A new Mini-Heap…

1. “Grand Theories” is a new podcast that “tells stories about highly ambitious but obscure ideas from philosophy… in a way that anyone can enjoy” — from Mark Ryan
2. 10 years ago a neuroscientist announced his plan to simulate a complete human brain on a computer within a decade — He didn’t succeed. Why not? And why do it at all?
3. Roger Scruton rejoins British government’s Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission — he had been let go after the publication of remarks of his selectively edited to appear maximally offensive
4. Philosophizing about pregnancy — Elselijn Kingma, Fiona Woollard, and Suki Finn (Southampton) discuss their work on BBC Radio
5. “Owning one’s own luck is an unavoidable part of being an agent who takes responsibility for herself and the impact she has on others in the course of leading her own life” — Alec Walen (Rutgers) is interviewed by Richard Marshall on rights, killing, and other issues in moral philosophy
6. The Canadian Medical Association Journal Podcast has “philosophers on medicine” series — four episodes so far. [Correction: 7 so far: here is a better link.]
7. “Many of the acclaimed advances in modern fundamental theoretical physics have yielded no predictions that can be tested in the near future. But that is no reason to despair.” — a brief review of a new history of recent physics “where evidence is spare or absent” and “other criteria, including aesthetic ones, have been allowed to come into play”

Mini-Heap posts appear when 7 or so new items accumulate in the Heap of Links, the ever-growing collection of items from around the web that may be of interest to philosophers.

The Heap of Links consists partly of suggestions from readers; if you find something online that you think would be of interest to the philosophical community, please send it in for consideration for the Heap. Thanks!

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