Articles on PR for People

“The Rule of Lies” Why it Matters. What Can We Do?

A lie serves the liar’s interests, often at the expense of others.  It also destroys social trust and undermines our democracy.  How can we redeem our civic discourse after Trump? Looking beyond the immediate political crisis, we should begin even now to think about how to repair the damage.  What can we do?

 


Who’s Afraid of Global Governance?

Who’s Afraid of Global Governance? If it’s done right, it’s neither utopian nor an authoritarian menace.  And it’s needed urgently.  It could be a matter of life and death for us all. 


The State of Play in Artificial Intelligence: A Brief Summary

Here are the highlights from some recent public presentations by several artificial intelligence developers and experts. 


“None Dare Call It Treason” – Yet!

“Treason” is an act of criminal disloyalty to the state, according to the dictionary.  It is especially egregious when you have been formally elected by the citizens to be the head of state and have sworn a public oath to “preserve, protect, and defend” it. 


Toward a Universal Basic Needs Guarantee

Toward a Universal Basic Needs Guarantee... Otherwise “the right to life” is meaningless, and so are all those other human rights! Our basic needs are a prerequisite – the material foundation for our moral principles. 


Plato Meets Artificial Intelligence

Only very recently have some of the leaders in the development of artificial intelligence begun to think about the ethical and political implications, and about Plato’s dilemma – how do we control the controllers?  And who will decide?


Shareholder Capitalism vs. Stakeholder Capitalism

Shareholder Capitalism vs. Stakeholder Capitalism: two radically different models of capitalism are locked in an historic debate over the future course – and the soul – of liberal societies.  We all have a stake in the outcome. 


Plato’s Dilemma: It Haunts Us Still

A dysfunctional government can be a matter of life-and-death, and these days they are all too common.  We should follow Plato’s sage advice. Plato’s diagnosis of the many dysfunctional kinds of government, and their root causes, still rings true, and so does his ultimate prescription. 


Toward an Ecological Way of Death

Toward an Ecological Way of Death...Our traditional funeral practices are ecologically unsound and wasteful. We can do much better.


The Climate Refugee Crisis

It’s a life-and-death threat, and it’s going to get much worse.  What can we do? There is in fact a deadly nexus of influences at work that could multiply the estimated number of refugees. This is a unique moment in the history of life on Earth, and in our own history as a species.  We must make a collective choice whether to live or die.