campaign contributors were anonymized? Could it eliminate cronyism and favoritism?

Test your morality. I love ethics quizzes.

How do your favorite restaurants rate? Which restaurants treat their employees fairly and which do not.

Did medieval knights fear getting post-traumatic stress disorder? Maybe… or at least a guilty conscience.

These military projects are just dripping with ethical questions.

Environmental ethics… we’re in BIG trouble. The thawing arctic is releasing stored methane, a stronger greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. This has major positive feedback loop potential.

Burning methane clathrate