Bias and Blame – New Leverhulme Trust project for Department of Philosophy
December 19, 2013
By Jules Holroyd. The Leverhulme Trust has awarded a 36 month grant to the University of Nottingham, for a project led by Dr Jules Holroyd (Department of Philosophy, Nottingham), in collaboration with Dr Tom Stafford (Department of Psychology, University of Sheffield) titled “Bias and Blame: Do Moral Interactions Modulate the Expression of Implicit Bias?”. The …
Can a rat teach a rat with only its mind?
March 21, 2013
Sometimes scientific news stories amaze me. Here is one: scientists have connected the brains of lab rats, allowing one to communicate directly to another via cables. One rat knew which lever to push for a reward because it was attached to another rat who knew. Scientists made the tentative conclusion that one of the brains …
Video Games: Are They Art?
January 3, 2013
The Museum of Modern Art in New York has recently admitted a number of video games, ranging from arcade classics like Pac-man to rather more esoteric titles such as flOw, into their hallowed halls. Predictably, this move has been met with a flurry of voices asking the ubiquitous question ‘but is it art?’ Jonathan Jones, …
Looking for a bad painting
September 26, 2012
We arrived late at the Church of San Michele near Rapello, Northern Italy. The kindly tourist board person had arranged for us to see a little known van Dyke crucifixion there, painted, it is said, while he was in hiding there after trouble in Genova. We eventually located the caretaker, who opened up, and the …
The mind in sculpture
August 15, 2012
The Gagosian Gallery, just round the corner from King’s Cross Station, is a wonderful place, and not only because they let you into their shows for nothing. Currently they are showing late work by Henry Moore, an artist of whom I am not at all fond—his bland reassurances of humanity cut no ice with me. Well, very …
Dawkins said what?!
June 13, 2012
Dawkins said what?! On Monday (May 28h) the Observer carried an article where Richard Dawkins was waxing lyrical about the Bible. The surprising thing was that he was supporting Michael Gove’s plan to give all schools a King James Bible: “The good book should be read as a great work of literature – but it …
Being funny is no laughing matter
June 8, 2012
Last week, Telegraph columnist Tom Chivers weighed in on an ongoing debate about whether men are more funny than women. He calls for an end to it: the nature vs. nurture debate is complex, and we shouldn’t expect any clear view on whether respective funniness is the result of genes or socialisation (the philosopher J.S …
