http://www1.cs.columbia.edu/~unger/myBlog/endsandmeansblog.html Technology and Society Issues Technology and Society, ethics, political systems 28 Mar 2007 10:00:00 EDT http://www1.cs.columbia.edu/~unger/articles/brokenDem.html Hey, its not surprising that Republicans are unhappy with the federal government after losing the presidency and control over both houses of congress. But a lot of other people are also upset over current events. Many feel that their views on important matters are being ignored. Some serious defects in our political system may account for this. What are they, and how can we fix them? http://www1.cs.columbia.edu/~unger/articles/energy2-demand.html Big trouble is coming if the growth in worldwide energy demand is not reversed. The technical approach is to increase efficiency of energy use. While useful and important, this is not likely to suffice. We also need to revise the lifestyles that routinely and thoughtlessly waste resources on a large scale. Preaching and nagging won't do the job. Fortunately, there is good reason to believe that public opinion would support effective measures to bring about the necessary changes. http://www1.cs.columbia.edu/~unger/articles/energy1-supply.html At current energy consumption rates, the world is headed for big trouble: depletion of fossil fuel reserves and global climate change, The descent into disaster is accelerating due to the rapid increase in energy use by the most populous countries. Our government's token effort to address the problems won't be enough. Much more R&D and investment in a variety of alternative energy sources, and in more efficient energy use is essential. But it is even more important that, as a society, we take effective steps to reduce energy waste. http://www1.cs.columbia.edu/~unger/articles/research.html Research and Development (R&D) projects paid for by corporations are generally aimed at results profitable to those corporations. Since most R&D today is so funded, many problems important to the well being of people are neglected. Also, since incomes of most scientists and engineers come from corporations, it is hard to find unbiased experts to evaluate the safety and efficacy of many products, including medications. Greatly expanding the role of publicly funded laboratories would go a long way toward solving these problems. http://www1.cs.columbia.edu/~unger/articles/terrorWar.html The war on terror (WOT) is a sham that is causing great damage to our country. It was used as a pretext to involve us in two senseless wars. The enormous cost of these wars, plus additional costs of the WOT are compounding our economic problems. More important is that tens of thousands of Americans and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and Afghanis have been killed or maimed. The WOT has also been used to undermine our constitution by weakening checks on executive power, as well as by violating due process and privacy rights of the people. The claim that we are fighting to end terrorism in the world is false, since the US government has long been, and continues to be, a practitioner of terrorism and a supporter of other practitioners. http://www1.cs.columbia.edu/~unger/articles/afghanWar.html It looks like those worried that the "Vietnam syndrome" might inhibit US policy makers from aggressively promoting American interests on the international scene can relax. The lessons from the Vietnam War seem to have been safely forgotten, as we appear to be committed to expanding the war in Afghanistan, while maintaining a significant foothold in Iraq. War with Pakistan would be a logical next step. http://www1.cs.columbia.edu/~unger/articles/inequality.html Both directly, via early campaign contributions, and indirectly, via media control, very rich people determine which candidates for public office are "viable". After elections, their interests and views are treated by politicians with great deference. Great wealth can be deployed in many ways to influence governmental behavior. Wealth and income inequality in the US is large and growing. So a small subset of Americans are a lot more equal than the rest of us. What can be done about this? http://www1.cs.columbia.edu/~unger/articles/drugWar.html The war on drugs has been going on so long that it receives very little media attention. But, it nevertheless continues to impact the lives of millions of individual Americans and affects the nation as a whole via a variety of monetary costs amounting to several hundred billion dollars annually. We really can't afford to continue on the present course. http://www1.cs.columbia.edu/~unger/articles/taxes.html When was the last time you heard a candidate for public office promise to increase a tax? The mantra, "taxation is robbery", once a far-out slogan, has been mainstreamed. But while valid where the government doing the taxing is in the hands of robbers or tyrants, as is the case in some parts of the world, it makes no sense in a civilized country. Since I am not planning to run for public office, I will stick my neck out and defend this very unpopular institution. http://www1.cs.columbia.edu/~unger/articles/manualCount.html The kiss principle, "keep it simple stupid", is an important engineering principle. It is violated, big time, by e-voting systems, an expensive non-solution to a non-problem. Hand-counting of hand-marked ballots works very nicely in most industrialized nations, as well as in many New England towns. Here is why I think this is the way to go. http://www1.cs.columbia.edu/~unger/articles/cellPhones.html Over two hundred million Americans use cell phones. (I just bought one myself.) Isn't it crazy to suggest that they might be hazardous? Surprisingly, there is substantial credible scientific evidence suggesting that significant risks are associated with heavy mobile phone use over many years. This is another instance of a crumbling regulatory system. Here I try to clarify the issues and suggest remedies. http://www1.cs.columbia.edu/~unger/articles/fluoridation2.html The American Dental Association, The National Institutes of Health, The National Academy of Sciences, The US Public Health Service, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention all agree that fluoridating our water supply to combat tooth decay is a great idea. They may be right, but I think there are good reasons to check out the wardrobe of this emperor. http://www1.cs.columbia.edu/~unger/articles/fluoridation.html I generally oppose the idea of laws restricting individual behavior that does not affect other people. Apparent examples are fluoridation of water supplies and requiring the use of automobile seat belts (and motorcycle helmets). The critical difference between these cases was made clear to me by a jarring experience that fine-tuned my thinking. http://www1.cs.columbia.edu/~unger/articles/freemarket.html The Adam Smith free market concept is a great idea for setting prices in a rational, decentralized manner, depending on the independent actions of numerous consumers and suppliers. But, in practice, real world conditions are such that the invisible hand often needs help from other mechanisms, principally governmental regulatory agencies. Free market purists usually, but not always, vigorously resist such deviations. This discussion focusses on serious problems related to pharmaceuticals, and also touches on a few other areas such as agriculture. Finally, it addresses the question of the viability of a regulated free market. http://www1.cs.columbia.edu/~unger/articles/electoralCollege.html For over two centuries, the US has put up with a system for electing presidents that makes no sense. This was made clear in a number of painful cases, but, so far, nothing has been done about it. Now there is a proposed solution that looks like it is simple enough and has enough support to be adopted. http://www1.cs.columbia.edu/~unger/articles/lifeRule-2.html Previously, I presented an argument for a strongly enforced rule against killing, and showed that it is broadly applicable, protecting, for example, elderly and senile people. In the present essay, I discuss entities NOT covered by this rule. In particular, I show that fetuses are not covered, so that abortion is NOT murder. http://www1.cs.columbia.edu/~unger/articles/lifeRule-1.html We hear a lot about a "right to life", which seems like a simple notion, easy to justify and to apply. Actually, as is shown here, demonstrating the need for a strongly enforced rule against killing is surprisingly interesting. The nature of the argument helps clarify some very important issues, including abortion, euthanasia, and capital punishment. http://www1.cs.columbia.edu/~unger/articles/patents.html Our patent system relies on the granting of monopoly privileges to persuade people to create and to reveal new technological ideas. This system never really worked all that well and, in recent years, has been rewarding lawyers more than anyone else. What are the problems, and what can be done about them? http://www1.cs.columbia.edu/~unger/articles/jobs.html From fruit pickers to computer engineers, American workers face a cloudy future. There is already a lot of fog obscuring what is happening. This is an effort to pierce that fog to get a realistic view of the exporting of jobs and the importing of workers. http://www1.cs.columbia.edu/~unger/articles/deKort.html The Coast Guard often comes to the aid of people in serious trouble, exhibiting great courage in effecting rescues. This is about Michael DeKort, an engineer who, at great risk to his career, came to the aid of the Coast Guard. He demonstrated how an ethical engineer should behave when the going gets rough. http://www1.cs.columbia.edu/~unger/articles/republican.html If you want to be on the winning side, it would seem to be a good idea to join up with the really good fighters, those who have the skill and will to win. For some of us, there is a serious problem when applying this idea to politics, but I have found a surprisingly simple solution. http://www1.cs.columbia.edu/~unger/articles/bloatedBallots.html Cluttering ballots with races for court clerks, state university trustees, dozens of judges, and decisions about routine bond issues strikes me as a bad idea. It may look like true democracy, but, for reasons presented in this essay, I think this is an illusion. http://www1.cs.columbia.edu/~unger/articles/sarasota5-2-07.html Determining if an e-voting system blundered or cheated is a very tough job, extremely difficult to carry out in the real world. The investigation of the Sarasota undervote mystery clearly illustrates the problems. Was the grossly excessive undervote due to bad ballot design? A program bug? Or was it due to a defective cheating operation? http://www1.cs.columbia.edu/~unger/articles/campFin.html Elections are fueled by money. Candidates need either to be rich or to be backed by people or organizations with access to big bucks. This distorts our democracy. What can be done about it? http://www1.cs.columbia.edu/~unger/articles/irv.html IRV is an improvement over conventional plurality voting in that it often eliminates the spoiler effect of voting for a 3rd party candidate. But it has serious drawbacks and there are better alternatives http://www1.cs.columbia.edu/~unger/articles/rangeVoting.html Range voting is an improvement over conventional plurality voting that allows voters to indicate how strongly they feel about candidates. A voter can support both a 3rd party candidate and a lesser evil candidate http://www1.cs.columbia.edu/~unger/articles/e-voting2.html Vulnerability to fraud, costs, vendor tactics, the Holt Bill http://www1.cs.columbia.edu/~unger/articles/redistr.html Why this is such a hard problem? What is the best we can hope to do? http://www1.cs.columbia.edu/~unger/articles/e-voting1-11-07.html E-voting is vulnerable to wholesale fraud that is extremely difficult to prevent or detect. It is more costly than manual systems and its benefits do not compensate for its drawbacks.