(1) Liberal professors outnumber conservatives 12 to 1 (Washington Times)
A new study confirms what even the most casual observer of higher education has long known — that conservative professors are vastly outnumbered by liberal ones — but it also shows that the problem is getting worse.
Published in Econ Journal Watch last month, the study looks at faculty voter registration at 40 leading universities and finds that, out of 7,243 professors, Democrats outnumber Republicans 3,623 to 314, or by a ratio of 11 1/2 to 1.
…Out of five departments analyzed by the authors, the field friendliest to conservative scholars is economics, where there are only 4.5 liberal professors for every conservative.
Conversely, history is by far the least conservative-friendly department, where liberals outnumber conservatives by a 33 1/2-to-1 ratio.
This stands is in stark contrast to a 1968 study that put the Democrat-to-Republican contrast in history departments at 2.7 to 1, the study points out. Even reports from as recent as 2004 have estimated liberals outnumber conservatives in the field by a ratio between 9 to 1 and 15 to 1.
…Mr. Warren also minimized this aspect of the report, saying liberals tend to become more conservative as they grow older. Furthermore, he said fields not examined in this report, including business, engineering and the natural sciences, tend to skew more conservative than the humanities and social sciences.
But Mr. Holmes said increasing intellectual homogeneity in academia does not bode well for the health of the American republic, pointing to the Founders’ belief in the necessity of a virtuous and well-educated citizenry.
“If the culture at large neither cares about morality anymore and, on top of that, the education is being cheapened, it’s no longer about trying to teach people to think critically but about trying to indoctrinate them to a certain point of view,” Mr. Holmes said. “The American public over time is going to decline in the ability to be self-governing, and, ultimately, that’s a threat to democracy.”
(2) Tech billionaires convinced we live in the Matrix are secretly funding scientists to help break us out of it (The Independent)
***If the plot of the movie trilogy The Matrix left you thinking “What if?” then this article is for you. Warning: Don’t take any red or blue pills before reading it.
“Some of the world’s richest and most powerful people are convinced that we are living in a computer simulation. And now they’re trying to do something about it.”
…Mr [Elon] Musk spoke earlier this year about the fact that he believes that the chance that we are not living in a computer simulation is “one in billions”. He said that he had come to that conclusion after a chat in a hot tub, where it was pointed out that computing technology has advanced so quickly that at some point in the future it will become indistinguishable from real life – and, if it does, there’s no reason to think that it hasn’t done already and that that’s what we are currently living through.
If we aren’t actually living through a simulation, Mr Musk said, then all human life is probably about to come to an end and so we should hope that we are living in one. “Otherwise, if civilisation stops advancing, then that may be due to some calamitous event that stops civilisation,” he said at the Recode conference.
Mr Altman seemed to echo that fear and told the New Yorker that he was concerned about the way that the devices that surround us might lead to the extinction of all consciousness in the universe. He spoke about how the best scenario for dealing with that is a “merge” – when our brains and computers become one, perhaps by having our brains uploaded into the cloud.
“These phones already control us,” he said. “The merge has begun – and a merge is our best scenario. Any version without a merge will have conflict: we enslave the A.I. or it enslaves us.
“The full-on-crazy version of the merge is we get our brains uploaded into the cloud. I’d love that. We need to level up humans, because our descendants will either conquer the galaxy or extinguish consciousness in the universe forever. What a time to be alive!”
(3) Peggy Noonan: The Kaine Impunity (Wall Street Journal)
….Everyone says vice presidential debates aren’t that important, and everyone must be right, but this is how it changed the race: Now there are two Democrats to dislike, not just one. And you can imagine Mike Pence—calm, sly sometimes, occasionally evasive—as a plausible president.
The real sin in Mr. Kaine’s performance had to do with his not knowing what time it is. After the past 16 months the nation craves in its politics seriousness, sincerity, sheer normality. This is a time that most desperately demands a little class from its nonpresidential candidates. Voters need to see that not everyone in politics is a sleazy manipulator, a mere aggressor, a game player. Do our national candidates and their staffs not know what a relief it would be to see dignity and maturity? Do they not understand that the nation needs a break from the two weirdos at the top of the ticket and yearns to be inspired and reassured by the bottom? How could Mr. Kaine not know that?
We end with the debate’s redeeming feature, which surprisingly had to do with God. ….
…Mr. Pence too claimed his faith “is at the very heart of who I am.” His issue was not the death penalty but abortion. He is pro-life and ran as such from the start of his career. Why? “I would tell you that for me the sanctity of life proceeds out of the belief [in] that ancient principle … where God says, ‘Before you were formed in the womb, I knew you.’ ” He was saying God is real, and God made human life, so it is sacred: “It all for me begins with cherishing the dignity, the worth, the value of every human life.”
I rarely hear politicians, even pro-life ones, talk like that. It was startling, and lovely.
He spoke of partial-birth abortion. He knew, he said, that Mr. Kaine is personally against abortion, but “the very idea that a child that is almost born into the world could still have their lives taken from them is just anathema to me.” Mr. Kaine responded that he and Mrs. Clinton support Roe v. Wade, while Mr. Pence would overturn that decision. It went round and round.
But for a moment there things got serious, even sincere. Imagine that, in 2016.
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