Artificial Intelligence

By Sam Vaknin

The Encroachment of the Public

[24.Mar.04] :. As privacy fades, so do intimacy, personal safety, and self-esteem (mental health) and with them social cohesion.
 

The Pathology of Love

[11.Feb.04] :. Behavior changes are reminiscent of psychosis and, biochemically speaking, passionate love closely imitates substance abuse.
 

The Basic Dilemma of the Artist

[21.Jan.04] :. We are prisoners in the universe of our emotions; our weapons of language are useless.
 

The Columnist in the Mousetrap

[10.Dec.03] :. Agatha Christie's opus is a portrait of our age as it emerged, all bloodied and repellent, from the womb of the dying Victorian era.
 

An Argument for State-Sanctioned Torture

[5.Nov.03] :. Inevitably, the very act of being rendered suspect is traumatic and bound to inflict psychological, pecuniary, and physical pain and suffering.
 

Morality as Collateral Damage

[1.Oct.03] :. The universal imperative 'thou shall not kill (another human being)' is easily over-ruled by the moral obligation to kill for one's country. The imperative 'though shall not steal' is superseded by one's moral obligation to spy for one's nation.
 

The Folly of Parenthood

[4.Sep.03] :. Many (children) continue to live with their parents into their thirties and consume the family's savings in college tuition, sumptuous weddings, expensive divorces, and parasitic habits.
 

The Myth of Mental Illness

[24.Jul.03] :. Suicide, substance abuse, narcissism, eating disorders, antisocial ways, schizotypal symptoms, depression, even psychosis are considered sick by some cultures -- and utterly normative or advantageous in others.
 

Just War or a Just War

[2.Jul.03] :. What is legal is not always moral and what is legitimate is not invariably legal.
 

The Ecology of Environmentalism

[4.Jun.03] :. Arguably, bacteria and insects exert on Nature far more influence with farther reaching consequences than Man has ever done.
 

Hitler and the Invention of the West

[14.May.03] :. The idea of the West . . . is merely the last phase and manifestation of the clash of titans between Germany on the one hand, and Russia on the other.
 

The Demise of the West

[9.Apr.03] :. No official version of the events can survive the onslaught of blogs and multiple news reporting.
 

Why America is Hated

[5.Mar.03] :. I firmly believe that it is better to face a forthright villain than a masquerading saint.
 

Serial Killers as a Cultural Construct

[5.Feb.03] :. Such killers are convinced that they are more honest and open about their desires and, thus, morally superior.
 

Sex or Gender

[8.Jan.03] :. Are gender identity and sexual preferences . . . immutable lifelong features or dynamically evolving frames of self-reference?
 

The Merits of Stereotypes

[4.Dec.02] :. (Discrimination) has little to do with stereotypes and a lot to do with societal and economic power matrices.
 

A Case for Legalizing Some Crime

[23.Oct.02] :. Millions of professionals . . . derive their livelihood, parasitically, from crime.
 

Ethical Relativism and Absolute Taboos

[25.Sep.02] :. (Taboos) disappear or are transformed when no longer useful.
 

Racing Down: Eugenics and the Future of the Human Species

[21.Aug.02] :. If society is to bear the costs of over-population -- social welfare, medical care, daycare centers -- then society has the right to regulate procreation.
 

The Myth of the Right to Life

[31.Jul.02] :. Public hospitals, state pension schemes, and police forces may be needed in order to fulfill society's obligations to prolong, maintain, and improve our lives, but fulfill them they must.
 

And Then There Were Too Many: The Population Bomb

[28.Jun.02] :. No one can vouchsafe for a 'critical mass' of humans, a threshold beyond which the species will implode and vanish.