More on theft, morality and law

What about things which get stolen over and over again? Can we say they have a rightful owner? This is the case for a large fraction of the bicycles in Amsterdam.

If your grandfather stole something which you ended up inheriting, and then his grandson knocks on your door and asks for it back, do you owe it to him?

What about this story:

... Are individual rights to land on the basis of "might is right" acceptable? In a nation which is lawfully at peace within its borders such an idea is unthinkable. One is reminded of the Irishman who, found trespassing and ordered off the land by the owner, asked: 'How did you get this land that you claim it to be yours?' The landowner replied: 'My forefathers fought for it and that established my family's right to it.' 'Very well then,' said the Irishman, removing his coat, I'll fight you for it now!' ...

I just want to tease those moral absolutists (mostly objectivists) among you.

Video games and ADD?

ADD could be due to low frontal-lobe activity: higher-level activities such as planning, etc.

In my experience, video games rarely exercise the skills of organization and long-term planning. Most games are quite reactive: the best strategy is to focus all your attention in the immediate situation.

Research: video games decrease brain activity

My Classes

Here are my class descriptions

On this first semester, I intend to visit about 9 classes and stay with about 5.

taking:
Core Logic
Intro to Modal Logic

possibly taking:
Game Theory for Information Sciences
Logic and Cognition
Structures for Semantics
Reasoning with Uncertainty
Caput LLI
Philosophy of Cognition
Information Retrieval
Natural Language Semantics

Sounds fascinating, doesn't it? But I've learned to be skeptical of my own fascinations: they don't always last, especially when you have to get down to ugly details. So I'm only committed to taking what I'm required to take. That and my decision-avoidant personality. This program is great because it opens doors in many directions.