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The Age of Surveillance Capitalism
We are increasingly surrounded by technology, the data collection it employs is not only pervasive but also seemingly unescapable. In 2019 Shoshana Zuboff wrote “The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power”, which has gone viral (for a social sciences academic-ish book), being cited nearly 10,000 times […]
Is ChatGPT Manipulating You? (Or Are You Manipulating It?)
I decided to ask ChatGPT about life’s great ethical questions. There are a wide range of ethical theories, many provide answers to these ethical questions, and some of these theories are incompatible with each other (or give specific, distinct answers to them). Which ethical theory might this AI system adopt when asked? In additional to […]
Ethico-Religious Concepts in the Qur’an
Continuing with a series of posts on democratizing knowledge about ethics (see posts on dignity, justice, and equity), this post covers ethical concepts in the Qur’an, in a book written by Toshihiko Izutsu (1914-1993), a remarkable person (one example: he spoke more than 30 languages). This book being originally written in 1959 and published by Keio University […]
Teaching as a Subversive Activity
In 1969 Neil Postman and Charles Weingartner wrote Teaching as a Subversive Activity. Despite their critics (then and now), this book sets the foundation for what has become best practices in education: inquiry-based learning, student-driven learning, problem-based learning. A few notes: Critiques of education: “The learner comes to understand that what he is asked to think about […]
The Pain of Others
One of Sontag’s classic works is “Regarding the Pain of Others” (2003). It is a short book, almost an essay length, on the depiction of pain through photography. Part history, part critical reflection. Few notes: “nonstop imagery (televisions, streaming video, movies) is our surround, but when it comes to remembering, the photograph has the deeper […]
Shaykh Ahmadou Bamba
Shaykh Ahmadou Bamba lived from 1853 to 1927 in Senegal (excepting periods of exile), who was a religious leader and leader who opposed French colonization. His resistance took non-violent means and was a constant threat to the French. Kimball wrote a biography of Bamba, subtitled “A Peacemaker of Our Time” (2018). The book is not an academic […]
Black Rights / White Wrongs – Critique of Racial Liberalism
In 2017 Charles W. Mills brought together past work with more recent additions and reflections into the book “Black Rights / While Wrongs: The Critique of Radical Liberalism”. For readers of The Racial Contract (1997), many of the key arguments will be familiar in this book. The author passed away in 2021, this book brings together […]
Dignity & Rights: An Islamic Perspective
In seeking to democratize thinking about ethics, recent posts have covered Islamic perspectives on justice and equity, this book covers the Islamic perspective of dignity, from the book “The Dignity of Man: An Islamic Perspective” (1999) by Mohammed Hashim Kamali. A few notes: “Islam’s perception of human rights is not premised on the individual verses […]
Sustainable Qatar
New OPEN ACCESS book Sustainable Qatar: Social, Political and Environmental Perspectives Available here: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-981-19-7398-7 Abstract: This open access book provides a topical overview of the key sustainability issues in Qatar, focusing on environmental sustainability from a socio-political perspective. The transition to a sustainable Qatar requires engagement with diverse areas of social-political, human, and environmental development. On the […]
23 Things They Don’t Tell You About Capitalism
Ha-Joon Chang has written a number of excellent books, I’ve only covered one (Kicking Away the Ladder) on this blog so far. Another of his books – also very accessible and clearly written for non-specialists, is “23 Things They Don’t Tell You About Capitalism” (2010). This argument has become more mainstream since Chang started to […]
About me
Logan Cochrane
Associate Professor at HBKU in the College of Public Policy. He is an Associate Fellow of the Ethiopian Academy of Sciences and an Adjunct Professor at Hawassa University (Institute for Policy and Development Research). Over the last fifteen years, he has worked in Afghanistan, Benin, Burundi, Canada, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. Logan acts as a consultant for governmental agencies and non-governmental organizations, seeking to create bridges between research and practice.
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