Free Republic

Today, EA is the unseen force driving AI safety discourse. Its ideas and money course through institutions seeking to build and govern AI and, with it, America’s future. And Americans deserve to know about it, because the EA crowd is trying to restrict your access to the most important technology of the 21st century..... Effective altruism is a utilitarian philosophy that claims to use evidence and reason to do good, ranking competing needs through a common calculus. It leads in strange directions. For example, in a truly universal moral frame, effective altruists argue, why should a single country like the...

Darcy Schild President Joe Biden's administration recently announced that it's launching a new campaign to promote COVID-19 vaccinations, and it underscores the influence of well-known figures among their fans. The campaign, called "We Can Do This," is partnering with celebrities, athletic organizations like the MLB, religious leaders, and community health organizations to communicate the safety and efficacy of the nation's three authorized vaccines, according to the Associated Press. Biden's administration seems to have recognized that each famous face pictured in a post-COVID-shot selfie could be reaching thousands of devoted fans in the touch of the "post" button on Instagram -...

You Only Have to Look By Ari Bussel One takes the same route day after day but never notices the full picture. He walks, runs, takes the bus or drives and is able to provide a very detailed description of the route. But there are holes in the picture, those things which are obvious but which he has not noticed before. If only he tried the other side of the street or the reverse course, he would find extraordinary things staring at him. Once noticed, they become newly acquired friends, their presence obvious from time immemorial. This process of discovery...

Here is video of President-elect Barack Obama's extensive interview today on This Week with George Stephanopoulos. Among other things, Obama said Gitmo will likely NOT be closed in the first 100 days of his administration, extraordinary means of interrogation will not be allowed in his administration, and all Americans will have to sacrifice for the greater good. The video is below in three parts . . . . (watch video)

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Hello, again. In nine days he will be president of the United States. This morning Barack Obama is our exclusive headliner. Welcome back to THIS WEEK. STEPHANOPOULOS: If both of these packages go through, that's more than a trillion dollars in spending in your first couple of months in office. OBAMA: Right. STEPHANOPOULOS: When you look at the array of things you want to do, as president, something is going to have to give. OBAMA: Right. STEPHANOPOULOS: Let me press you on this, at the end of the day, are you really talking about over the course of...

And all this time you thought it was just the rich people.

The deepest foundation on which morality is built is the phenomenon of empathy, the understanding that what hurts me would feel the same way to you. And human ego notwithstanding, it's a quality other species share. While it's impossible to directly measure empathy in animals, in humans it's another matter. Here are some of the dilemmas used to study human morality. Take this quiz to see how you compare to other TIME.com readers.

Throughout world history, people seeking dominion over other people have always claimed that their desire for ultimate power serves some greater common good. They sell the notion that their personal quest for power is justified by their need to save you little people from yourselves. But in America, there is no common good greater than the "unalienable" rights to Life, Individual Liberty and Personal Freedom, the God given right to define and pursue Happiness through individual achievement, promised to every legal American citizen. "Unalienable" means NOT negotiable!