Review the passages in Playground and 36 Arguments pertaining to the following. Note also the bonus/extra credit opportunity:
EXAM BONUS QUESTION (worth up to 5 points): post your 500 word (minimum) transcript of an imaginary conversation between Frank, Rafi (and/or Todd & Ina), Cass (and/or Roz & Lucinda), AND yourself, responding initially to the question "What have your experiences and relationships taught you about how to live?"
March 17
- Todd Keane, "the first person to reach the future" [as the novel will reveal] is now "retreating into the past"... 9 And what does he mean, that when he was young he could "breathe under water"? 13
- Todd's former company's breakthrough, he says, will hasten humanity's "fourth and perhaps final act." 26 What do you think were the first three acts? What do you imagine might be the fourth?
- "If you want to make something smarter, teach it to play." 59 Agree?
- "Reading made him untouchable on a raft in the middle of an ocean of bright words." 71 Do kids still have that experience of reading, in the Internet/social media/gaming age?
- Saint Ignatius and Aristotle on molding children... What is the significance of "Give" (as opposed to Show)? 86
March 24
- Has Bart made the right choice, to stay married to Evie? Was her marriage proposal merely "practical" and dispassionate? 109
- Why is Evie confident that "the master plan of Life... will never end?" 112, 118
- What does "moving the goalposts" mean? 155
- What’s your opinion of The Common Task? 158-161,185, 193 Is that really where evolution is headed?
- Have you ever been "in heaven" in a library? 187
March 31
- Comment? "Decisions are rarely made by reason but almost always by temperament." 200 (And see Pragmatism lec.1: "The history of philosophy is to a great extent that of a certain clash of human temperaments...")
- Did (Do) artists make the gods? Is the universe guided by an agent that has our welfare at heart? How do you think non-believers should address such questions with their children? 206-7
- Do you have a "sanctum sanctorum"? What do you think of Todd's, Ina's, and Rafi's? 216ff.
- What do you think about "finite and infinite games"? 232, 246-8
- Is "digested and analyzed" the same as understood? 290 (See Warburton's ch.39, "Can Computers Think?")
April 7
- Was Rafi right to ask Todd for $$? Was Todd right to respond as he did? Are either or both of them good persons? Is it true that law and justice can never be automated? Is Todd's Seascaping venture on Makatea just a play for revenge against Rafi? 337-343
- Was Descartes wrong about the "seat of the soul"? 12 Is Cass? How do you think about the mind-body relation? Is soul something different than spirit, mind, and consciousness? Is it irreducible to body and brain?
- Should academics "fang" each other? 35-6
- Another thematic continuity: What do you think of Roz's Immortality Foundation? 53f., 89 Is aging "barbaric"? What do you think of transhumanism?
- Is the Singularity near? 94 Is it wise to ingest lots of supplements in an attempt to achieve longevity (to "live long enough to live forever")? 95 Would you want to achieve disembodied immortality, on earth or "in heaven"? 96-7 How much more time would you like to have, on earth? Would that change "the meaning of what it is to live a human life" for the worse? 98
April 14
- Does the quest for "Hellenism," the spirit of Greek philosophy that exalts art and embodiment, necessarily represent a repudiation of "religious purity" and an endorsement of cosmopolitanism? 126 More broadly, do you think philosophy and religion can peaceably coexist in mutual tolerance and respect?
- What are your thoughts about tikkun olam? 156 Is it analogous to pragmatic meliorism?
- What do you think of the "Lamedvavniks" (or the fact that there are supposedly 36 of them)? Or of the idea that a small number of humans are saving the world from destruction? 170
- Is life a zero-sum game? 179f.
- What do you think of William James's experiments with nitrous oxide? 199
April 21, 28
- Coming soon...
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