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Stephen Unger (View How Many People Read This)
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I am an engineer. My degrees are in electrical engineering and my work has been in the digital systems area, mainly digital logic, but also computer organization, software and theory. I am a Professor, Emeritus, Computer Science and Electrical Engineering at Columbia University (retired 6/08 after four decades at Columbia). Before joining the Columbia faculty, I worked at Bell Labs for about five years, and while at Columbia I worked in industry (e.g., at IBM, and RCA Laboratories) often during summers and sabbaticals, as well as doing some consulting work. I have always been interested in the social implications of technology and have done a lot of work in this area, giving talks, writing articles and doing some organizing. Topics I have been actively involved in include engineering ethics, resisting government imposed secrecy in technology, environmental issues. I wrote, "Controlling Technology: Ethics and the Responsible Engineer", 2nd Ed., 1994, Wiley. (Also authored two books on digital logic).
www1.cs.columbia.edu/~unger/myBlog/endsandmeansblog.h
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43 Articles, 1 Quick Links, 517 Comments, 2 Diaries, 0 Polls
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Tuesday, September 16, 2014
Children Crossing Borders There have been several sources of immigrants in US history, as people have come here for one or more of several different reasons. The recent, and apparently ongoing, surge of children illegally crossing our southern border is unprecedented. Altho the consequences may not be all that different from those associated with conventional immigration of adults, sometimes with their children, many people are responding very differen
Tuesday, September 16, 2014Children Crossing Borders There have been several sources of immigrants in US history, as people have come here for one or more of several different reasons. The recent, and apparently ongoing, surge of children illegally crossing our southern border is unprecedented. Altho the consequences may not be all that different from those associated with conventional immigration of adults, sometimes with their children, many people are responding very differen
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Saturday, September 13, 2014
How Pharmaceutical Products Differ From Tennis Balls When it comes to tennis balls, sellers do best by producing a good product and selling it at a fair price. Unfortunately, in a far more important area, pharmaceutical companies can, and do, maximize their profits by operating in ways that harm their customers in many ways.
Saturday, September 13, 2014How Pharmaceutical Products Differ From Tennis Balls When it comes to tennis balls, sellers do best by producing a good product and selling it at a fair price. Unfortunately, in a far more important area, pharmaceutical companies can, and do, maximize their profits by operating in ways that harm their customers in many ways.
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Tuesday, June 3, 2014
Is Progress in Technology Always Beneficial? We are accustomed to hearing about wonderful new products resulting from technological break-thrus. But "new" does not always mean "good". In many cases, possible serious drawbacks of seemingly beneficial new technology cannot be assessed without very extensive research, and perhaps long-term use.
Tuesday, June 3, 2014Is Progress in Technology Always Beneficial? We are accustomed to hearing about wonderful new products resulting from technological break-thrus. But "new" does not always mean "good". In many cases, possible serious drawbacks of seemingly beneficial new technology cannot be assessed without very extensive research, and perhaps long-term use.
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Tuesday, March 25, 2014
Justice for All Since winning in a courtroom is heavily dependent on the ability of one's lawyer, those unable to hire the best lawyers (most of us) are at a great disadvantage in both criminal and civil cases. Can we alter our system to make a trial not a duel, but an effort to unearth the truth?
Tuesday, March 25, 2014Justice for All Since winning in a courtroom is heavily dependent on the ability of one's lawyer, those unable to hire the best lawyers (most of us) are at a great disadvantage in both criminal and civil cases. Can we alter our system to make a trial not a duel, but an effort to unearth the truth?
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Friday, February 21, 2014
The Price of Free Enterprise It is claimed that, in a free market system, operation of the invisible hand automatically benefits producers, consumers and the general public. This is true in some cases, but false in a great many important areas, including health care, food production, and energy production and use.
Friday, February 21, 2014The Price of Free Enterprise It is claimed that, in a free market system, operation of the invisible hand automatically benefits producers, consumers and the general public. This is true in some cases, but false in a great many important areas, including health care, food production, and energy production and use.
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Wednesday, January 15, 2014
Can American Democracy be Revived? We are now witnessing, among other things, large and growing economic inequality, flagrant Bill of Rights violations, domination of elections by money. How much worse will things have to get before enough of us are sufficiently aroused to see thru the scams and change our political habits?
Wednesday, January 15, 2014Can American Democracy be Revived? We are now witnessing, among other things, large and growing economic inequality, flagrant Bill of Rights violations, domination of elections by money. How much worse will things have to get before enough of us are sufficiently aroused to see thru the scams and change our political habits?
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Tuesday, December 17, 2013
SOS--Save Our Schools Public schools are under attack. Just as many prisons are now tax-funded private enterprises, under the charter school concept, an increasing number of schools are being operated by private companies. Taxes that would otherwise fund public schools have been diverted to pay the bills.
Tuesday, December 17, 2013SOS--Save Our Schools Public schools are under attack. Just as many prisons are now tax-funded private enterprises, under the charter school concept, an increasing number of schools are being operated by private companies. Taxes that would otherwise fund public schools have been diverted to pay the bills.
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Wednesday, October 30, 2013
Our Descent Toward Third World Status Third world countries are generally dominated by a tiny, wealthy upper crust, bolstered by a thin layer of people hanging on to middle class status, ruling over a mass of people at or below the poverty level. A unique combination of factors are moving the US into that world. Remedies are possible, but the prospects are dim.
Wednesday, October 30, 2013Our Descent Toward Third World Status Third world countries are generally dominated by a tiny, wealthy upper crust, bolstered by a thin layer of people hanging on to middle class status, ruling over a mass of people at or below the poverty level. A unique combination of factors are moving the US into that world. Remedies are possible, but the prospects are dim.
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Monday, September 16, 2013
The Demise of Unions and Why We Need to Revive Them A key reason why many Americans are going thru hard times is the near demise of unions. Individuals have no leverage to negotiate with employers, especially given the surplus of workers in virtually every field. Since the end of the New Deal, government has not supported unions.
Monday, September 16, 2013The Demise of Unions and Why We Need to Revive Them A key reason why many Americans are going thru hard times is the near demise of unions. Individuals have no leverage to negotiate with employers, especially given the surplus of workers in virtually every field. Since the end of the New Deal, government has not supported unions.
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Friday, August 23, 2013
Privacy, and open government: both under assault Edward Snowden's heroic action has made it clear that the ability of government to obtain information about individuals has been greatly expanded, and that it is becoming increasingly difficult for individuals to obtain information about their government. Individual privacy is being eroded, while government secrecy is growing.
Friday, August 23, 2013Privacy, and open government: both under assault Edward Snowden's heroic action has made it clear that the ability of government to obtain information about individuals has been greatly expanded, and that it is becoming increasingly difficult for individuals to obtain information about their government. Individual privacy is being eroded, while government secrecy is growing.
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Thursday, January 3, 2013
Hi-Tech Election Fraud E-voting machines seem really neat. But, after you push the last button on a touchscreen machine, or feed your ballot into an optical scanner, who knows if your votes are going to be counted correctly? This depends on the integrity of people, such as polling place technicians, and those who manufactured the machine. The long history of voting fraud should make clear that a trusting attitude is not appropriate in this realm.
Thursday, January 3, 2013Hi-Tech Election Fraud E-voting machines seem really neat. But, after you push the last button on a touchscreen machine, or feed your ballot into an optical scanner, who knows if your votes are going to be counted correctly? This depends on the integrity of people, such as polling place technicians, and those who manufactured the machine. The long history of voting fraud should make clear that a trusting attitude is not appropriate in this realm.
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Saturday, August 11, 2012
Should You Vote for the Best Candidate? Many people are agonizing over the upcoming presidential election. Their problem is not deciding who is the best candidate, but rather deciding on whether to vote for a candidate they don't like in order to help defeat a worse contender. There is no sound basis for this agony. Voting for a bad candidate is a bad idea.
Saturday, August 11, 2012Should You Vote for the Best Candidate? Many people are agonizing over the upcoming presidential election. Their problem is not deciding who is the best candidate, but rather deciding on whether to vote for a candidate they don't like in order to help defeat a worse contender. There is no sound basis for this agony. Voting for a bad candidate is a bad idea.
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Saturday, May 14, 2011
2012 Presidential Election: Silent Liberals Are liberals going to sit out the upcoming presidential election? Are they going to continue to blindly back the Democratic party, which clearly despises them? How come that, altho Americans all over the political spectrum would like to see the formation of a third party, liberals don't even talk about this? What happened to their outrage about Bush's wars, torture, civil liberties violations and subservience to bankers?
Saturday, May 14, 20112012 Presidential Election: Silent Liberals Are liberals going to sit out the upcoming presidential election? Are they going to continue to blindly back the Democratic party, which clearly despises them? How come that, altho Americans all over the political spectrum would like to see the formation of a third party, liberals don't even talk about this? What happened to their outrage about Bush's wars, torture, civil liberties violations and subservience to bankers?
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Sunday, March 21, 2010
Brutal Prisons Are Hurting Us All Being "tough on crime" may not seem so great when it translates into prisons full of people serving long terms under harsh conditions, for petty non-violent crimes. Apart from being very expensive, this converts many petty criminals into violent ones, This is really tough on their victims. Maybe we need "smart" more than "tough".
Sunday, March 21, 2010Brutal Prisons Are Hurting Us All Being "tough on crime" may not seem so great when it translates into prisons full of people serving long terms under harsh conditions, for petty non-violent crimes. Apart from being very expensive, this converts many petty criminals into violent ones, This is really tough on their victims. Maybe we need "smart" more than "tough".
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Sunday, March 14, 2010
Can Progressives Declare Independence? Progressives played a major role in electing a Democratic congress and president. What has changed? The wars and gross Bill of Rights violations continue. "Free trade" policies that have exported American manufacturing jobs continue, and no effective action is being taken to ward off the growing threat of climate change. Must progressives remain subservient to the Democrats? Can they stand up for what they believe?
Sunday, March 14, 2010Can Progressives Declare Independence? Progressives played a major role in electing a Democratic congress and president. What has changed? The wars and gross Bill of Rights violations continue. "Free trade" policies that have exported American manufacturing jobs continue, and no effective action is being taken to ward off the growing threat of climate change. Must progressives remain subservient to the Democrats? Can they stand up for what they believe?
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Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Fixing Our Broken Democracy Our democratic system has been badly damaged by the need for big money in election campaigns, faulty and corruptible e-voting systems, plurality voting (which pressures many people into NOT voting for the candidate they prefer), the electoral college, and more. We can do better. There ARE ways to tackle these problems. Let's do it!
Tuesday, December 15, 2009Fixing Our Broken Democracy Our democratic system has been badly damaged by the need for big money in election campaigns, faulty and corruptible e-voting systems, plurality voting (which pressures many people into NOT voting for the candidate they prefer), the electoral college, and more. We can do better. There ARE ways to tackle these problems. Let's do it!
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Monday, May 4, 2009
The Need for People-Friendly Research & Development We live in an age of rapid progress in science and technology, with new applications announced at an amazing rate, as well as detrimental side effects. Scientific and engineering resources are largely controlled by private corporations, deployed mainly to maximize profits rather than serve the general public. We should to expand both in-house government R&D facilities and public funding of university research.
Monday, May 4, 2009The Need for People-Friendly Research & Development We live in an age of rapid progress in science and technology, with new applications announced at an amazing rate, as well as detrimental side effects. Scientific and engineering resources are largely controlled by private corporations, deployed mainly to maximize profits rather than serve the general public. We should to expand both in-house government R&D facilities and public funding of university research.
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Sunday, March 22, 2009
The War On Terror: An Exercise in Hypocrisy We are, supposedly, engaged in a "War on Terror," even tho the average number of Americans killed annually by terrorists since 9/11 is less than 3, all outside our borders. Defining terror leads us to look at our own history. What would really secure us is to recognize the danger posed by nuclear stockpiles.
Sunday, March 22, 2009The War On Terror: An Exercise in Hypocrisy We are, supposedly, engaged in a "War on Terror," even tho the average number of Americans killed annually by terrorists since 9/11 is less than 3, all outside our borders. Defining terror leads us to look at our own history. What would really secure us is to recognize the danger posed by nuclear stockpiles.
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Friday, December 5, 2008
Escalation in Afghanistan: A Really Bad Idea While most Americans are, understandably, focusing their attention on our economic crisis, both the outgoing and incoming administrations have agreed to plunge our country deeper into yet another military quagmire--the Afghan civil war. This can only cost more American and Afghan lives, and add to our financial woes, with little chance of any real benefits. The flow of American troops should be out of, not into Afghanistan.
Friday, December 5, 2008Escalation in Afghanistan: A Really Bad Idea While most Americans are, understandably, focusing their attention on our economic crisis, both the outgoing and incoming administrations have agreed to plunge our country deeper into yet another military quagmire--the Afghan civil war. This can only cost more American and Afghan lives, and add to our financial woes, with little chance of any real benefits. The flow of American troops should be out of, not into Afghanistan.
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Friday, November 14, 2008
Why Abortion is NOT Murder Many abortion rights opponents sincerely believe that abortion constitutes the murder of innocent human beings. Defenders of abortion rights seldom dispute this claim directly, preferring to raise other points that they consider strong enough to outweigh it. This is a big mistake; there is no valid basis for the contention that abortion is murder. My justification for this position does not involve any biological arguments.
Friday, November 14, 2008Why Abortion is NOT Murder Many abortion rights opponents sincerely believe that abortion constitutes the murder of innocent human beings. Defenders of abortion rights seldom dispute this claim directly, preferring to raise other points that they consider strong enough to outweigh it. This is a big mistake; there is no valid basis for the contention that abortion is murder. My justification for this position does not involve any biological arguments.