SBU Freethinkers » freethinker http://sbufreethinkers.org/blog A blog for the Atheists, Freethinkers, Humanists, Rationalists, and Skeptics at Stony Brook University Thu, 25 Mar 2010 01:14:10 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 Monday October 19 2009 http://sbufreethinkers.org/blog/2009/10/monday-october-19-2009/ http://sbufreethinkers.org/blog/2009/10/monday-october-19-2009/#comments Mon, 19 Oct 2009 23:14:23 +0000 alicia http://sbufreethinkers.org/blog/?p=74 Topic: Atheist Ad Campaigns
Positive or Negative?
Based on area, they can be either.
•    $25,000 (donation) spent on subway campaign in NYC
•    Campaign in Indiana – Similar message
How might that money be better spent?
•    Youth programs
•    Education
What do these achieve?
•    In a major metropolitan area, these may not serve much purpose other than awareness.
•    In smaller areas, these may bring people out of the woodwork.
•    Is it worth the cost to bring these people out into the open?  A small minority is still a sizable group – can assist in political means, social activism, etc.
•    In the US, where religion almost seems inherent, it can help to raise awareness of our existence and our political weight.
•    Do these campaigns help to enhance the sense of group identity?

]]> http://sbufreethinkers.org/blog/2009/10/monday-october-19-2009/feed/ 0 Monday September 21 2009 http://sbufreethinkers.org/blog/2009/09/monday-september-21-2009/ http://sbufreethinkers.org/blog/2009/09/monday-september-21-2009/#comments Fri, 25 Sep 2009 06:40:13 +0000 alicia http://sbufreethinkers.org/blog/2009/09/monday-september-21-2009/ Topic: Intellectual Property Rights

Example: “Happy Birthday”
o Written by a school teacher in 1800s
o Now rights are owned by Time Warner until 2020
Should ideas become property? What might be the motivations?
o Jealousy, greed
o Profit
o Societal benefit
o Distribution
Is creating a work of art purely for profit something that can be considered manipulative?
o In this case, should they be given the right to intellectual property for so long if its being created for profit as these creations tend to be?
Copyrighting – When created, a copyright is automatically associated with the creative work.

Patenting
o Patents expire much sooner than intellectual property rights
o Human genome has been widely patented
o Drugs that can impact survival are patented – generics must wait until patent has expired to provide for much less money
Should organisms be patented?
o Drugs – penicillin is a common, useful organism
o Is right over that life automatically bad? Ex: organism used to break down crude oil has been patented.
What about differences in country laws?
o Child pornography – viewable in one country, but not another? In Soviet Russia CP watches you.
o Should an international standard be reached to prevent such discrepancies?

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