edafe.org » society http://edafe.org edafe.org is the personal site of Edafe Knabe. Sat, 12 May 2012 12:19:46 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 Beware the creeping cracks of bias http://edafe.org/2012/05/beware-the-creeping-cracks-of-bias/ http://edafe.org/2012/05/beware-the-creeping-cracks-of-bias/#comments Sat, 12 May 2012 12:19:46 +0000 edafe http://edafe.org/?p=6427 Continue reading →]]> “Nothing will corrode public trust more than a creeping awareness that scientists are unable to live up to the standards that they have set for themselves.” Daniel Sarewitz worries that over-selection and over-reporting of false positive results will increasingly put the value of science into question.
www.nature.com

]]> http://edafe.org/2012/05/beware-the-creeping-cracks-of-bias/feed/ 0 Airport security — this house believes that changes made to airport security since 9/11 have done more harm than good http://edafe.org/2012/03/airport-security-this-house-believes-that-changes-made-to-airport-security-since-911-have-done-more-harm-than-good/ http://edafe.org/2012/03/airport-security-this-house-believes-that-changes-made-to-airport-security-since-911-have-done-more-harm-than-good/#comments Fri, 30 Mar 2012 10:15:04 +0000 edafe http://edafe.org/?p=6389 Continue reading →]]> “Spending billions to force the terrorists to alter their plans in one particular way does not make us safer. It is far more cost-effective to concentrate our defences in ways that work regardless of tactic and target: intelligence, investigation and emergency response.” Bruce Schneier debates the former head of the Transportation Security Administration, Kip Hawley, on airport security. This is from the first of Schneier’s three statements on the topic.
www.economist.com 20 March, 23 March, 28 March

]]> http://edafe.org/2012/03/airport-security-this-house-believes-that-changes-made-to-airport-security-since-911-have-done-more-harm-than-good/feed/ 0 How doctors die http://edafe.org/2011/12/how-doctors-die/ http://edafe.org/2011/12/how-doctors-die/#comments Fri, 30 Dec 2011 23:02:44 +0000 edafe http://edafe.org/?p=6307 Continue reading →]]> “Doctors die, too. And they don’t die like the rest of us. What’s unusual about them is not how much treatment they get compared to most Americans, but how little.” Meanwhile, Ken Murray is determined to go gentle into that good night.
zocalopublicsquare.org

]]> http://edafe.org/2011/12/how-doctors-die/feed/ 0 The curse of TINA http://edafe.org/2011/10/the-curse-of-tina/ http://edafe.org/2011/10/the-curse-of-tina/#comments Sun, 30 Oct 2011 20:51:38 +0000 edafe http://edafe.org/?p=6251 Continue reading →]]> “Think Tanks surround politics today and are the very things that are supposed to generate new ideas. But if you go back and look at how they rose up—at who invented them and why—you discover they are not quite what they seem.” Adam Curtis looks at the history of the Think Tank in the UK and asks why modern politics, for all its Think Tanks, seems so paradoxically short of new ideas.
www.bbc.co.uk

]]> http://edafe.org/2011/10/the-curse-of-tina/feed/ 0 Is aviation security mostly for show? http://edafe.org/2009/12/is-aviation-security-mostly-for-show/ http://edafe.org/2009/12/is-aviation-security-mostly-for-show/#comments Wed, 30 Dec 2009 14:29:09 +0000 edafe http://edafe.org/?p=5742 Continue reading →]]> “Despite fearful rhetoric to the contrary, terrorism is not a transcendent threat. A terrorist attack cannot possibly destroy a country’s way of life; it’s only our reaction to that attack that can do that kind of damage.” In the wake of last week’s failed bombing of an airplane over Detroit, Bruce Schneier asks us to leverage the inherent strengths of our democracies.
edition.cnn.com

]]> http://edafe.org/2009/12/is-aviation-security-mostly-for-show/feed/ 0 There’s probably no god.Now stop worrying and enjoy your life. http://edafe.org/2009/01/theres-probably-no-godnow-stop-worrying-and-enjoy-your-life/ http://edafe.org/2009/01/theres-probably-no-godnow-stop-worrying-and-enjoy-your-life/#comments Tue, 06 Jan 2009 16:54:02 +0000 edafe http://edafe.org/?p=3975 Continue reading →]]> “The Atheist Bus Campaign began when Ariane Sherine wrote an article in June 2008 about Christian adverts running on London buses. These ads featured the URL of a website which said non–Christians would burn in hell for all eternity. Ariane suggested that atheists reading her article could each donate £5 to fund a reassuring counter–advert.”
www.atheistbus.org.uk

Update: Christian religious groups are about to respond with ads stating that “there definitely is a god”.

]]> http://edafe.org/2009/01/theres-probably-no-godnow-stop-worrying-and-enjoy-your-life/feed/ 0 Open formats make history—and maintain it http://edafe.org/2005/10/open-formats-make-historyand-maintain-it/ http://edafe.org/2005/10/open-formats-make-historyand-maintain-it/#comments Sun, 30 Oct 2005 20:34:43 +0000 edafe http://edafe.org/?p=859 “Open formats are an important part of computing freedom because they give people control of their own data.” Gervase Markham on why there really is no alternative to open data formats.
business.timesonline.co.uk

]]> http://edafe.org/2005/10/open-formats-make-historyand-maintain-it/feed/ 0 Darwinian markets http://edafe.org/2005/06/darwinian-markets/ http://edafe.org/2005/06/darwinian-markets/#comments Wed, 08 Jun 2005 19:39:59 +0000 edafe http://edafe.org/?p=602 Continue reading →]]> “I’m struck by the work of some of the anti-globalization protesters, which has been admirably out-of-the-tunnel in terms of motivation, but naively ill-informed about how the world economy works.” Economist Paul Seabright on how human beings developed a complex system of cooperation and specialization between unrelated individuals.
www.reason.com

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