Artifical Intelligence in Love, Again

Another cinematic investigation of computer consciousness was made in  Jexi of 2019. As the title character of the film is very much like Samantha of  Her, please see Conjectures & Arguments, Philosophy & Law: “Her” Computer Consciousness: Can an Artificial Intelligence Be In Love? (lawrencecrocker.blogspot.com)

Moneyless Economy: Who Gets the Lobster? Who Collects the Garbage?

Good Thing Brazil Has No Electoral College

If it had, right-wing, authoritarian Bolsonaro might well have beaten da Silva. Depending on the details of the electoral college, da Silva’s 1.8% win might not have been enough to keep Bolsonaro from being the college winner.

The Trump Case Tragedy

There very probably is sufficient evidence to indict the former president of one or more felonies. The question will have to be faced by the DOJ and by at least one state prosecutor whether to do so.

Either decision will be tragic.

“Look Both Ways”: Counterfactuals in the Movies

This 2022 Netflix movie may deserve something more than its IMDb of 6.2, if only because it is perhaps the most extended counterfactual conditional movie of all time.

Non-citizen local voting

Why not?

For a lower voting age

16- and 17-year olds should be able to vote.

Universal suffrage meets anti-democratic theory: felony voting.

 “Universal suffrage” sounds good. No one, however, really supports it. Some humans cannot or should not vote: toddlers, the comatose, Icelanders changing planes at JFK. Still, some of us favor a much nearer approach to universal suffrage than do others. Here I will look at one possible extension of the franchise – to felons, whether they have served their entire sentence, are on parole, probation, or still in prison. A defense of voting rights for incarcerated felons, if successful, should imply extension of the franchise for other convicted persons, whatever their status in the criminal justice system.

Does Trump Believe the Election Was Stolen?

 I think that the most probable answer is, yes, and no.

The Fire Next Time: The US Coups of 2021 and 2025

The following propositions seem to me to be probably true: Had Ted Cruz or Josh Hawley been Vice President, Donald Trump would now be the President of the United States. Swing state legislators would have cooperated to that end. Most elected Republicans, whether or not they participated in the coup, would not have objected and very few would have resisted. Most of the Republicans rank and file would have celebrated.

A Duty Not to Vote?

I am not going to address the circumstances under which one ought not to vote because the election is corrupted: there is only one candidate, the count will be manipulated, to show up at the polling place would be to risk life and limb, or the election will have some other fundamental defect. These require fact intensive case by case analysis. What I am going to consider is a toy case in which it would be wrong to cast a vote because doing so would conflict with values underlying democratic processes. Then I will touch on some alternative voting procedures and finally will consider on whether toy case would generalize to a typical government election.

What Is Fascism? A Philosophical Prolegomenon.

Is fascism a phenomenon that resembles such natural kinds as protons, platypuses, or diamonds or is it more like the color red, which fades into pinks, purples, grays, white, or black with never anything like a boundary? To discharge the metaphors, is it possible to choose among and combine in almost any imaginable way the elements of being antidemocratic, leader-cultish, hostile to the rule of law and civil liberties, racist, misogynistic, nationalistic, militaristic, anti-rational, religiously intolerant, propagandizing, inegalitarian, politically violent, and fostering of coziness between the state and business and of the opposite between state and any organization of employees?

Should Libertarians Support Slavery?

Should those who call themselves “libertarians” object to people contracting themselves into slavery? If so, are they right? 

Travel to the Past and Closed Time-Like Curves

 

My prior post but one dealt with time travel to the future. This one will consider ways to travel in time not restricted to strictly future-ward possibilities – ways with some scientific credentials and ways with supported only by the science of fiction.

What legal stuff was totally made up in “Inventing Anna” ?

 

Print and online discussion of the Netflix limited series “Inventing Anna” is chiefly about the character of Anna Sorokin, alias Anna Delvey, of high society, high life,  big lenders and their lawyers, splashy journalists and the doubtful judgment and ethics of all the above. In these respects the public has been eager to learn how much of “the whole story is completely true,” and what are the “parts that are totally made up.” I am here interested in these latter questions, but not much in the doings and sayings of Anna, her friends, and enablers, or the hotels, restaurants, and resorts of their cavorts. Instead, my interest is in the court case, its investigation, prosecution, and defense.

I was for a year an Assistant District Attorney in the Frauds Bureau of the Manhattan DA’s office, and before that a member of the Career Criminal Bureau where in my first court appearance I second seated our then Assistant Bureau Chief, Cy Vance.  So my perspective might have some prosecution bias, although I subsequently defended cases against my old office and in between taught law for several years at NYU.

Travel to the Future

 

The usual way

We should feel some awe at our ability to travel in time, but we tend to take travel to the future for granted because we do it so well.