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The Good Life →
Charles Darwin made a list of pros and cons before proposing to his cousin Emma, fretting that a wife would mean less money for books, and on the pro side he wrote that a constant companion was better than a dog anyhow
Aristotle warned that a long silence seems to make friends forget their friendship, but research suggests the friend on the other end would be happier to hear from you than you think
Human Nature →
Montaigne argued that humans are far too sure of their superiority over animals, and he admitted that when he played with his cat, he couldn’t tell whether he was amusing her or she was amusing herself with him
In 2009, off Antarctica, a biologist watched a humpback whale roll onto its back and lift a Weddell seal onto its chest, out of reach of the orcas hunting it; researchers have since gathered 115 accounts of humpbacks interfering with orca attacks
Lives & Ideas →
The trolley problem began in Philippa Foot's 1967 paper, with a runaway tram that could be steered toward one man instead of five. MIT's Moral Machine put it to driverless cars and logged about 40 million decisions in 233 countries and territories.
In 1974 Nozick asked whether you would plug into a machine that could give you any experience you desired, and he took it for granted that you would refuse.
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