al-mofhariz

Social contract theory—the idea that each person (implicitly or explicitly) agrees to a set of rules, rights, and duties by choosing to live in a society—has rested at the heart of Western political thought for the last three to four hundred years. The fallout surrounding the Snowden Affair and the NSA snooping programs that it has unveiled can be seen as a brouhaha over a social contract. The aggrieved feel that they had signed onto an agreement, say, The Bill of Rights, which they believe these programs violate.


Most of the discussions I have heard so far focus on how we can ensure proper oversight of the NSA's programs, either through courts or through Congress. Many express skepticism about the viability of such oversight systems, however. Who will watch the watchers? And who will watch the watchers' watchers? I'm with the skeptics here. I have little faith in systems of oversight, so I do not think they are the place to put our focus.

There's another option: we co…

Nathan Andrew Fain's comment on mylast post was so interesting, I thought I would respond to it here. In that post, I briefly explored—and mostly asked questions about—how the NSA's programs, like PRISM, may be shaping technological change. As many know, there is a long—several hundred year—history of defense spending and priorities influencing science and technology, and I wanted to ask how government surveillance programs might do the same. 
In his comment, Fain considered the flip side of my point, namely how the Snowden Affair might encourage others to change technologies. He wrote, "The NSA programs, or more accurately the revelation of them, will push in ernest the development of subversive technologies." He went on to talk about John Gilmore and the cypherpunk movement, which sees cryptology and the avoidance of surveillance as potential loci for social change. I knew nothing about this movement, know little more now, but am hoping to learn, first by reading th…

This post builds on the one Lukas put up last week. Most commentaries on the Snowden Affair, PRISM, and the other NSA programs that have come to light have focused on whether these programs are constitutional, whether Snowden is a hero or villain or something else, and, now, what these programs will mean for US foreign relations. I have also heard people ask how any of us could be surprised by these programs, and for a few days, people spent a lot of time talking about Snowden's girlfriend's pole-dancing skills. In other words, the Snowden Affair has all the markings of a major American media event.


In this post, I'd like to exercise the historian's prerogative by exploring how these NSA programs fit into a longer historical trajectory, namely how government spending and procurement influence technological change. The history and sociology of science and technology are full of well-known stories of how government funding affected the direction and growth of technologica…

The John-le-Carré-esque saga of Edward Snowden's run from the United States Government has sparked an interesting conversation on how to distinguish whistle-blowing from espionage. The fact that Snowden has been charged under the Espionage Act of 1917 certainly ought to give us pause.  After all, this is a law that was originally passed during the First World War, one that was used, among other things, to silence pacifists and other opponents of American intervention as well as political dissidents in the ensuing Red Scare of the 1920s. No doubt, then, an argument can be made that just like one person's freedom fighter is another's terrorist, so too can a whistleblower be reclassified as a spy depending on which side of a political argument you happen to find yourself on.


Historians of science and STS scholars have thought a lot about the important work that all manner of classification can do. From Foucault's early archeology of the human sciences to Hacking's fora…

Drosophila melanogaster is the tiny fruit fly that we humans share half our DNA with and that serves as a model organism for studying everything from courtship to our senses of smell, hearing, and vision. 
Join the Secret Science Cluband Imagine Science Films for a night of freaky, fly-inspired short films and a special lecture by neuroscientist and geneticist Josh Dubnau on how he uses Drosophila to study the human brain and the mysteries of memory.
Dr. Dubnau is an associate professor at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, where he studies short- and long-term memory, and neurodegenerative diseases. His lab’s most recent research on transposons, also known as “jumping genes,” may offer a key to unlocking the secrets of memory loss and the aging brain.
Before & After --Sway to neuro-grooves --Sip our bugged-out cocktail of the night, the Fly Highball --Win brainy door prizes --Stick around for the larval Q&A --Buzz & flit with the cast of scientist/filmmaker Alexis Gambis's new fi…

As I'm sure most of you have heard, the US Supreme Court issued its ruling on the Myriad Genetics case today. There were no real surprises to speak of in the decision, as the court ruled exactly along the lines the executive branch asked it to. In an amicus curiae brief, lawyers for the US Department of Justice argued that whereas DNA sequences ought to not be eligible for patent protection, modified or so-called "complimentary" DNA does not qualify as a product of nature and is therefore patentable. The Supreme Court's ruling, authored by Justice Thomas, towed exactly this line.

We've covered this case previously on this blog (here, here and here) so I won't go into all of the details now.  But there are a couple of things worth pointing out.

Myriad's argument that gene sequences are patent eligible because the act of isolating DNA turns a product of nature into an invention is a stretch, to say the least. Still, there was widespread concern that invalidat…

Humans have backbones, as do tens of thousands of other creatures. But why? To discover how vertebrates evolved, biologist John Long uses futuristictechnology to peer deep into the past. He creates bio-robots that simulate the behavior of animals, both living and extinct. His bio-robots search for resources, compete for mates, deal with threats—and adapt.
Author of the recently published book, Darwin's Devices: What Evolving Robots Can Teach Us About the History of Life and the Future of Technology, Dr. Long asks: --How do bio-robots evolve? Is robot sex just zeroes and ones? --What does it mean to be intelligent? Are big brainsreally necessary? --How can evolvabots re-create conditions known only from 500-million-year-old fossils?
--What can shark robots teach us about human evolution? How do robo-prey escape robo-predators?
John Long is chair of the biology department, professor of biology and cognitive science, and director of the Interdisciplinary Robotics Research Lab at VassarCol…

Yesterday, the United States Golf Association (USGA) announced a rule change. Coming into effect in 2016, Rule 14-1B will prohibit the use of so-called "anchored strokes" in sanctioned play. Rather than try to describe what "anchoring" is, here's a helpful graphic provided by the USGA:

As a strategy for putting, "anchoring" has become increasingly popular—and controversial—over the last decade or so. According to ESPN, four out of the last six winners in major championships used "anchored strokes," a rate of success that has fueled speculation about what (if any) competitive advantage such a stroke might confer.

I'm not a golf fan, and I don't have an opinion one way or the other. What I'm interested in is the way this issue has been both contested within the golf community and portrayed in the media. Specifically, I was struck by how the old clash between "science" and "tradition" is playing out in some interes…