Like everything in philosophy, consciousness is not very clearly defined. But the general idea is that a thing is conscious if it can experience thoughts or feelings. A person is conscious because he can experience pain or pleasure or seeing the color red. A table is not conscious because, as far as we know, it does not experience anything.
The Alien Multiple-Choice Test
In a moment I’ll give you a multiple-choice test. The test will cover the fictional planet Narbvarg and its fictional inhabitants.
Its purpose is to see how well you can do on a test that you’re completely unprepared for.
Spanish Is a Waste of Time
Even though I’m majoring in math and computer science, I’m required to take a few semesters of foreign language before I graduate. I picked Spanish because it’s the easiest. Now, after about a hundred hours of listening to people speak gibberish, I’m ready to give my professional opinion of the subject: no me gusta. Spanish is a sad, boring waste of my time.
Kids Should Have the Right to Work
This is a guest post written by the owner of Exit Rights.
Philosophy professors ask this question: If you could have a job where you were ill-paid but saw your work contributing value to the world, or a job where you were paid well but all your work was burned at the end of each day, which would you choose? The students discuss the different kinds of reward, apply the ideas to their own lives, and gain a greater understanding of why others might choose differently.
High school is the worst of both worlds. The “work” is completely unpaid and completely useless to the world. Those “rebellious” teens are a pretty compliant bunch, by and large, and so most of them will do as they’re told … but some of them itch.
What We Can Learn from a Shirtless Guy Dancing at a Concert
In the summer of 2009, an outdoor music festival suddenly became a psychology experiment.
Continue reading What We Can Learn from a Shirtless Guy Dancing at a Concert
When People Stop Caring About Youth Rights
I think children face legal discrimination that is more severe and unfair than what women faced in the 1800’s.
As you can imagine, I rarely find anyone who agrees with me, but it wasn’t always that way. When I was a teenager and aired that idea among my classmates, I got genuine support.
Teachers Are Underworked and Overpaid
Teachers love whining. Everyone knows it, but no one likes to say it because they’ll get whined at if a teacher happens to be listening. Most teachers can’t go a day without making some sarcastic remark about how difficult and unfair their job is.
A Lesson In Disappointment
Jet didn’t have to ask his parents’ permission, for his father lived many miles away, and his mother was driving a bus downtown. Victor never asked anyone’s permission, for his parents were dead, and his foster home enforced few rules. When Ava asked her mother whether she could go, the question was relayed to her father, who glanced only briefly from his pile of papers. “It sounds like a good lesson in disappointment,” he said.
Virtual Reality Is Not the Wii
When my uncle finally got his hands on the newly released Nintendo Wii, everyone in the family was excited to try it. We picked a day and gathered in his living room. My cousins, uncles, aunts, and even grandparents were present, eager to see for themselves whether this new motion-tracking technology lived up to the hype.
College Is Way Easier Than High School
In college, you won’t be able to start essays the night before they’re due. Professors expect you to engage with the material continuously, even outside of class.
That’s just one of the horror stories my high school teachers told me about college.