Spring Tour 2011: Final Stop – Bethel College

02. April 2011 · 4 comments · Categories: Fun, Life, Philosophy · Tags: ,

Final Stop: Bethel College: “Human Rights and Moral Reasoning: Three Approaches” and “‘It was the best of times.  It was the worst of times.’: Reflections on Graduate School”

Monday morning, I left Berne bright and early to head to Bethel College in Mishawaka, Indiana.  I was a bit late, having hit some unexpected road construction.

Human Rights and Moral Reasoning: Three Approaches

I presented in two classes taught by Brother Tim Erdel in the morning. My presentation focused on three different ways that human rights can be understood and how each of these approaches influences our moral reasoning.  The first approach argues that human rights are about the duties that the government has to its citizens.  The second approach argues that human rights are limiting trumps, dictating what we cannot do to each other.  The final approach argues that human rights are about seeing the dignity of other people as human persons and treating them in accord with that dignity.  After presenting the three views and the way they influence our moral reasoning, the classes discussed which view is the best way to approach human rights.  If we are arguing for a Kingdom ethic, the third approach is the ideal, but given that we live in a fallen world, the second is the way to universally approach human rights.

‘It was the best of times.  It was the worst of times’: Reflections on Graduate School

I spoke at a luncheon for students interested in graduate school, talking about my experiences in applying (both times), working on a masters degree, and the present process of working on my PhD, completing the dissertation, and searching for job.  While I did not shy away from discussing the negatives, I also talked about the good that has come about from this whole process.

Additionally, I was able to connect with different people throughout the day.  During the chapel hour, I saw the ladies of the admissions office who were my supervisors when I worked there during college.  After the luncheon, I had coffee with Matt Yoder, and also with Jim Stump, catching up with both of them, reminding me of the times spent at Bethel having discussions with both of them.  Lisa and Eric Oglesbee had me over for dinner that evening, for a time full of reminiscing and shared experiences in working toward a PhD.  Fittingly, on the way back to Berne, I had a wonderful conversation with another friend from Bethel, Michael From.

It was a time that was good for the soul, returning to the place and professors that played such an important role in shaping me into the person I am today.  It is also the place I met my wife, and we both always fondly remember our time there.

The Return to Waco

Tuesday morning, I said farewell to my parents, after my mom loaded my suitcase with pumpkin cookies (and make up for Jess).  I drove down to Indianapolis, where I was able to meet up with Nate Patterson for coffee and conversation at his place, getting to see his wife, Grace, and son, John, as well.  It was a nice and fitting ending for the trip.

This trip served the purpose of reconnecting with people, presenting some of my ideas, and reminding me that the work I’m doing isn’t limited to my dissertation, isn’t limited to Baylor, and can be applicable for people who aren’t in the philosophical world.  Seeing friends and family only reinforced those things.

A special thanks to Baylor’s philosophy department and graduate school for the generous funding to make this possible.  An additional thanks to John White and Tim Erdel for organizing my opportunities to present at Cedarville and Bethel.

Spring 2011 Tour – A Break in Berne

01. April 2011 · Write a comment · Categories: Fun, Life · Tags: , ,

While I have already returned to Waco, I have two more updates (including this one) to write about my first tour.

As a matter of tying up loose ends from the previous post, the pizza from LaRosa’s was everything I could hope for.  If you’re in the Cincinnati area, I highly recommend trying them out.

Stop Two: Midwest EPS (continued)

Saturday morning was the conclusion of the Midwest EPS conference.  Again, there were some compelling papers presented.  At the end of the conference, I was presented with the Outstanding EPS Graduate Student Paper award.  The award came with a book and some cash, and receiving it from Tim Erdel was meaningful as well.

Stop Three: Break in Berne

Saturday afternoon I headed to my parents’ house in Berne, IN.  Josh, Stacy, Jay, and Ashley were all there, as was the star of the weekend, Cambria.  During my time in Berne, I visited both of my grandmas, went to church with my family, and had a lot of fun and relaxation. 

As a matter of fulfilling my duties as an uncle, I was proud to introduce Cambria to the joys of old fashioned cream pie. She gummed the pie multiple times, and ended up with a small piece that she liked.

If you look closely, you’ll notice that she has a firm grip on Uncle Joel’s finger, making sure the pie doesn’t get too far away and pulling it in when she’s ready for her next bite.  Also, please notice that Cambria’s mom (Stacy) is holding her, so I wasn’t getting into too much trouble.  Cambria really enjoyed the pie, and was all too happy to enjoy it again the following day, once again, from Uncle Joel.  I really like being an uncle to Cambria and Sophie (my niece from Kristen).

I always enjoy being with family, and this time was no exception.  Living in Texas, we’ve learned to make the most of the opportunities we get with family in Indiana and Michigan, and hopefully, one day we’ll get closer.

Upcoming: Final Leg and Back to Waco

Spring 2011 Tour: And so it begins…

24. March 2011 · 6 comments · Categories: Fun, Life · Tags: , ,

I’m in the midst of a bit of a tour, speaking at 3 different places between today and Monday.  Today I spoke in a class at Cedarville University on “Hauerwas and Justice”.  Tomorrow, I’ll present my paper “Teaching to Persons, Not Computers” at the Midwest regional Evangelical Philosophical Society conference.  On Monday, I’ll be speaking in two classes at Bethel on “Moral Reasoning and Human Rights – Three Approaches” and at a lunch, giving a talk that I’m calling “‘It Was the Best of Times.  It Was the Worst of Times.’: Reflections on Graduate School”.  I’ll be doing some posts on the road that will include some content, some reviews of dining places, and general thoughts about what’s going on.

Traveling the World…

Yesterday, after teaching my classes in the morning, I traveled up north, flying into Indianapolis, and driving to Dayton, Ohio.  Equipped with my Kindle for the flight, I began reading The Most Human Human: What Talking with Computers Teaches Us About What It Means to Be Alive by Brian Christian.  While I will review the book when I complete it at a later date, it is a book that I’m thoroughly enjoying reading.  Christian was a confederate for the Loebner Prize in 2009 and the book is a discussion of the thoughts and insights he had in preparing for the competition and that emerged following the competition.  The Loebner Prize goes to the “Most Human Computer”, that is, the computer that does the best at trying to convince a human that the computer is human as well through conversation.  Christian was one of the confederates that try to convince another human that he is a human as well.  (All of this is done through chat software in different rooms.)  Given my interest in the Turing Test (off of which this competition is based), I could hardly put the book down during the flight from Dallas to Indy and look forward to continuing it and posting thoughts from it.

The drive from Indianapolis to Dayton was filled with great hits from the 80s, even though the temperature dropped nearly 25 degrees from when I got in the car in Indy till I got to my hotel in Dayton.  Nothing warms my heart like some great 80s music.

This morning on my way to Cedarville, I passed a Tim Horton’s.  Given my love for their donuts and coffee, I had no choice but to stop.  If only all mornings could start that way.  It did slightly redeem the fact that it is the end of March and it was below freezing according to the rental car.

Stop One: Cedarville University: Hauerwas and Justice

My talk at Cedarville was on Hauerwas and Justice, accompanying the class discussion on the chapter in The Peaceable Kingdom on social ethics.  For Hauerwas, justice is a matter of reconciliation between God and humans and between humans.  While this may promote similar actions to a Rawlsian conception of justice as fairness, it is fundamentally different, as it has a different motivation and intention than the Rawlsian conception.  Hauerwas encourages Christians not to compromise what it means to be just in order to “accomplish good” in the world.  Instead of striving to have a society of people who do actions that look like they do just and fair actions, Hauerwas believes that Christians should strive to form a community of people who are actually just.  Formation is much more difficult than imitation (although imitation can play a role in formation), but we should not settle for imitation instead of formation, even if it seems quicker and more effective presently.

The students were responsive and asked insightful questions with thoughtful responses as well.  I’m not sure if that is a reflection of Cedarville’s Biblical and Theological Studies department or the professor, John White, (or both), but I applaud those students and those who are developing those students to be engaged theological persons.

Coffee Shop Review

This afternoon, I’m working from a coffee shop in Cedarville called Stoney Creek Roasters.  I must say that this is possibly the best coffee shop I’ve worked in.  The atmosphere is rustic, yet homey, with good music playing in the background, yet the music is by no means overwhelming. I enjoyed a nice turkey bacon club panini and chips for lunch, along with a raspberry-peach-vanilla soda (both on the recommendation of the cashier).  Both hit the spot and I would definitely get each of them if I were to come a second time.  After my lunch, I buckled down and got to work with a reasonably priced cup of coffee that hit the spot on this cold day.  If I lived in Cedarville, Ohio, I would be a regular here for sure.

Upcoming Plans

Tonight, after dinner, I’m heading to Cincinnati, for tomorrow and Saturday’s Midwest regional Evangelical Philosophical Society conference.   

You Are Not a Gadget Thursdays – Digital Peasant Chic

09. September 2010 · Write a comment · Categories: Philosophy, Teaching, Technology · Tags: , , ,

When all art is free, how do the artists live?

This concern carries the fourth chapter of You Are Not a Gadget.  Many people support the idea of an open or free culture, where content is free and available to all, not just for viewing, but also for use.

Lanier polemically refers to these people as digital Maoists, rejecting hierarchy for the most part while embracing “digital metaness, in which a mashup is more important than the sources who were mashed.  A blog of blogs is more exalted than a mere blog (79)”.  (Lanier does recognize that open culture does not claim authoritarian control of the communication of ideas.)

When the meta level becomes king and everything is subsumed into the noosphere or hive mind, Lanier claims that only advertising has value.  Because every form of expression (blogs, music, movies, art, news), in becoming open and free, is to be “remashed, anonymized, and decontextualized to the point of meaninglessness” (82), the advertisements become what has value.  When advertisements are the only thing to have value, then the advertisers have all of the control over what is seen, as they decide what to contribute the value of their advertisements.

Ironically, this move of valuing advertisements is, in a sense, a failure of the noosphere according to Lanier.  If the hive mind is capable of doing a better job than paid experts, then it seems that the hive mind should be able to direct us in our decisions rather than advertising.  If advertising is paid persuasion, it tries to say that there is something where those who are paid do better than the hive, that is, give advice on what to do.  So in reality, if we are given completely free and open content, the advertisements attached to that content become overly pervasive.  They do not butt in on our experience, but are always sitting there, speaking to us.

As mentioned in the previous chapter, Lanier doesn’t find the hive mind to be appealing, but he also does not find this advertiser run life any more appealing.  He says:

If money is flowing to advertising instead of musicians, journalists, and artists, then a society is more concerned with manipulation than truth or beauty.  If content is worthless, then people will start to become empty-headed and contentless (83).

I would argue that if you look at the musicians/journalists/artists that are most popular/successful/wealthy, you’ll see something that looks far more like advertising than music/news/art.  This move makes sense, due to the fact that you can make a lot more if you have endorsements and advertising in addition to album sales and concert profits, especially with the uncertainty that appears to be accompanying the future of media distribution.  However, at that point, it is not longer about the music/news/art.  Lanier is concerned that if advertisers control everything, that eventually those who want to make a living on the basis of mental activity will have to be part of institutions or commissioned by patrons in order to survive.  While this possibility is not in the realm of impossibilities (although it may be in the realm of improbabilities), I think there is a model already emerging for music distribution that may prevent musicians from having to be patronized in order to make a living.

This model for music distribution is noisetrade.com.  NoiseTrade is a website started by a group of people (including Derek Webb, a former/present(?) member of the band Caedmon’s Call) that dubs itself as “Fair Trade Music”.  The idea behind NoiseTrade is that artists can upload songs/albums onto the server for NoiseTrade and people for the price of your zip code and e-mail address, you can download the music from NoiseTrade, leaving the artist an additional tip if you’d like.  Since artists make the significant portion of their money from tours, having the zip codes of those who download their music allows them to plan their tours more efficiently and having the e-mail addresses allows them to keep in contact with those who download their music.  I believe the artists have to give something like 20% of their tips, but pay no other costs.

I give the plug for NoiseTrade, because I think it is an interesting model for musicians.  Webb offered an album of his for e-mail addresses and zip codes over the course of a month in 2006.  Interestingly, the sales of that album increased and the attendance for his shows increased drastically.  The artist puts the music out there for the fans to decide what they want to pay upfront.  If the music is good, they’ll tell their friends who will download with the same zip code, which then becomes a place where the artist will want to try to tour, and the fans will come to the show and pay the artist back in ticket sales for the great music produced.  The music, while free, is connected to the artist, and although NoiseTrade does have advertisements on their site, the advertisements tend to be for magazines that promote indie music, much like the artists available on NoiseTrade.

While Lanier might be leery of something like NoiseTrade, I think NoiseTrade is one example of how social networking can support artists apart from the artistic-integrity-bashing-because-we’re-ruled-by-advertising model that Lanier concerns himself with.  How something like this would work out for journalists, visual artists, or even philosophers, since we don’t tour, I’m not sure, but I’m not willing to give up hope that even in Lanier’s worst case scenario, something would emerge.  If the thing that emerged was sold out philosophical speaking/questioning tours, I personally think that the world would be a better place… and I know some philosophers for whom I would love to be their opening act on tour.