[sudoroom] Friday Filosophy

[Eddan Katz]

Dear Sudo folk.

We will be having our first official Friday Filosophy Roundtable later on today at noon. I did not yet have a chance to make the potato Borekas last night, so there'll be store-bought Spanakopita (locally-made).

At this first session, 1/4/12, I wanted to suggest the topic of an introduction to technology as politics. If someone has another issue they'd like to bring to the discussion, that would be fantastic. But since the story about Robert Moses and the Long Island highways was already brought up by aestetix at the UnConference a few weeks back, I thought to follow up on that. Included below is a short blurb from a famous essay by Langdon Winner called "Do Artifacts Have Politics?" (1980) - the full article from which it comes is available at http://innovate.ucsb.edu/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/Winner-Do-Artifacts-Have-Politics-1980.pdf.

> Technical Arrangements as Forms of Order
> 
> Anyone who has traveled the highways of America and has become used to the normal height of overpasses may well find something a little odd about some of the bridges over the parkways on Long Island, New York. Many of the overpasses are extraordinarily low, having as little as nine feet of clearance at the curb. Even those who happened to notice this structural peculiarity would not be inclined to attach any special meaning to it. In our accustomed way of looking at things like roads and bridges we see the details of form as innocuous, and seldom give them a second thought.
> 
> It turns out, however, that the two hundred or so low-hanging overpasses on Long Island were deliberately designed to achieve a particular social effect. Robert Moses, the master builder of roads, parks, bridges, and other public works from the 1920s to the 1970s in New York, had these overpasses built to specifications that would discourage the presence of buses on his parkways. According to evidence provided by Robert A. Caro in his biography of Moses, the reasons reflect Moses's social-class bias and racial prejudice. Automobile owning whites of "upper" and "comfortable middle" classes, as he called them, would be free to use the parkways for recreation and commuting. Poor people and blacks, who normally used public transit, were kept off the roads because the twelve-foot tall buses could not get through the overpasses. One consequence was to limit access of racial minorities and low-income groups to Jones Beach, Moses's widely acclaimed public park. Moses made doubly sure of this result by vetoing a proposed extension of the Long Island Railroad to Jones Beach.


sent from eddan.com


On Dec 21, 2012, at 11:28 AM, "Anthony Di Franco" <di.franco at gmail.com> wrote:

> And if that's too dull for you, I'm willing to discuss Heidegger and the Fifth Reich Nazi Zombie / Alien Lizardman Mind and Weather Control Free Energy Conspiracy: The Eldritch Natural and Moral Philosophy of the Army of Armageddon.
> 
> On Dec 21, 2012 10:56 AM, "Eddan Katz" <eddan at eddan.com> wrote:
>> Dear Sudo folk -
>> 
>> Inspired by the success of Morning Maths, eddan.com would like to initiate another sudo tradition, to take place every Friday at noon-1pm. For people who work around downtown Oakland, the time slot is intended to fit into your lunch break. And in contrast with the morning maths schedule, it is my understanding that no philosophy class has ever begun before 10am.
>> 
>> Since it is lunchtime - spanakopita, or some related Greek delicacy made with filo dough - will be served. Ideally, this will be a pot-luck sort of thing, but there is also the Athenian Deli around the corner on Franklin (http://www.atheniandeli.com/). I promise to learn how to make a Vegan version, since there seem to be many Sudo folk of that culinary persuasion.
>> 
>> Given that this is a last minute announcement for today's session and that lots of people are already heading out of town for the holidays, I don't expect much attendance. Therefore, I propose that the first topic of discussion today be about Solipsism (http://www.iep.utm.edu/solipsis/) - the notion that all we can really be sure about is that one's own mind exists. This seems particularly appropriate for the day when the world is supposed to end.
>> 
>> Also like morning maths, any topic suggested by participants will be entertained. However, starting in 2013 - we will try to piece together (very) brief readings and discussion topics focusing on Philosophy & Technology.
>> 
>> So remember, wherever you go - there you are.
>> Hope to see you here at noon.
>> 
>> 
>> sent from eddan.com
>> 
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