Are you versed in the “art of philosophical piracy”? What we morally should and shouldn’t do or legally can and cannot do is based on our philosophical disposition. The accusation of piracy–or robbing parties of that which does not belong to you–must be weighed against a discussion about what things are actually subject to the [...]

At this point in the evolution of technology, have you ever stopped to ask, “What’s that in your body?” With the advent of a pill or device that’s claimed to fix just about anything, it makes sense to question whether these things are really good for us. On this episode of The Axiom Amnesia Theory, [...]

Having the ability to read and write opens a world of possibilities. Not only is it vital to our ability to communicate, it makes learning a more independent process, which in turn can lead to more intellectual independence as well. I read an article about Afghan women who were using cell phones to learn to [...]

Rap freestyles can be profound or completely nonsensical. The challenge, however, is knowing the difference. Entertainers have become quite adept at sounding profound, while pushing content with very little substance. On this musical episode of The Axiom Amnesia Theory, Heit & Cheri explore the diversity of freestyling celebrities via their commentary and analysis of songs [...]

Due to the number of times it revolves around the earth per 24-hour period, astronauts at the International Space Station see 15 sunrises and sunsets per “day”. In the spring of 2015, the ISS team will leave American astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko at the space station for an entire year! One [...]

Okay, we know that our readers are among the most intelligent people around, so we’re asking for your help. Thanks to Heit’s excellent filming skills, we were able to capture video of some railroad equipment making its way down the track kicking up lots of dust. We weren’t close enough to see exactly what it [...]

Summary Jacques Ellul was a French theologian/sociologist and anarchist. He first became well-known to American readers when his book The Technological Society was published in English in 1964. This book leveled a broad critique of technique, a term that means more than gadgets and machines – as the English word technology means. For Ellul, technique [...]

In a bold move, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder is taking Barack Obama’s campaign messages to the streets in September, specifically to several hundred Back church leaders (members of the Conference of National Black Churches) who represent about 10 million congregants. Holder is heading up a team, including the IRS, the Congressional Black Caucus, and [...]

Get ready for additional invasions of your privacy across the country and beyond! Since 2008, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has been working on new and even more intrusive methods of crime detection as part of their Future Attribute Screening Technology (FAST) project. Basically, they plan to stand around in airports and monitor [...]

Summary A high school teacher’s unusual experiment to demonstrate to his students what life is like under a dictatorship spins horribly out of control when he forms a social unit with a life of its own. This is a foreign film, originally in German, but it has English subtitles. To access the subtitles, you may [...]

Summary Is there more than one universe? In this visually rich, action-packed TED talk, Brian Greene shows how the unanswered questions of physics (starting with a big one: What caused the Big Bang?) have led to the theory that our own universe is just one of many in the “multiverse.” At the heart of modern [...]

Summary The Green Apple. David Owen, a writer for The New Yorker, discusses the complex issues of sustainability as they relate to urban and suburban life. Green Manhattan, an article that Owen wrote for The New Yorker about the city’s inherent sustainability, was a major inspiration for the e² series. Green for All. Learn more [...]

We’re all about looking good and peacocking instead of being practical. We’re about beautification over application. The idea of planting a garden on top of the roofs of vehicles and buildings is an excellent idea, but it makes more sense to grow things that are useful to us–rather than cultivating things that have little value [...]

Summary Is the US contributing to the militarization of cyberspace? Cyberwar. A conflict without foot soldiers, guns, or missiles. Instead the attacks are launched by computer hackers. Digital spy rings. Information thieves. Cyberarmies of kids, criminals, terrorists – some backed by nation states. But is cyber war really a threat? Can cyber war actually cripple [...]

Summary This hard-to-describe movie, which combines talking-head documentary footage with a fictional narrative, attempts to explain quantum physics in terms most audiences can understand. The extent to which it succeeds will largely be the extent to which a viewer grasps the complex theories being addressed in those terms. Does matter exist? Does time flow in [...]

Amid pressure from USDA has a new pilot program under which regulators are training personnel at the largest biotech firms, that genetically engineer corps, to essentially perform their own oversight. This change comes as a result of deregulation and involves biotech companies like Monsanto, BASF and Syngenta. If it weren’t so tragic, this would be [...]

If it was shot down over their country, when US aircraft had no business there, shouldn’t they be able to keep it? At a minimum, they can reverse engineer the technology in use, but it doesn’t look like they plan to do that either. It’s doubtful that Iran’s planned lawsuit against the US will produce [...]