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Results for 'A. C. Brown'
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Contemplative Science: An Insider's Prospectus.W. B. Britton, A. C. Brown, C. T. Kaplan, R. E. Goldman, M. Deluca, R. Rojiani, H. Reis, M. Xi, J. C. Chou, F. McKenna, P. Hitchcock, Tomas Rocha, J. Himmelfarb, D. M. Margolis, N. F. Halsey, A. M. Eckert & T. Frank - 2013 - New Directions for Teaching and Learning 134:13-29.details
This chapter describes the potential far‐reaching consequences of contemplative higher education for the fields of science and medicine.
The Disconnect Problem, Scientific Authority, and Climate Policy.Matthew J. Brown & Joyce C. Havstad - 2017 - Perspectives on Science 25 (1):67-94.details
The disconnect problem arises wherever there is ongoing and severe discordance between the scientific assessment of a politically relevant issue, and the politics and legislation of said issue. Here, we focus on the disconnect problem as it arises in the case of climate change, diagnosing a failure to respect the necessary tradeoff between authority and autonomy within a public institution like science. After assessing the problematic deployment of scientific authority in this arena, we offer suggestions for how to mitigate climate (...) change's particular disconnect problem, as well as more general proposals for reforming science advising. (shrink)
What is a Brain State?Richard Brown - 2006 - Philosophical Psychology 19 (6):729-742.details
Philosophers have been talking about brain states for almost 50 years and as of yet no one has articulated a theoretical account of what one is. In fact this issue has received almost no attention and cognitive scientists still use meaningless phrases like 'C-fiber firing' and 'neuronal activity' when theorizing about the relation of the mind to the brain. To date when theorists do discuss brain states they usually do so in the context of making some other argument with the (...) result being that any discussion of what brain states are has a distinct en passant flavor. In light of this it is a goal of mine to make brain states the center of attention by providing some general discussion of them. I briefly look at the argument of Bechtel and Mundale, as I think that they expose a common misconception philosophers had about brain states early on. I then turn to briefly examining Polger's argument, as I think he offers an intuitive account of what we expect brain states to be as well as a convincing argument against a common candidate for knowledge about brain states that is currently "on the scene." I then introduce a distinction between brain states and states of the brain: Particular brain states occur against background states of the brain. I argue that brain states are patterns of synchronous neural firing, which reflects the electrical face of the brain; states of the brain are the gating and modulating of neural activity and reflect the chemical face of the brain. (shrink)
A Tapestry of Values: Response to My Critics.Kevin C. Elliott - 2018 - Philosophy, Theory, and Practice in Biology 10 (11).details
This response addresses the excellent responses to my book provided by Heather Douglas, Janet Kourany, and Matt Brown. First, I provide some comments and clarifications concerning a few of the highlights from their essays. Second, in response to the worries of my critics, I provide more detail than I was able to provide in my book regarding my three conditions for incorporating values in science. Third, I identify some of the most promising avenues for further research that flow out (...) of this interchange. (shrink)
Neuroscience, Spiritual Formation, and Bodily Souls: A Critique of Christian Physicalism.Brandon Rickabaugh & C. Stephen Evans - 2018 - In R. Keith Loftin & Joshua Farris (eds.), Christian Physicalism? Philosophical Theological Criticisms. Lanham: Lexington. pp. 231-256.details
The link between human nature and human flourishing is undeniable. "A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit" (Matt. 7:18). The ontology of the human person will, therefore, ground the nature of human flourishing and thereby sanctification. Spiritual formation is the area of Christian theology that studies sanctification, the Spirit-guided process whereby disciples of Jesus are formed into the image of Jesus (Rom. 8:28-29; 2 Cor. 3:18; 2 Peter 3:18). Until the nineteenth century, (...) there was an overwhelming consensus among Christian thinkers that some form of mind-body (or soul-body) dualism is true of human beings. Recently, that consensus has eroded, and with it the availability of a shared body of knowledge about spiritual formation. Some Christian physicalists argue that dualism is incompatible with central elements of spiritual formation. Neuroscientist Warren Brown and psychologist Brad Strawn offer the only substantive account of spiritual formation from the view of Christian physicalism and its accompanying objections to dualism. It is on their arguments that this chapter focuses. We argue that Brown and Strawn fail to support their incompatibility thesis. Additionally, we argue that Christian physicalism stands in tension with important philosophical and theological foundations of Christian spiritual formation. In doing so we offer a specific form of dualism, the bodily soul view, and explain how this view illuminates the importance of embodiment, our neurological and social development, and hence the important physical aspects of Christian spiritual formation. (shrink)
What Do Paraconsistent, Undecidable, Random, Computable and Incomplete Mean? A Review of Godel's Way: Exploits Into an Undecidable World by Gregory Chaitin, Francisco A Doria , Newton C.A. Da Costa 160p (2012).Michael Starks - 2017 - Philosophy, Human Nature and the Collapse of Civilization -- Articles and Reviews 2006-2017 3rd Ed 686p(2017).details
In 'Godel's Way' three eminent scientists discuss issues such as undecidability, incompleteness, randomness, computability and paraconsistency. I approach these issues from the Wittgensteinian viewpoint that there are two basic issues which have completely different solutions. There are the scientific or empirical issues, which are facts about the world that need to be investigated observationally and philosophical issues as to how language can be used intelligibly (which include certain questions in mathematics and logic), which need to be decided by looking at (...) how we actually use words in particular contexts. When we get clear about which language game we are playing, these topics are seen to be ordinary scientific and mathematical questions like any others. Wittgenstein's insights have seldom been equaled and never surpassed and are as pertinent today as they were 80 years ago when he dictated the Blue and Brown Books. -/- Those wishing a comprehensive up to date framework for human behavior from the modern two systems view may consult my book 'The Logical Structure of Philosophy, Psychology, Mind and Language in Ludwig Wittgenstein and John Searle' 2nd ed (2019). Those interested in more of my writings may see 'Talking Monkeys--Philosophy, Psychology, Science, Religion and Politics on a Doomed Planet--Articles and Reviews 2006-2019 3rd ed (2019), The Logical Structure of Human Behavior (2019), and Suicidal Utopian Delusions in the 21st Century 4th ed (2019). (shrink)
What Do Paraconsistent, Undecidable, Random, Computable and Incomplete Mean? A Review of Godel's Way: Exploits Into an Undecidable World by Gregory Chaitin, Francisco A Doria, Newton C.A. Da Costa 160p (2012) (Review Revised 2019).Michael Starks - 2019 - In Suicidal Utopian Delusions in the 21st Century -- Philosophy, Human Nature and the Collapse of Civilization -- Articles and Reviews 2006-2019 4th Edition Michael Starks. Las Vegas, NV USA: Reality Press. pp. 278-293.details
In 'Godel's Way' three eminent scientists discuss issues such as undecidability, incompleteness, randomness, computability and paraconsistency. I approach these issues from the Wittgensteinian viewpoint that there are two basic issues which have completely different solutions. There are the scientific or empirical issues, which are facts about the world that need to be investigated observationally and philosophical issues as to how language can be used intelligibly (which include certain questions in mathematics and logic), which need to be decided by looking at (...) how we actually use words in particular contexts. When we get clear about which language game we are playing, these topics are seen to be ordinary scientific and mathematical questions like any others. Wittgenstein's insights have seldom been equaled and never surpassed and are as pertinent today as they were 80 years ago when he dictated the Blue and Brown Books. In spite of its failings—really a series of notes rather than a finished book—this is a unique source of the work of these three famous scholars who have been working at the bleeding edges of physics, math and philosophy for over half a century. Da Costa and Doria are cited by Wolpert (see below or my articles on Wolpert and my review of Yanofsky's 'The Outer Limits of Reason') since they wrote on universal computation, and among his many accomplishments, Da Costa is a pioneer in paraconsistency. -/- Those wishing a comprehensive up to date framework for human behavior from the modern two systems view may consult my book 'The Logical Structure of Philosophy, Psychology, Mind and Language in Ludwig Wittgenstein and John Searle' 2nd ed (2019). Those interested in more of my writings may see 'Talking Monkeys--Philosophy, Psychology, Science, Religion and Politics on a Doomed Planet--Articles and Reviews 2006-2019 3rd ed (2019), The Logical Structure of Human Behavior (2019), and Suicidal Utopian Delusions in the 21st Century 4th ed (2019) . (shrink)
Apa yang Paraconsistent, tidak dapat diputuskan, acak, komputasi dan tidak lengkap mean? Sebuah Tinjauan "Godel ' s Way: eksploitasi ke dalam dunia tak terhalangkan" (Godel's Way: exploits into an undecidable world) oleh Gregory Chaitin, Francisco A Doria, Newton C.A. da Costa 160p (2012). [REVIEW]Michael Richard Starks - 2020 - Selamat Datang di Neraka di Bumi Bayi, Perubahan Iklim, Bitcoin, Kartel, Tiongkok, Demokrasi, Keragaman, Disgenik, Kesetaraan, Peretas, Hak Asasi Manusia, Islam, Liberalisme, Kemakmuran, Web, Kekacauan, Kelaparan, Penyakit, Kekerasan, Kecerdasan Buatan, P.details
Dalam ' Godel ' s Way ' tiga ilmuwan terkemuka membahas isu seperti undecidability, ketidaklengkapan, kekasaran, komputasi dan paraconsistency. Saya mendekati masalah ini dari sudut pandang Wittgensteinian bahwa ada dua masalah dasar yang memiliki solusi yang sama sekali berbeda. Ada masalah ilmiah atau empiris, yang merupakan fakta tentang dunia yang perlu diselidiki masalah observationally dan filosofis mengenai bagaimana bahasa dapat digunakan secara jelas (yang mencakup pertanyaan tertentu dalam matematika dan logika), yang perlu diputuskan dengan mencarit bagaimana kita benar-benar menggunakan kata (...) dalam konteks tertentu. Ketika kita mendapatkan jelas tentang mana permainan bahasa yang kita bermain, topik ini dipandang sebagai pertanyaan ilmiah dan matematika biasa seperti orang lain. Wawasan Wittgenstein jarang sama dan tidak pernah melampaui dan seperti yang berkaitan dengan hari ini karena mereka 80 tahun yang lalu ketika dia mendikte buku Blue and Brown. Terlepas dari kegagalan-benar serangkaian catatan daripada buku selesai-ini adalah sumber yang unik dari pekerjaan tiga sarjana terkenal yang telah bekerja di tepi berdarah fisika, matematika dan filsafat selama lebih dari setengah abad. Da Costa dan Doria dikutip oleh Wolpert (Lihat di bawah atau artikel saya di Wolpert dan saya review yanofsky's ' The Outer batas dari alasan ') karena mereka menulis di Universal komputasi, dan di antara banyak prestasi, da Costa adalah pelopor dalam paraconsistency. -/- Mereka yang ingin komprehensif up to date kerangka perilaku manusia dari dua systEMS tampilan modern dapat berkonsultasi buku saya 'struktur Logis filsafat, psikologi, mind dan bahasa dalam Ludwig wittgenstein dan John Searle ' 2nd Ed (2019). Mereka yang tertarik pada tulisan saya lebih mungkin melihat 'berbicara monyet--filsafat, psikologi, ilmu, agama dan politik di planet yang ditakdirkan--artikel dan review 2006-2019 3rd ed (2019) dan bunuh diri utopian delusi di 21st Century 4th Ed (2019) . (shrink)
Discussion of "Biomedical Informatics: We Are What We Publish".Geissbuhler Antoine, W. E. Hammond, A. Hasman, R. Hussein, R. Koppel, C. A. Kulikowski, V. Maojo, F. Martin-Sanchez, P. W. Moorman, Moura La, F. G. De Quiros, M. J. Schuemle, Barry Smith & J. Talmon - 2013 - Methods of Information in Medicine 52 (6):547-562.details
This article is part of a For-Discussion-Section of Methods of Information in Medicine about the paper "Biomedical Informatics: We Are What We Publish", written by Peter L. Elkin, Steven H. Brown, and Graham Wright. It is introduced by an editorial. This article contains the combined commentaries invited to independently comment on the Elkin et al. paper. In subsequent issues the discussion can continue through letters to the editor.
Deprioritizing the A Priori Arguments Against Physicalism.Richard Brown - 2010 - Journal of Consciousness Studies 17 (3-4):47-69.details
In this paper I argue that a priori arguments fail to present any real problem for physicalism. They beg the question against physicalism in the sense that the argument will only seem compelling if one is already assuming that qualitative properties are nonphysical. To show this I will present the reverse-zombie and reverse-knowledge arguments. The only evidence against physicalism is a priori arguments, but there are also a priori arguments against dualism of exactly the same variety. Each of these parity (...) arguments has premises that are just as intuitively plausible, and it cannot be the case that both the traditional scenarios and the reverse-scenarios are all ideally conceivable. Given this one set must be merely prima facie conceivable and only empirical methods will tell us which is which. So, by the time a priori methodology will be of any use it will be too late. (shrink)
Beyond Sacrificial Harm: A Two-Dimensional Model of Utilitarian Psychology.Guy Kahane, Jim A. C. Everett, Brian D. Earp, Lucius Caviola, Nadira S. Faber, Molly J. Crockett & Julian Savulescu - 2018 - Psychological Review 125 (2):131-164.details
Recent research has relied on trolley-type sacrificial moral dilemmas to study utilitarian versus nonutili- tarian modes of moral decision-making. This research has generated important insights into people's attitudes toward instrumental harm—that is, the sacrifice of an individual to save a greater number. But this approach also has serious limitations. Most notably, it ignores the positive, altruistic core of utilitarianism, which is characterized by impartial concern for the well-being of everyone, whether near or far. Here, we develop, refine, and validate a (...) new scale—the Oxford Utilitarianism Scale—to dissociate individual differences in the 'negative' (permissive attitude toward instrumental harm) and 'positive' (impartial concern for the greater good) dimensions of utilitarian thinking as manifested in the general population. We show that these are two independent dimensions of proto-utilitarian tendencies in the lay population, each exhibiting a distinct psychological profile. Empathic concern, identification with the whole of humanity, and concern for future generations were positively associated with impartial beneficence but negatively associated with instrumental harm; and although instrumental harm was associated with subclinical psychopathy, impartial beneficence was associated with higher religiosity. Importantly, although these two dimensions were independent in the lay population, they were closely associated in a sample of moral philosophers. Acknowledging this dissociation between the instrumental harm and impartial beneficence components of utilitarian thinking in ordinary people can clarify existing debates about the nature of moral psychology and its relation to moral philosophy as well as generate fruitful avenues for further research. (shrink)
A Higher-Order Theory of Emotional Consciousness.Richard Brown & Joseph LeDoux - 2017 - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.details
Emotional states of consciousness, or what are typically called emotional feelings, are traditionally viewed as being innately programed in subcortical areas of the brain, and are often treated as different from cognitive states of consciousness, such as those related to the perception of external stimuli. We argue that conscious experiences, regardless of their content, arise from one system in the brain. On this view, what differs in emotional and non-emotional states is the kind of inputs that are processed by a (...) general cortical network of cognition, a network essential for conscious experiences. Although subcortical circuits are not directly responsible for conscious feelings, they provide non-conscious inputs that coalesce with other kinds of neural signals in the cognitive assembly of conscious emotional experiences. In building the case for this proposal, we defend a modified version of what is known as the higher-order theory of consciousness. (shrink)
Is It Wrong to Topple Statues and Rename Schools?Joanna Burch-Brown - 2017 - Journal of Political Theory and Philosophy 1 (1):59-88.details
In recent years, campaigns across the globe have called for the removal of objects symbolic of white supremacy. This paper examines the ethics of altering or removing such objects. Do these strategies sanitize history, destroy heritage and suppress freedom of speech? Or are they important steps towards justice? Does removing monuments and renaming schools reflect a lack of parity and unfairly erase local identities? Or can it sometimes be morally required, as an expression of respect for the memories of people (...) who endured past injustices; a recognition of this history's ongoing legacies; and a repudiation of unjust social hierarchies? (shrink)
Understanding the Higher-Order Approach to Consciousness.Richard Brown, Hakwan Lau & Joseph E. LeDoux - 2019 - Trends in Cognitive Sciences 23 (9):754-768.details
Critics have often misunderstood the higher-order theory (HOT) of consciousness. Here we clarify its position on several issues, and distinguish it from other views such as the global The higher-order theory (HOT) of consciousness has often been misunderstood by critics. Here we clarify its position on several issues, and distinguish it from other views such as the global workspace theory (GWT) and early sensory models (e.g. first-order local recurrency theories). For example, HOT has been criticized for over-intellectualizing consciousness. We show (...) that while higher-order states are cognitively assembled, the requirements are actually considerably less than often presumed. In this sense HOT may be viewed as an intermediate position between GWT and early sensory views. Also, we clarify that most proponents of HOT do not stipulate consciousness as equivalent to metacognition or confidence. Further, compared to other existing theories, HOT can arguably account better for complex everyday experiences, such as of emotions and episodic memories. This makes HOT particularly useful as a framework for conceptualizing pathological mental states. (shrink)
The HOROR Theory of Phenomenal Consciousness.Richard Brown - 2015 - Philosophical Studies 172 (7):1783-1794.details
One popular approach to theorizing about phenomenal consciousness has been to connect it to representations of a certain kind. Representational theories of consciousness can be further sub-divided into first-order and higher-order theories. Higher-order theories are often interpreted as invoking a special relation between the first-order state and the higher-order state. However there is another way to interpret higher-order theories that rejects this relational requirement. On this alternative view phenomenal consciousness consists in having suitable higher-order representations. I call this 'HOROR' ('Higher-Order (...) Representation Of a Representation') theory to distinguish it from relational versions of higher- order theory. In this paper I make the case that HOROR theory is a plausible account of the real nature of phenomenal consciousness whatever one's views are about whether it is physical/reducible or not. I first clarify HOROR theory and compare it to the more traditional same-order and higher-order thought theories. Afterwards I move to presenting some considerations in favor of HOROR theory. (shrink)
What Evolvability Really Is.Rachael L. Brown - 2013 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science (3):axt014.details
In recent years, the concept of evolvability has been gaining in prominence both within evolutionary developmental biology (evo-devo) and the broader field of evolutionary biology. Despite this, there remains considerable disagreement about what evolvability is. This article offers a solution to this problem. I argue that, in focusing too closely on the role played by evolvability as an explanandum in evo-devo, existing philosophical attempts to clarify the evolvability concept have been overly narrow. Within evolutionary biology more broadly, evolvability offers a (...) robust explanation for the evolutionary trajectories of populations. Evolvability is an abstract, robust, dispositional property of populations, which captures the joint causal influence of their internal features on the outcomes of evolution (as opposed to the causal influence of selection, which is often characterized as external). When considering the nature of the physical basis of this disposition, it becomes clear that the many existing definitions of evolvability at play within evo-devo should be understood as capturing only aspects of a much broader phenomenon. 1 Introduction2 The Problem of Evolvability3 The Theoretical Role of Evolvability in Evolutionary Biology3.1 The explanatory targets of evolutionary biology3.2 Selection-based explanations3.3 Lineage explanations3.4 Evolvability-based explanations3.5 What properties must evolvability have?4 What Evolvability Really Is4.1 Making sense of ft4.2 Making sense of x and b5 What of the Limbs? The Power of E6 Conclusion. (shrink)
Weaving Value Judgment Into the Tapestry of Science.Matthew J. Brown - 2018 - Philosophy, Theory, and Practice in Biology 10 (10).details
I critically analyze Kevin Elliott's A Tapestry of Values in order to tease out his views on the nature and status of values or value judgments in the text. I show there is a tension in Elliott's view that is closely connected to a major lacuna in the philosophical literature on values in science: the need for a better theory of values.
Aristotle on the Choice of Lives: Two Concepts of Self-Sufficiency.Eric Brown - 2014 - In Pierre Destrée & Marco Zingano (eds.), Theoria: Studies on the Status and Meaning of Contemplation in Aristotle's Ethics. Leuven, Belgium: Peeters Publishing. pp. 111-133.details
Aristotle's treatment of the choice between the political and contemplative lives (in EN I 5 and X 7-8) can seem awkward. To offer one explanation of this, I argue that when he invokes self-sufficience (autarkeia) as a criterion for this choice, he appeals to two different and incompatible specifications of "lacking nothing." On one specification, suitable to a human being living as a political animal and thus seeking to realize his end as an engaged citizen of a polis, a person (...) lacks nothing by possessing a wide range of goods that directly require other people. On the other, more suitable to a god or a beast, a person lacks nothing by having no need of goods that directly require other people. The ambiguity of this criterion renders the choice between the political and contemplative lives difficult. (shrink)
The Brain and its States.Richard Brown - 2012 - In Shimon Edelman, Tomer Fekete & Neta Zach (eds.), Being in Time: Dynamical Models of Phenomenal Experience. John Benjamins. pp. 211-238.details
In recent times we have seen an explosion in the amount of attention paid to the conscious brain from scientists and philosophers alike. One message that has emerged loud and clear from scientific work is that the brain is a dynamical system whose operations unfold in time. Any theory of consciousness that is going to be physically realistic must take account of the intrinsic nature of neurons and brain activity. At the same time a long discussion on consciousness among philosophers (...) has resulted in our distinguishing several kinds of consciousness. So when we ask where the place of consciousness is in nature we may mean several different things. In this chapter I will argue that it is plausible that all of the kinds of consciousness turn out to be nothing but patterns of synchronized neural activity in various frequencies against a dynamically changing chemical background. (shrink)
CROMBIE, A. C. -Robert Grosseteste and the Origins of Experimental Science. [REVIEW]S. Toulmin - 1954 - Mind 63:554.details
Personal Responsibility: Why It Matters.Alexander Brown - 2009 - Continuum.details
Introduction -- What is personal responsibility? -- Ordinary language -- Common conceptions -- What do philosophers mean by responsibility? -- Personally responsible for what? -- What do philosophers think? part I -- Causes -- Capacity -- Control -- Choice versus brute luck -- Second-order attitudes -- Equality of opportunity -- Deservingness -- Reasonableness -- Reciprocity -- Equal shares -- Combining criteria -- What do philosophers think? part II -- Utility -- Self-respect -- Autonomy -- Human flourishing -- Natural duties and (...) special obligations -- A matter of perspectives -- Combining values -- What do politicians think? -- A brief typology -- International comparisons -- Welfare reform -- Healthcare reform -- Rights and responsibilities -- On the responsibilities of politicians -- What do ordinary people think? -- Why ask? -- Attitudes to welfare claimants -- When push comes to shove -- Perceptions and reality -- Further international comparisons -- The trouble with opinion surveys -- Four contemporary issues in focus -- Unemployment -- Health -- Drug abuse -- Personal debt and financial rewards -- So how do we decide? -- Getting the public involved -- Citizens juries -- Answering some potential criticisms. (shrink)
On Whether the Higher-Order Thought Theory of Consciousness Entails Cognitive Phenomenology, Or: What is It Like to Think That One Thinks That P?Richard Brown & Pete Mandik - 2012 - Philosophical Topics 40 (2):1-12.details
Among our conscious states are conscious thoughts. The question at the center of the recent growing literature on cognitive phenomenology is this: In consciously thinking P, is there thereby any phenomenology—is there something it's like? One way of clarifying the question is to say that it concerns whether there is any proprietary phenomenology associated with conscious thought. Is there any phenomenology due to thinking, as opposed to phenomenology that is due to some co-occurring sensation or mental image? In this paper (...) we will present two arguments that a "yes" answer to this question of cognitive phenomenology can be obtained via appeal to the HOT theory of consciousness, especially the version articulated and defended by David Rosenthal. (shrink)
The Emperor's New Phenomenology? The Empirical Case for Conscious Experience Without First-Order Representations.Hakwan Lau & Richard Brown - 2019 - In Adam Pautz & Daniel Stoljar (eds.), Blockheads! Essays on Ned Block's Philosophy of Mind and Consciousness. MIT Press.details
We discuss cases where subjects seem to enjoy conscious experience when the relevant first-order perceptual representations are either missing or too weak to account for the experience. Though these cases are originally considered to be theoretical possibilities that may be problematical for the higher-order view of consciousness, careful considerations of actual empirical examples suggest that this strategy may backfire; these cases may cause more trouble for first-order theories instead. Specifically, these cases suggest that (I) recurrent feedback loops to V1 are (...) most likely not the neural correlate of first-order representations for conscious experience, (II) first-order views seem to have a problem accounting for the phenomenology in these cases, and either (III) a version of the ambitious higher-order approach is superior in that it is the simplest theory that can account for all results at face value, or (IV) a view where phenomenology is jointly determined by both first-order and higher-order states. In our view (III) and (IV) are both live options and the decision between them may ultimately be an empirical question that cannot yet be decided. (shrink)
I Want to, But...Milo Phillips-Brown - 2018 - Sinn Und Bedeutung 21:951-968.details
I want to see the concert, but I don't want to take the long drive. Both of these desire ascriptions are true, even though I believe I'll see the concert if and only if I take the drive.Yet they, and strongly conflicting desire ascriptions more generally, are predicted incompatible by the standard semantics, given two standard constraints. There are two proposed solutions. I argue that both face problems because they misunderstand how what we believe influences what we desire. I then (...) sketch my own solution: a coarse-worlds semantics that captures the extent to which belief influences desire. My semantics models what I call some-things-considered desire. Considering what the concert would be like, but ignoring the drive, I want to see the concert; considering what the drive would be like, but ignoring the concert, I don't want to take the drive. (shrink)
Consciousness Inside and Out: Phenomenology, Neuroscience, and the Nature of Experience.Richard Brown (ed.) - 2013 - Springer Studies in Brain and Mind.details
This volume is product of the third online consciousness conference, held at http:// consciousnessonline. com in February and March 2011. Chapters range over epistemological issues in the science and philosophy of perception, what neuroscience can do to help us solve philosophical issues in the philosophy of mind, what the true nature of black and white vision, pain, auditory, olfactory, or multi-modal experiences are, to higher-order theories of consciousness, synesthesia, among others. Each chapter includes a target article, commentaries, and in most (...) cases, a final response from the author. Though wide-ranging all of the papers aim to understand consciousness both from the inside, as we experience it, and from the outside as we encounter it in our science. (shrink)
Wishing for Fortune, Choosing Activity: Aristotle on External Goods and Happiness.Eric Brown - 2006 - Proceedings of the Boston Area Colloquium of Ancient Philosophy 22 (1):221-256.details
Aristotle's account of external goods in Nicomachean Ethics I 8-12 is often thought to amend his narrow claim that happiness is virtuous activity. I argue, to the contrary, that on Aristotle's account, external goods are necessary for happiness only because they are necessary for virtuous activity. My case innovates in three main respects: I offer a new map of EN I 8-12; I identify two mechanisms to explain why virtuous activity requires external goods, including a psychological need for external goods; (...) and I show the relevance of Aristotle's distinction between wishing and choosing. On the view I attribute to Aristotle, our capacity to choose virtuously requires, first, that we wish for external goods (because virtue requires the right attitudes of evaluation) and, second, that these wishes are generally fulfilled (because the social consequences and psychological pain of unfulfilled wishes undermine our opportunity to act virtuously and to take pleasure in acting virtuously). I close with discussion of how Aristotelians should defend this approach. (shrink)
The Composition of Reasons.Campbell Brown - 2014 - Synthese 191 (5):779-800.details
How do reasons combine? How is it that several reasons taken together can have a combined weight which exceeds the weight of any one alone? I propose an answer in mereological terms: reasons combine by composing a further, complex reason of which they are parts. Their combined weight is the weight of their combination. I develop a mereological framework, and use this to investigate some structural views about reasons. Two of these views I call "Atomism" and "Wholism". Atomism is the (...) view that atomic reasons are fundamental: all reasons reduce to atomic reasons. Wholism is the view that whole reasons are fundamental. I argue for Wholism, and against Atomism. I also consider whether reasons might be "context-sensitive". (shrink)
The Possibility of Morality.Phil Brown - 2013 - Philosophical Studies 163 (3):627-636.details
Despite much discussion over the existence of moral facts, metaethicists have largely ignored the related question of their possibility. This paper addresses the issue from the moral error theorist's perspective, and shows how the arguments that error theorists have produced against the existence of moral facts at this world, if sound, also show that moral facts are impossible, at least at worlds non-morally identical to our own and, on some versions of the error theory, at any world. So error theorists' (...) arguments warrant a stronger conclusion than has previously been noticed. This may appear to make them vulnerable to counterarguments that take the possibility of moral facts as a premise. However, I show that any such arguments would be question-begging. (shrink)
Learning, Evolvability and Exploratory Behaviour: Extending the Evolutionary Reach of Learning.Rachael L. Brown - 2013 - Biology and Philosophy 28 (6):933-955.details
Traditional accounts of the role of learning in evolution have concentrated upon its capacity as a source of fitness to individuals. In this paper I use a case study from invasive species biology—the role of conditioned taste aversion in mitigating the impact of cane toads on the native species of Northern Australia—to highlight a role for learning beyond this—as a source of evolvability to populations. This has two benefits. First, it highlights an otherwise under-appreciated role for learning in evolution that (...) does not rely on social learning as an inheritance channel nor "special" evolutionary processes such as genetic accommodation (both of which many are skeptical about). Second, and more significantly, it makes clear important and interesting parallels between learning and exploratory behaviour in development. These parallels motivate the applicability of results from existing research into learning and learning evolution to our understanding of the evolution of evolvability more generally. (shrink)
Contemplative Withdrawal in the Hellenistic Age.Eric Brown - 2008 - Philosophical Studies 137 (1):79-89.details
I reject the traditional picture of philosophical withdrawal in the Hellenistic Age by showing how both Epicureans and Stoics oppose, in different ways, the Platonic and Aristotelian assumption that contemplative activity is the greatest good for a human being. Chrysippus the Stoic agrees with Plato and Aristotle that the greatest good for a human being is virtuous activity, but he denies that contemplation exercises virtue. Epicurus more thoroughly rejects the assumption that the greatest good for a human being is virtuous (...) activity. He maintains that the greatest good for a human being is the tranquility that virtuous activity always and contemplative activity sometimes brings about. (shrink)
The Mark of the Mental.Richard Brown - 2007 - Southwest Philosophy Review 23 (1):117-124.details
[written in 2005/2006 while I was a graduate student at CUNY. This version was awarded The Southwestern Philosophical Society Presidential Prize for an outstanding paper by a graduate student or recent PhD and was subsequently published in Southwest Philosophy Review] The idea that there is something that it is like to have a thought is gaining acceptance in the philosophical community and has been argued for recently by several philosophers. Now, within this camp there is a debate about which component (...) of the, say, the belief, is qualitative? Is the qualitative component part of the content of the belief, or part of the mental attitude that we take towards the content? Some argue that the qualitative character is had by the content of the thought; others argue that it belongs to the attitude type itself. I examine the two answers and argue that the quality of thought is best understood as taking a qualitative mental attitude towards some representational content. Each propositional attitude is distinguished by a unique quality and it is having that quality with respect to the content that makes it a belief, fear (etc.) that p. (shrink)
Socrates the Cosmopolitan.Eric Brown - 2000 - Stanford Agora: An Online Journal of Legal Perspectives 1 (1):74-87.details
I argue that the Stoics were right to portray Socrates as a cosmopolitan, because this portrait is fully consistent with the Socrates of Plato's Socratic dialogues. His rejection of ordinary political engagement in favor of an extraordinary way of doing the political work of improving others lives by examining them is also the rejection of locally engaged politics in favor of benefiting human beings as such. It is less clear whether his cosmopolitanism is moderate (admitting special obligations to benefit compatriots (...) alongside general obligations to benefit humans as such) or strict (denying the special obligations), but I argue that the evidence of Socrates' attachment to Athens, in the Crito and elsewhere, is compatible with his being a strict cosmopolitan. (shrink)
Religion and Reducing Prejudice.Joanna Burch-Brown & William Baker - 2016 - Group Processes and Intergroup Relations 19 (6):784 - 807.details
Drawing on findings from the study of prejudice and prejudice reduction, we identify a number of mechanisms through which religious communities may influence the intergroup attitudes of their members. We hypothesize that religious participation could in principle either reduce or promote prejudice with respect to any given target group. A religious community's influence on intergroup attitudes will depend upon the specific beliefs, attitudes, and practices found within the community, as well as on interactions between the religious community and the larger (...) social environment in which it is embedded. Basing our proposals on findings from the literature on prejudice formation and prejudice reduction allows us to outline useful directions for future studies of religion and prejudice. (shrink)
Addiction, Identity, Morality.Brian D. Earp, Joshua August Skorburg, Jim A. C. Everett & Julian Savulescu - 2019 - Ajob Empirical Bioethics 10 (2):136-153.details
Background: Recent literature on addiction and judgments about the characteristics of agents has focused on the implications of adopting a 'brain disease' versus 'moral weakness' model of addiction. Typically, such judgments have to do with what capacities an agent has (e.g., the ability to abstain from substance use). Much less work, however, has been conducted on the relationship between addiction and judgments about an agent's identity, including whether or to what extent an individual is seen as the same person after (...) becoming addicted. Methods: We conducted a series of vignette-based experiments (total N = 3,620) to assess lay attitudes concerning addiction and identity persistence, systematically manipulating key characteristics of agents and their drug of addiction. Conclusions: In Study 1, we found that US participants judged an agent who became addicted to drugs as being closer to 'a completely different person' than 'completely the same person' as the agent who existed prior to the addiction. In Studies 2-6, we investigated the intuitive basis for this result, finding that lay judgments of altered identity as a consequence of drug use and addiction are driven primarily by perceived negative changes in the moral character of drug users, who are seen as having deviated from their good true selves. (shrink)
Rosenthal's Representationalism.Jacob Berger & Richard Brown - forthcoming - In Josh Weisberg (ed.), Qualitative Consciousness: Themes from the Philosophy of David Rosenthal. Cambridge.details
David Rosenthal explains conscious mentality in terms of two independent, though complementary, theories—the higher-order thought ("HOT") theory of consciousness and quality-space theory ("QST") about mental qualities. It is natural to understand this combination of views as constituting a kind of representationalism about experience—that is, a version of the view that an experience's conscious character is identical with certain of its representational properties. At times, however, Rosenthal seems to resist this characterization of his view. We explore here whether and to what (...) extent it makes sense to construe Rosenthal's views as representationalist. Our goal is not merely terminological—discerning how best to use the expression 'representationalism'. Rather, we argue that understanding Rosenthal's account as a kind of representationalism permits us not only to make sense of broader debates within the philosophy of mind, but also to extend and clarify aspects of the view itself. (shrink)
Cynics.Eric Brown - 2013 - In James Warren & Frisbee Sheffield (eds.), The Routledge Companion to Ancient Philosophy. London, UK: Routledge. pp. 399-408.details
This overview attempts to explain how we can come to an account of Cynicism and what that account should look like. My account suggests that Cynics are identified by living like Diogenes of Sinope, and that Diogenes' way of life is characterized by distinctive twists on three Socratic commitments. The three Socratic commitments are that success in life depends on excellence of the soul; that this excellence and success are a special achievement, requiring hard work; and that this work requires (...) deprecating mainstream values such as wealth, fame, and ordinary political power. Diogenes' construal of success emphasizes freedom and independence, and his construal of excellence emphasizes endurance and self-mastery. On his account, the work required to achieve these is strikingly unintellectual but difficult, and the deprecation of ordinary values is especially extreme. A few interpretive puzzles about Cynicism are tackled along the way, including whether Cynicism really counts as philosophy and whether Cynics are anti-social. (shrink)
Socrates in the Stoa.Eric Brown - 2006 - In Sara Ahbel-Rappe & Rachana Kamtekar (eds.), A Companion to Socrates. Oxford, UK: pp. 275-284.details
I show how the familiar Stoic paradoxes were developed by reflecting on Socrates.
Getting what you want.Lyndal Grant & Milo Phillips-Brown - 2020 - Philosophical Studies 177 (7):1791-1810.details
It is commonly accepted that if an agent wants p, then she has a desire that is satisfied in exactly the worlds where p is true. Call this the 'Satisfaction-is-Truth Principle'. We argue that this principle is false: an agent may want p without having a desire that is satisfied when p obtains in any old way. For example, Millie wants to drink milk but does not have a desire that is satisfied when she drinks spoiled milk. Millie has a (...) desire whose satisfaction conditions are what we call ways-specific. Fara (2003, 2013) and Lycan (2012, ms) have also argued for this conclusion, but their claims about desire satisfaction rest solely on contested intuitions about when agents get what they want. We set these intuitions to one side, instead arguing that desire satisfaction is ways-specific by appealing to the dispositional role of desire. Because agents are disposed to satisfy their desires, dispositions provide important evidence about desire satisfaction. Our argument further provides new insight on the dispositional role of desire satisfaction. (shrink)
The Emergence of Natural Law and the Cosmopolis.Eric Brown - 2009 - In Stephen G. Salkever (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Greek Political Thought. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. pp. 331-363.details
Two prominent metaphors in Greek and Roman political philosophy are surveyed here, with a view to determining their possible meanings and the plausibility of the claims advanced by those possible meanings.
The Moral Justification of Benefit/Cost Analysis: Donald C. Hubin.Donald C. Hubin - 1994 - Economics and Philosophy 10 (2):169-194.details
Benefit/cost analysis is a technique for evaluating programs, procedures, and actions; it is not a moral theory. There is significant controversy over the moral justification of benefit/cost analysis. When a procedure for evaluating social policy is challenged on moral grounds, defenders frequently seek a justification by construing the procedure as the practical embodiment of a correct moral theory. This has the apparent advantage of avoiding difficult empirical questions concerning such matters as the consequences of using the procedure. So, for example, (...) defenders of benefit/cost analysis are frequently tempted to argue that this procedure just is the calculation of moral Tightness – perhaps that what it means for an action to be morally right is just for it to have the best benefit-to-cost ratio given the accounts of "benefit" and "cost" that BCA employs. They suggest, in defense of BCA, that they have found the moral calculus – Bentham's "unabashed arithmetic of morals." To defend BCA in this manner is to commit oneself to one member of a family of moral theories and, also, to the view that if a procedure is the direct implementation of a correct moral theory, then it is a justified procedure. Neither of these commitments is desirable, and so the temptation to justify BCA by direct appeal to a B/C moral theory should be resisted; it constitutes an unwarranted short cut to moral foundations – in this case, an unsound foundation. Critics of BCA are quick to point out the flaws of B/C moral theories, and to conclude that these undermine the justification of BCA. But the failure to justify BCA by a direct appeal to B/C moral theory does not show that the technique is unjustified. There is hope for BCA, even if it does not lie with B/C moral theory. (shrink)
Evolvability, Plausibility, and Possibility. [REVIEW]A. C. Love - 2006 - BioScience 56:772–774.details
Judgments of plausibility involve appearance of the truth or reasonableness, which is always a function of background knowledge. What anyone will countenance is conditioned by what they already know (or think they know). Marc Kirschner (professor of systems biology at Harvard) and John Gerhart (professor of molecular and cell biology at the University of California—Berkeley) aim to show that molecular, cellular, and developmental processes relevant to the generation of phenotypic variation in anatomy, physiology, and behavior demonstrate how evolutionary processes, especially (...) the origins of novelty, are plausible. The outstanding question for Kirschner and Gerhart concerns not the modification of structures but their origination—a question unanswered by the theoretical framework of the modern synthesis. (shrink)
Looking Beyond Gene Concepts. [REVIEW]A. C. Love - 2006 - Philosophy of Science 73 (2):247–250.details
Book Review: What Genes Can't Do By Lenny Moss .
Putting the Pieces Together. [REVIEW]A. C. Love - 2007 - Science 317:1502–1503.details
False Idles: The Politics of the "Quiet Life".Eric Brown - 2008 - In Ryan Balot (ed.), A Companion to Greek and Roman Political Thought. Oxford, UK: pp. 485-500.details
The dominant Greek and Roman ideology held that the best human life required engaging in politics, on the grounds that the human good is shared, not private, and that the activities central to this shared good are those of traditional politics. This chapter surveys three ways in which philosophers challenged this ideology, defended a withdrawal from or transformation of traditional politics, and thus rethought what politics could be. Plato and Aristotle accept the ideology's two central commitments but insist that a (...) few exceptional human beings could transcend the good of human activities. Epicurus argues that the human good is private, not shared. Socrates and some of his followers, including especially the Stoics, argue that the activities central to the shared human good are not those of traditional politics. (shrink)
Sometimes an Orgasm is Just an Orgasm.Erika Lorraine Milam, Gillian R. Brown, Stefan Linquist, Steve Fuller & Elisabeth A. Lloyd - 2006 - Metascience 15 (3):399-435.details
I should like to offer my greatest thanks to Paul Griffiths for providing the opportunity for this exchange, and to commentators Gillian Brown, Steven Fuller, Stefan Linquist, and Erika Milam for their generous and thought-provoking comments. I shall do my best in this space to respond to some of their concerns.
'Book Review: Toward an Ecology of Transfiguration: Orthodox Christian Perspectives on Environment, Nature and Creation.' Chryssavgis, J. & Foltz, B. (Eds.), Fordham: Fordham University Press, 2013.' in Sobornost 36:2 (2015), 90-5. [REVIEW]Emma Brown Dewhurst & Emma C. J. Brown - 2015 - Sobornost 36:90-5.details
A Graph-Theoretic Account of Logics.A. Sernadas, C. Sernadas, J. Rasga & Marcelo E. Coniglio - 2009 - Journal of Logic and Computation 19 (6):1281-1320.details
A graph-theoretic account of logics is explored based on the general notion of m-graph (that is, a graph where each edge can have a finite sequence of nodes as source). Signatures, interpretation structures and deduction systems are seen as m-graphs. After defining a category freely generated by a m-graph, formulas and expressions in general can be seen as morphisms. Moreover, derivations involving rule instantiation are also morphisms. Soundness and completeness theorems are proved. As a consequence of the generality of the (...) approach our results apply to very different logics encompassing, among others, substructural logics as well as logics with nondeterministic semantics, and subsume all logics endowed with an algebraic semantics. (shrink)
A Review of 'The Blue and Brown Books' by Ludwig Wittgenstein 208p (1958) (1933-1935)(Review Revised 2019).Michael Starks - 2019 - In The Logical Structure of Human Behavior. Las Vegas: Reality Press. pp. 275-294.details
This work can be regarded as an outline of behavior (human nature) from our greatest descriptive psychologist. In considering these matters we must keep in mind that philosophy is the descriptive psychology of higher order thought (DPHOT), which is another of the obvious facts that are totally overlooked –i.e., I have never seen it clearly stated anywhere. Sadly, Wittgenstein's brilliant exposition of behavior is still understood well by only a handful. -/- Much of the work is aimed at undermining the (...) idea of introspection and private language via clever examples and of course there is a mountain of literature on this topic since but neither W nor anyone else ever makes it clear that the basic argument is trivial—if you don't have a test that distinguishes between two words they cannot have a role in language and there cannot be any such test for private mental phenomena. In between he is describing how System 1 (the automatic functions of the brain) is described by intransitive uses of verbs such as seeing, remembering (i.e., they are Causally Self Reflexive) and differs from and blends into System 2- the deliberative linguistic system (e.g. p101, 161, 166 etc.). He spends much time showing that disposition words (S2) such as thinking, meaning, judging, interpreting, knowing, understanding, believing, intending, reading, calculating, recognizing, comparing, deciding, counting, imaging etc. are not mental states with a precise duration but that their use depends on their having a clear public outcome-i.e., being transitive verbs (i.e., having Conditions of Satisfaction, which is the phrase Searle invented decades later). They are abilities to act. -/- I suggest that with the perspective I propose, W is not obscure, difficult or irrelevant but scintillating, profound and crystal clear and that to miss him is to miss one of the greatest intellectual adventures possible. -/- Those wishing a comprehensive up to date framework for human behavior from the modern two systems view may consult my book 'The Logical Structure of Philosophy, Psychology, Mind and Language in Ludwig Wittgenstein and John Searle' 2nd ed (2019). Those interested in more of my writings may see 'Talking Monkeys--Philosophy, Psychology, Science, Religion and Politics on a Doomed Planet--Articles and Reviews 2006-2019 3rd ed (2019), The Logical Structure of Human Behavior (2019), and Suicidal Utopian Delusions in the 21st Century 4th ed (2019) . (shrink)
How Well Do You See What You Hear? The Acuity of Visual-to-Auditory Sensory Substitution.Alastair Haigh, David J. Brown, Peter Meijer & Michael J. Proulx - 2013 - Frontiers in Psychology 4.details
Sensory substitution devices (SSDs) aim to compensate for the loss of a sensory modality, typically vision, by converting information from the lost modality into stimuli in a remaining modality. "The vOICe" is a visual-to-auditory SSD which encodes images taken by a camera worn by the user into "soundscapes" such that experienced users can extract information about their surroundings. Here we investigated how much detail was resolvable during the early induction stages by testing the acuity of blindfolded sighted, naïve vOICe users. (...) Initial performance was well above chance. Participants who took the test twice as a form of minimal training showed a marked improvement on the second test. Acuity was slightly but not significantly impaired when participants wore a camera and judged letter orientations "live". A positive correlation was found between participants' musical training and their acuity. The relationship between auditory expertise via musical training and the lack of a relationship with visual imagery, suggests that early use of a SSD draws primarily on the mechanisms of the sensory modality being used rather than the one being substituted. If vision is lost, audition represents the sensory channel of highest bandwidth of those remaining. The level of acuity found here, and the fact it was achieved with very little experience in sensory substitution by naïve users is promising. (shrink)
In Defense of Weak Scientism: A Reply to Brown.Moti Mizrahi - 2017 - Social Epistemology Review and Reply Collective 6 (2):9-22.details
In "What's So Bad about Scientism?" (Mizrahi 2017), I argue that Weak Scientism, the view that "Of all the knowledge we have, scientific knowledge is the best knowledge" (Mizrahi 2017, 354; emphasis in original) is a defensible position. That is to say, Weak Scientism "can be successfully defended against objections" (Mizrahi 2017, 354). In his response to Mizrahi (2017), Christopher Brown (2017) provides more objections against Weak Scientism, and thus another opportunity for me to show that Weak Scientism is (...) a defensible position, which is what I will do in this reply. In fact, I think that I have already addressed Brown's (2017) objections in Mizrahi (2017), so I will simply highlight these arguments here. (shrink)
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Glyphosate and AMPA in U.S. streams, groundwater, precipitation and soils
Journal of the American Water Resources Association
By: William A. Battaglin, Michael T. Meyer, Kathryn Kuivila, and Julie E. Dietze
https://doi.org/10.1111/jawr.12159
Herbicides containing glyphosate are used in more than 130 countries on more than 100 crops. In the United States (U.S.), agricultural use of glyphosate [N-(phosphonomethyl)glycine] has increased from less than 10,000 metric tons per year (active ingredient) in 1993 to more than 70,000 metric tons per year in 2006. In 2006, glyphosate accounted for about 20 percent of all herbicide use (by weight of active ingredient). Glyphosate formulations such as Roundup® are used in homes and in agriculture. Part of the reason for the popularity of glyphosate is the perception that it is an "environmentally benign" herbicide that has low toxicity and little mobility or persistence in the environment. The U.S. Geological Survey developed an analytical method using liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry that can detect small amounts of glyphosate and its primary degradation product aminomethylphosphonic acid (AMPA) in water and sediment. Results from more than 2,000 samples collected from locations distributed across the U.S. indicate that glyphosate is more mobile and occurs more widely in the environment than was previously thought. Glyphosate and AMPA were detected (reporting limits between 0.1 and 0.02 micrograms per liter) in samples collected from surface water, groundwater, rainfall, soil water, and soil, at concentrations from less than 0.1 to more than 100 micrograms per liter. Glyphosate was detected more frequently in rain (86%), ditches and drains (71%), and soil (63%); and less frequently in groundwater (3%) and large rivers (18%). AMPA was detected more frequently in rain (86%), soil (82%), and large rivers (78%); and less frequently in groundwater (8%) and wetlands or vernal pools (37%). Most observed concentrations of glyphosate were well below levels of concern for humans or wildlife, and none exceeded the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Maximum Contaminant Level of 700 micrograms per liter. However, the ecosystem effects of chronic low-level exposures to mixtures of pesticides are uncertain, and some studies have attributed toxic effects on biota to the surfactants or other adjuvants that are included in common glyphosate formulations.
10.1111/jawr.12159
Colorado Water Science Center, Kansas Water Science Center

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Home » Jim Woulfe
Posts Tagged: Jim Woulfe
IGA dairy conference 2021: 'Can we sell our milk?'
The Irish Grassland Association (IGA) held its dairy conference, titled 'Future-proofing Irish dairying', yesterday, Wednesday, January 6. Jim Woulfe, chief executive officer (CEO)…
Planning granted for 'Brexit-proof' Dairygold plant in Cork
Dairygold has welcomed An Bord Pleanala's decision to grant permission for the development of state-of-the-art facilities for the manufacture of Jarlsberg cheese in…
Further milk price decreases on the horizon – Woulfe
Irish dairy farmers can expect further milk price decreases in the future, Dairygold CEO Jim Woulfe has claimed today. In the coming days…
Difficult dairy outlook ahead: Milk price will 'struggle' to average 30c/L
After a record-breaking year for Irish dairy farmer returns in 2017, when relatively good milk prices and an expanded national herd helped to…
'Steady as she goes' where milk prices are concerned for the next 6 months
It will be "steady as she goes" where milk prices are concerned for the next six months, according to Dairygold CEO Jim Woulfe.…
€86 million Dairygold facility to cater for expanding milk production levels
A new €86 million facility developed by Dairygold is set to cater for its members' growing milk production levels over the coming years.…
Dairygold CEO outlines impact of Brexit on farm-gate milk prices
Speaking on RTE's Morning Ireland programme this morning, CEO of Dairygold Jim Woulfe outlined – in monetary terms – how Brexit could impact…
Dairy markets are 'delicately balanced and fragile'
Global dairy markets are delicately balanced and fragile, according to Dairygold CEO Jim Woulfe, and this fragility is a big concern for dairy…
Dairygold makes a profit of €17.5m in 2016, despite drop in turnover
Dairygold Co-Operative's operating profit amounted to €17.5m in 2016, despite a drop in turnover of close to €30m compared to the previous year. Last…
'Further correction is needed in global dairy markets…we have to be realistic'
Further correction in global dairy markets is still required, according to Dairygold CEO Jim Woulfe. "I still believe there is still further correction…


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Middle East & Africa | South Africa
A new party
Can it loosen the rulers' grip?
Nov 6th 2008 | JOHANNESBURG
Lekota: making a stand for "values"
THE African National Congress may face its first serious black-led opposition since it began to run South Africa after apartheid ended in 1994. Some 6,000-plus disillusioned ANC supporters from all walks of life, gathering in Johannesburg on November 1st, decided that a new party would be formally inaugurated next month. Other opposition leaders, such as Helen Zille of the mainly white-led liberal opposition, the Democratic Alliance, attended the jamboree, excited by cracks in the ANC's domination, and talked of joining forces. But with no name, no clear policy and no party structure, the new outfit is far from certain to dent the ANC at the general election due in April. Last time, in 2004, the ruling party got 70% of the vote to the Alliance's paltry 12%.
Tension had been brewing in the ANC before and after its leadership contest in the northern town of Polokwane last December. Thabo Mbeki, then the country's president, lost the ANC's top spot to Jacob Zuma, who is expected to become the country's president when Parliament picks one after a general election in April. But the last straw for many disillusioned ANC people was when their party's new leadership asked Mr Mbeki to step down as South Africa's president in September. After bowing out, he has stayed on as an ANC member. But several leading lights, notably Mosiuoa ("Terror") Lekota, a former ANC chairman, and Mbhazima Shilowa, until recently the premier of Gauteng province, which includes Johannesburg, decided to break away to form a new party.
They say Mr Zuma and the ANC's new bosses are undemocratic and intolerant, though they themselves were silent when, in years past, Mr Mbeki branded critics as racist and falsely accused rivals of conspiracy. Moreover, it is unclear what the new lot stand for. A main theme at its convention was the need to elect the country's president directly, not by a vote in Parliament. Many said lawmakers should be elected in constituency contests, not by party lists, as happens now. Others called for respect for the constitution and equality before the law: a veiled attack on Mr Zuma, who still faces corruption charges.
A clear programme may not be necessary to win votes. Some of the breakaway group say their party will defend "ANC values". Others complain that the ANC has been taken over by its Communist and trade union allies. The new movement's "Shikota" duo, as the leadership has been dubbed, says it wants to reach beyond the ANC's old base. Some black businessmen and professionals sound interested. The new group seems to have cash. It may be able to take over the ANC machinery in some areas but, with time short, may struggle to compete against the ruling party's electioneering muscle on a national scale.
Its real hope, at first, is to reduce the ANC's majority and, perhaps in coalition with other opposition parties, to make gains in provincial government, especially in the Western Cape, where the Democratic Alliance is strong; Ms Zille is the mayor of Cape Town. An injection of competition should enliven South Africa's democracy. But it could also make it uglier. Already ANC militants have harassed and intimidated supporters of the new party.
This article appeared in the Middle East & Africa section of the print edition under the headline "A new party"
Middle East & Africa November 8th 2008
Murder, muddle and panic
Jet-setting to business as usual
Caught in the middle but still perky
From the November 8th 2008 edition


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Fury at the shaken Capitol over the attack, security, virus
January 13, 2021, 12:12 a.m. ·6 min read
WASHINGTON — This time the fury enveloping the U.S. Capitol comes not from an insurgent mob but from within.
The anger on display is searing — Democrat against Republican; Republican against Republican; legislators of both parties against the catastrophic security failure that left top leaders of the government vulnerable to last week's violence as well as to the coronavirus in their ranks.
The rage is being stoked even hotter by the passions aroused by Democrats' fresh drive to impeach President Donald Trump.
This is a "powder keg" moment, one Democrat said. It's certainly a historic one.
The House is moving toward making Trump the first president to be impeached twice as part of an extraordinary effort to remove him from office before Democrat Joe Biden's inauguration a week from Wednesday. The charge to be brought against him: "incitement of insurrection."
Once again the phrase of the founders, "high crimes and misdemeanours ," has been turned against Trump, who was acquitted by the Senate in his first impeachment trial. And tempers are flaring in congressional hallways and offices still cleaning up from the trashing by the attackers.
Shaken members, long accustomed to protective bubbles, inquired whether they can expense their own bulletproof vests to taxpayers (yes they can). Democrats assailed a collection of always-Trumpers — Republicans who pressed the president's false accusations of a fraudulent election even after the mob, motivated by the same lies, had finally been cleared away.
Democratic Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, among others, called for the expulsion or censure of Republican members who argued Trump's case for overturning the will of the voters, if those lawmakers refuse to resign. Democrats were primarily after Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and a selection of House lawmakers who had also tried to throw up obstacles to Biden's election certification.
"Failing to hold those responsible for the insurrection accountable would be a profound injustice and give a green light to future authoritarians," Casey said.
Said Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland: "They have a full-blown independent reality, totally cut apart from the world of facts, and that is the groundwork for fascism. When you add racism, anti-Semitism, conspiracy theory and magical thinking, that is an absolute powder keg in terms of an assault on democracy."
There was Republican to Republican finger-pointing, too. Much of it was aimed at House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California for not showing enough leadership, according to some former lawmakers as well as congressional GOP aides who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
Some House Republicans are upset that McCarthy, one of Trump's staunchest defenders in Washington, defended him too forcefully and for too long, making it harder to dissociate themselves from Trump after the Capitol siege.
In contrast, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky explicitly criticized Trump's drive to overturn Biden's election, saying it would "damage our republic forever." He did so even as the mob breached the Capitol and lunged toward the chambers against outnumbered police.
McCarthy acknowledged outrage among his Republican colleagues over the attack in a letter to them Monday declaring "I share your anger and your pain" and making sure they knew the mob's threat also came close to him.
"Zip ties were found on staff desks in my office," he wrote. "Windows were smashed in. Property was stolen. Those images will never leave us."
As if nerves weren't raw enough over the actions of Trump and his diehard loyalists, three Democrats who sheltered with Republican House members when they were spirited to a secure room disclosed they had since tested positive for COVID-19. Some of the Republicans in that room over those hours had refused to wear masks.
Indeed, one of the newly infected, Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington, said "several Republicans not only cruelly refused to wear a mask but recklessly mocked colleagues and staff who offered them one."
Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman of New Jersey and Brad Schneider of Illinois were the others who announced positive tests after their time in the room as everyone waited to hear whether more cases were coming.
Democrats were livid.
"In the midst of a deadly assault on our United States Capitol, a number of our Republican colleagues laughed off rules designed to keep not just their colleagues safe, but to protect the lives of the teams of workers keeping things going, law enforcement, and staff throughout the Capitol," said Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich.
On Tuesday, the House sergeant at arms office issued a statement saying all members and others going into the chamber must be screened for prohibited items, including firearms, and anyone failing to wear a mask on the House floor will be removed. The House was also voting to impose fines on lawmakers without face coverings.
The screening requirement comes as at least one lawmaker, freshman Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., has talked openly about carrying her firearm around town and onto the Capitol grounds, which has infuriated gun-control Democrats.
The new metal detectors outside the House chamber also galled some Republicans, some of whom uttered obscenities or ignored the devices, claiming they were impeding them from voting.
At a virtual meeting of the House rules committee, Democrats implored Republicans to stop peddling Trump's myths of a stolen election. Trump's accusations have been refuted for weeks by judges and election officials but motivated the mob and are still believed by legions of Trump supporters.
"When does service to Donald Trump end?" demanded Democratic Rep. Joe Morelle of New York. "It should be an easy one to answer."
"When the people speak, it's over," he went on. Otherwise, "we have nothing. There is no America."
There were some signs that the top Republican in the House was backing off his unwavering show of loyalty to Trump.
McCarthy had joined most House Republicans in December in supporting a lawsuit to block Biden's election, and again last week in two votes against certifying Biden's win. The lawsuit and both votes failed. He has so far avoided lambasting Trump publicly. But in a private conference call Monday with GOP colleagues, he expressed an openness to censuring Trump.
McCarthy "amplified the president's disinformation about widescale election fraud," former Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., who often clashed with Trump, said in an interview last week. "That has been irresponsible. Mitch doesn't fall in that category."
"McCarthy is all in with Trump," said Paul Cook, who retired in January as a GOP congressman from California and had differences with him over the years. "I think sometimes you have the greater good of the country, it's not always the party."
To Cook, it all comes down to the oath of office. "You take an oath, a lot of people kind of forget the words to that," he said.
In their oath of office, lawmakers vow to defend the Constitution "against all enemies, foreign and domestic."
Calvin Woodward And Alan Fram, The Associated Press
Mowi, Cermaq head to court to quash Ottawa's plan to phase out Discovery Islands fish farms
Two international aquaculture companies are heading to court to try to quash a recent federal decision to phase out controversial fish farms in the Discovery Islands. Mowi Canada West and Cermaq Canada want the Federal Court to set aside federal Fisheries Minister Bernadette Jordan's decision — in whole or in part — to phase out salmon farming operations in the region by the end of June 2022. But First Nations supporting Jordan's decision say any reversals of the plan by the court would come at the cost of the inherent rights of Indigenous people. The two fish farm companies are seeking costs and an injunction to suspend the decision, or parts of it, from going ahead until the court hears their applications On Dec. 17, Jordan announced licences for 19 operations in the waters near Campbell River on Vancouver Island were being renewed for the last time and no new fish could be transferred to the salmon farms during the 18-month period. The fisheries minister said her decision was largely the result of overwhelming opposition to the farms expressed by the region's seven First Nations during government-to-government consultations. Mowi and Cermaq stated in the court application that the fisheries minister gave no advance warning of the decision, and did not allow the companies to provide input on its negative impacts. The minister's announcement followed heated public debate around the fate of the fish farms and the risks they might pose to wild salmon stocks. The farms are on key migration routes for wild juvenile salmon, and eliminating operations in the Discovery Islands was a recommendation made by the 2012 Cohen Commission investigating the decline of Fraser River sockeye. However, the recommendation depended on Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) finding the fish farms posed a danger to wild sockeye. At the end of September, DFO concluded the farm operations posed minimal risk to Fraser River sockeye after studying nine different fish farm diseases. Both Mowi and Cermaq argue in their applications that Jordan's decision was unlawful, unreasonable or procedurally unfair. Cermaq said DFO's decision not to allow any new fish into its three Discovery Islands farms will force the cull of millions of juvenile fish scheduled for transfer to the region, the loss of 20 per cent of its production volume, and the potential closure of a hatchery. The company also said 21 direct jobs are endangered, in addition to others employed in supporting positions, with total annual wages in the millions of dollars. Mowi stated their affected farms represent 30 per cent of the company's operations and 645 direct jobs, many held by First Nation employees. The largest operator in the region, Mowi owns 13 of the salmon farms impacted — nine of which were empty of fish when the decision was announced, according to DFO. Both companies said the millions of fish slated for transfer take approximately five years to rear — starting with the selection of brood stock, the spawning of fish, hatching eggs, and finally raising fish until the smolts are ready to grow out in ocean pens. DFO departed from past practice in failing to provide advance warning before making decisions that will materially affect, severely impair and end operations without providing operators a chance to provide input into the decision, the companies said. Jordan also relied solely on input from her consultations with area First Nations, and failed to take social, economic and scientific considerations into account, the companies said. Bob Chamberlin, a former vice-president of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs and a longtime advocate for wild salmon, said he wasn't surprised to hear the aquaculture companies want to challenge DFO's decision. Jordan's announcement was the result of consulting with the Homalco, Klahoose, K'ómoks, Kwiakah, Tla'amin, We Wai Kai and Wei Wai Kum First Nations about whether to renew licences for the fish farms operating in their traditional territories, he said. But more than 100 First Nations dependent on wild salmon elsewhere on the coast and along the Fraser River also support the removal of the salmon farms, Chamberlin said. Aquaculture companies regularly express concern about how closing the region's fish farms will negatively affect First Nations employees, communities, and partners, Chamberlin said. Yet the same companies are willing to challenge a decision by the ministry that is respectful of the inherent Indigenous rights of First Nations, both within the region and across the province. "They only respect us until they disagree with something," Chamberlin said. "So, really, it's a conditional acceptance of our human rights." Homalco Chief Darren Blaney said DFO has had conflicting roles as both a promoter of fish farms and a regulator tasked with protecting wild salmon. Aquaculture companies haven't faced many decisions contrary to their interests before DFO's recent decision, he said. "They've gotten comfortable, and they didn't bother to address the issues they were creating with sea lice and diseases," Blaney said. "They never looked into closed containment or fish farming on land because they've had a (free ride) in the ocean." Sumas First Nation Chief Dalton Silver said the phasing out of the fish farms might impact jobs and revenue, but protecting depleted wild salmon is a question of food security for Indigenous people. "Those who are benefiting from the fish farms are few, (and) at a great expense to the environment and to wild salmon, and many First Nations," said Silver, who is also fisheries representative for the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs. The two aquaculture companies may be frustrated by a lack of consultation, but that's a situation First Nations have a lot of experience with, Silver observed. "The non-consultation argument is something we've had for a long, long time," Silver said. "No one talked to us about certain things that had great effect on our way of life, and are still affecting us." Chamberlin said he had trouble believing aquaculture companies were entirely surprised by Jordan's decision, given the Cohen Commission recommended the closure of the farms in December 2020 if DFO determined they posed a minimal risk to wild salmon. Plus, the fisheries minister is developing a plan that is due in 2025 to transition away from open-net pen salmon farms in B.C. waters, Chamberlin added. "The writing was certainly on the wall. It seems to me, (the companies) weren't proactive," Chamberlin said. "Their lack of business planning shouldn't be a legal starting point to overturn a decision made in consultation with First Nations." First Nations rights will be the collateral damage if the court decides in favour of the agriculture industry, Chamberlin added. "This could result in a message that Crown process with a company is more important, or trumps respect for Aboriginal rights — whether that is the intention or not," he said. Jordan's office said Wednesday the minister is aware certain companies have asked for a judicial review of her decision regarding aquaculture licences in the Discovery Islands. "As the matter is now before the courts, it would be inappropriate to comment at this time,"the ministry said. Rochelle Baker / Local Journalism Initiative / Canada's National Observer Rochelle Baker, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, National Observer
World hopes for renewed co-operation with US under Biden
MEXICO CITY — World leaders welcomed into their ranks the new U.S. President Joe Biden, noting their most pressing problems, including the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change, require multilateral co-operation, an approach his predecessor Donald Trump ridiculed. Many expressed hope Biden would right U.S. democracy two weeks after rioters stormed the Capitol, shaking the faith of those fighting for democracy in their own countries. Governments targeted and sanctioned under Trump embraced the chance for a fresh start with Biden, while some heads of state who lauded Trump's blend of nationalism and populism were more restrained in their expectations. But the chance to repair frayed alliances and work together on global problems carried the day. Biden "understands the importance of co-operation among nations," said former Colombian president and Nobel Peace Prize winner Juan Manuel Santos, who left office in 2018. "As a matter of fact, if we don't co-operate – all nations – to fight climate change, then we will all perish. It's as simple as that." French President Emmanuel Macron also noted the urgency of addressing the perils of climate change after Trump withdrew the U.S. from the Paris climate accord, a move Biden reversed in the first hours of his presidency Wednesday. With Biden, "we will be stronger to face the challenges of our time. Stronger to build our future. Stronger to protect our planet," he wrote on Twitter. "Welcome back to the Paris Agreement!" Other European allies saw a chance to come in out of the cold after strained relationships with the Trump administration. European Council President Charles Michel said trans-Atlantic relations have "greatly suffered in the last four years" while the world has become less stable and less predictable. "We have our differences and they will not magically disappear. America seems to have changed, and how it's perceived in Europe and the rest of the world has also changed," added Michel, whose open criticism of the Trump era contrasted with the silence that mostly reigned in Europe while the Republican leader was in the White House. In Ballina, Ireland, where Biden's great-great-grandfather was born in 1832, a mural of a smiling Biden adorned a wall in the town, where some of the president's relatives still live. "As he takes the oath of office, I know that President Biden will feel the weight of history — the presence of his Irish ancestors who left Mayo and Louth in famine times in search of life and hope," Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who formed close ties with Trump, noted a personal friendship with Biden and said he looked forward to working together to further strengthen the U.S.-Israel alliance. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who has accused Trump of unfair bias toward Israel with policies like moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, expressed hope for a more even-handed approach from Biden. He urged "a comprehensive and just peace process that fulfills the aspirations of the Palestinian people for freedom and independence." In Latin America, Biden faces immediate challenges on immigration, and the leaders of the two most populous countries — Brazil and Mexico — were chummy with Trump. The Trump administration also expanded painful sanctions against governments in Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua. In Venezuela, President Nicolás Maduro's government urged dialogue with the Biden administration, while hoping the new president abandons the avalanche of damaging sanctions Trump imposed to attempt a regime change. Some Venezuelans, however, like retired accountant Jesús Sánchez, 79, said he was disappointed to see Trump leave power. Trump backed opposition leader Juan Guaidó, giving Venezuelans like him hope that Maduro's days in power were numbered. Carlos Vecchio, Guaido's envoy in Washington who the U.S. recognizes as Venezuela's ambassador, tweeted photos of himself at Biden's inauguration. The invitation to attend was touted by Venezuela's opposition as evidence the Biden administration will continue its strong support and resist entreaties by Maduro for dialogue that the U.S. has strenuously rejected until now. Cuba's leaders perhaps have a more realistic hope for improved relations: Biden was in the White House for the historic thaw in relations in 2014, and various officials expressed willingness to reopen a dialogue with Washington if there was respect for Cuba's sovereignty. President Miguel Díaz-Canel railed against Trump via Twitter, citing "more than 200 measures that tightened the financial, commercial and economic blockade, the expression of a despicable and inhuman policy." In Mexico, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who cultivated an unexpectedly friendly relationship with Trump and was one of the last world leaders to recognize Biden's victory, read from a letter he sent to Biden in 2012, calling for reorienting the bilateral relationship away from security and military aid and toward development. He urged Biden to implement immigration reform, and added: "We need to maintain a very good relationship with the United States government and I don't have any doubt that it's going to be that way." U.S. allies in the Asia-Pacific region expressed anticipation of strengthening those alliances under a Biden administration. Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen and others highlighted their shared values as leaders of democracies. South Korean President Moon Jae-in said: "America's new beginning will make democracy even greater." Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Biden was a good friend to New Zealand and highlighted in particular the words given in his inaugural address. "President Biden's message of unity as he takes office is one that resonates with New Zealanders," Ardern said. World leaders also acknowledged the history of Vice-President Kamala Harris taking office. She is the first woman, the first Black woman and the first South Asian to hold that office in the U.S. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Twitter congratulated both Biden and Harris, whose maternal grandfather was Indian. "That is an historic moment and one that, I think as a father of daughters, you can only celebrate," Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said. __ Cook reported from Brussels. AP journalists around the world contributed to this report. ___ This version has been corrected by removing the reference to the U.S. as the world's largest democracy. Lorne Cook And Christopher Sherman, The Associated Press
SAN DIEGO — For the opening salvo of his presidency, few expected Joe Biden to be so far-reaching on immigration. A raft of executive orders signed Wednesday undoes many of his predecessor's hallmark initiatives, such as halting work on a border wall with Mexico, lifting a travel ban on people from several predominantly Muslim countries and reversing plans to exclude people in the country illegally from the 2020 census. Six of Biden's 17 orders, memorandums and proclamations deal with immigration. He ordered efforts to preserve Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, a program known as DACA that has shielded hundreds of thousands of people who came to the U.S. as children from deportation since it was introduced in 2012. He also extended temporary legal status to Liberians who fled civil war and the Ebola outbreak to June 2022. The Homeland Security Department announced a 100-day moratorium on deportations "for certain noncitizens," starting Friday, after Biden revoked one of Trump's earliest executive orders making anyone in the country illegally a priority for deportations. That's not it. Biden's most ambitious proposal, unveiled Wednesday, is an immigration bill that would give legal status and a path to citizenship to anyone in the United States before Jan. 1 — an estimated 11 million people — and reduce the time that family members must wait outside the United States for green cards. Taken together, Biden's moves represent a sharp U-turn after four years of relentless strikes against immigration, captured most vividly by the separation of thousands of children from their parents under a "zero tolerance" policy on illegal border crossings. Former President Donald Trump's administration also took hundreds of other steps to enhance enforcement, limit eligibility for asylum and cut legal immigration. The new president dispelled any belief that his policies would resemble those of former President Barack Obama, who promised a sweeping bill his first year in office but waited five years while logging more than 2 million deportations. Eager to avoid a rush on the border, Biden aides signalled that it will take time to unwind some of Trump's border policies, which include making asylum-seekers wait in Mexico for hearings in U.S. immigration court. Homeland Security said that on Thursday it would stop sending asylum-seekers back to Mexico to wait for hearings but that people already returned should stay put for now. It "will take months to be fully up and running in terms of being able to do the kind of asylum processing that we want to be able to do," Jake Sullivan, Biden's national security advisor, told reporters. Despite the deliberative pace in some areas, Biden's moves left pro-immigration advocates overjoyed. Greisa Martinez Rosas, executive director of United We Dream, called the legislation "the most progressive legalization bill in history." "We made it," she said Wednesday on a conference call with reporters. "We made this day happen." It is even more striking because immigration got scarce mention during the campaign, and the issue has divided Republicans and Democrats, even within their own parties. Legislative efforts failed in 2007 and 2013. More favourable attitudes toward immigration — especially among Democrats — may weigh in Biden's favour. A Gallup survey last year found that 34% of those polled supported more immigration, up from 21% in 2016 and higher than any time since Gallup began asking the question in 1965. Seven in 10 voters said they preferred offering immigrants in the U.S. illegally a chance to apply for legal status, compared with about 3 in 10 who thought they should be deported to the country they came from, according to AP VoteCast. The survey of more than 110,000 voters in November showed 9 in 10 Biden voters but just about half of Trump voters were in favour of a path to legal status. Under the bill, most people would wait eight years for citizenship but those enrolled in DACA, those with temporary protective status for fleeing strife-torn countries and farmworkers would wait three years. The bill also offers development aid to Central America, reduces the 1.2 million-case backlog in immigration courts and provides more visas for underrepresented countries and crime victims. The proposal would let eligible family members wait in the United States for green cards by granting temporary status until their petitions are processed — a population that Kerri Talbot of advocacy group Immigration Hub estimates at 4 million. Unmarried adult children of U.S. citizens who have been waiting outside the country for more than six years are just getting their numbers called this month. Waits are even longer for some nationalities. Married sons and daughters of U.S. citizens from Mexico have been waiting outside the United States since August 1996. The bill faces an enormous test in Congress. Sen. Bob Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, said Wednesday that he would lead the Senate effort. Skeptics will note that Ronald Regan's 1986 amnesty for nearly 3 million immigrants preceded large numbers of new arrivals and say to expect more of the same. In a taste of what's to come, Sen. Tom Cotton, an Arkansas Republican, described the bill as having "open borders: Total amnesty, no regard for the health and security of Americans, and zero enforcement." To be clear, enforcement has expanded exponentially since the mid-1990s and will remain. Biden's bill calls for more technology at land crossings, airports and seaports and authorizes the Homeland Security secretary to consider other steps. Biden warned advocates last week that they should not hold him to passage within 100 days, said Domingo Garcia of the League of United Latin American Citizens, who was on a call with the president. "Today we celebrate," Carlos Guevara of pro-immigration group UnidosUS said Wednesday. "Tomorrow we roll up our sleeves and get to work." ___ Associated Press writers Mike Schneider in Orlando, Florida, and Hannah Fingerhut in Washington contributed to this report. Elliot Spagat, The Associated Press


text:
Q: Bash 'read' command does not accept -i parameter on Mac. Any alternatives? I have a bash script that works fine on my work Ubuntu machine, but sadly breaks when I try and run it on my Mac OSX Lion Mountain Lion laptop. The line that kills it is this:
while [[ -z "$SSHFS_PATH" ]] ; do
  read -e -p "Please enter the path on which to mount your file system: `echo -e $'\n > '`" -i "~/aws-dev" SSHFS_PATH;
done

It throws out this error:
-bash: read: -i: invalid option
read: usage: read [-ers] [-u fd] [-t timeout] [-p prompt] [-a array] [-n nchars] [-d delim] [name ...]

So it seems the OSX version of the read command doesn't accept -i, which is used to suggest default values. Why? And what can be done to fix this?
Thanks :)

A: One could write a wrapper function that detects whether -i is supported and use the appropriate syntax:
function readinput() {
  local CLEAN_ARGS=""
  while [[ $# -gt 0 ]]; do
    local i="$1"
    case "$i" in
      "-i")
        if read -i "default" 2>/dev/null <<< "test"; then
          CLEAN_ARGS="$CLEAN_ARGS -i \"$2\""
        fi
        shift
        shift
        ;;
      "-p")
        CLEAN_ARGS="$CLEAN_ARGS -p \"$2\""
        shift
        shift
        ;;
      *)
        CLEAN_ARGS="$CLEAN_ARGS $1"
        shift
        ;;
    esac
  done
  eval read $CLEAN_ARGS
}

and then
readinput -e -p "This is a test of... " -i "default value" variable
variable=${variable:-default value}

Note: if you call this function read, it will then replace the not-so-functional builtin.

A: Mac OS X 10.7 Lion (and to this date all more recent versions as well, thanks @kojiro) ships with bash 3.2 whereas read -i was introduced with bash 4.0-alpha (see the ChangeLog).
You can either install a more recent version of bash using homebrew or provide a non-readline default value yourself, e.g.
read -p "Path? (default: /bar): " var
[ -z "${var}" ] && var='/bar'

A: OSX bash is version 3. Linux users enjoy the additional features of bash version 4.
Using parameter substitution ${VAR:-def-value} if $VAR is unset then def-value is returned.
DEFPATH="~/aws-dev"
while [[ -z "$SHFS_PATH" ]] ; do
    echo "Please enter the path on which to mount your file system"
    read -p "default is $DEFPATH " SHFS_PATH
    SHFS_PATH=${SHFS_PATH:-~/aws-dev}
    echo $SHFS_PATH
done

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Gov't must walk the talk on agric sector – peasant farmers
President of PFAG, Mr Adam Nashiru
The president of the Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana has appealed to the government to walk the talk in the agricultural sector especially the cotton industry.
Mr Mohammed Adam Nashiru said even though the cotton industry had a great potential to not only reduce poverty but also increase food production, the industry had been neglected far too long.
He was speaking at a seminar jointly organized by the PFAG and the Association of African Cotton Producers (AProCA) in Accra.
He said in an era where the government is providing free school uniforms and the army is contemplating going into producing their own uniforms and other things, cotton production required an urgent national attention.
Whilst commending the government for the introduction of Wienco, Armajaro and Olam Ghana which undoubtedly will motivate farmers to produce more, Mr Nashiru said more needed to be done in the sector.
He said the wholesale importation of textiles from China was a demotivating factor.
"The influx of textiles from China and other areas is not a good practice; once we have our local industry, let us support it to grow by way of improving upon the value chain – from production to the ginnery and to the textile industries. This will help us to reduce poverty amongst the people and equally make the farmers to work," he stated.
The President of AProCA, Mr Francois B. Traore told journalists African government must recognize that there was a direct correlation between cotton production and food security.
He said where cotton production was taken seriously, it had a positive impact on food security in that cotton farmers stood a better chance of increasing their yield because when they do crop rotation, food crops benefit tremendously from the fertilizers and other technology applied to the cotton farms.
Mr Traore said that African states must invest in agriculture, insisting that when that is done, the youth, instead of migrating to the city centres in search of non-existent jobs and good life, would stay back in the rural areas and work to grow the rural economies.
He said the purpose of the seminar was to bring together cotton producers from Ghana, Togo, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Gambia, Cameroon, Uganda, Senegal Chad, and Zambia to share ideas and discuss the way forward.
The president of the Cotton Farmers Association of Ghana, Mr Mohammed Abdul-Rahman said tension was growing in the cotton industry because small producers had ignored the government's directive to cease their operations.
He said the situation was creating confusion in the cotton growing areas in Ghana.
Government in an effort to revamp the cotton industry entered into an agreement with Armajaro, Wienco and Olam Ghana giving them the sole right to produce cotton in the country.
But the small companies which were already in the system have refused to adhere to the government directive.
Mr Abdul-Rahman said the activities of the small producers was undermining government's efforts.
Story by Ghana l Malik Abass Daabu/Myjoyonline.com


text:
Q: Is it possible to convert bitset<8> to char in c++? I have bitset<8> v8 and its value is something like "11001101", how can I convert it to char? I need a single letter. Like letter "f"=01100110.
P.S. Thanks for help. I needed this to illustrate random errors in bits. For example without error f, and with error something like ♥, and so on with all text in file. In text you can see such errors clearly.

A: unsigned long i = mybits.to_ulong();
unsigned char c = static_cast<unsigned char>( i ); // simplest -- no checks for 8 bit bitsets

Something along the lines of the above should work. Note that the bit field may contain a value that cannot be represented using a plain char (it is implementation defined whether it is signed or not) -- so you should always check before casting.
char c;
if (i <= CHAR_MAX)
c = static_cast<char>( i );

A: The provided solution did not work for me. I was using C++14 with g++ 9. However, I was able to get it working by :
char lower = 'a';
bitset<8> upper(lower);
upper.reset(5);
cout << (char)upper.to_ulong() << endl;

This may not be the best way to do it, I am sure, but it worked for me!