jkottke:

A bunch of cute kids review Bangarang by Skrillex.

What is dupstep?

I’ve never heard of that.

Daddy loves dubstep.

A couple of the kids were asked what “the drop” meant:

I think the drop is when you drop being sensible.

When it gets really quiet and then it gets really really really loud. BANG!

(via ★interesting)

Too great.

michaelzimmer replied to your post: Rewiring Rawls: #CDP21 Conference Talk Summary

what part of our world is _not_ sociotechnical?

Well, this depends, of course, on how one goes about defining “sociotechnical.” Using the broadest possible definition, I suppose everything could be construed as “sociotechnical” (but that isn’t particularly helpful).

By saying “at least in part,” I am simply hedging - admitting outright that, perhaps, one might be able to make a case for a part of human existence that is not sociotechnical. But it doesn’t matter much to me if someone can or does make that case; this is simply to say that human existence is marked, at least in part, by sociotechnical relations and that it is with those relations that I am concerned.

My talk in Uppsala - and my work in general - is motivated by two basic observations: first, the world we live in is unjust and, second, it is, at least in part, sociotechnical.

While these observations are different in nature, they are nonetheless related, since recognizing that the world we live in is sociotechnical points towards one aspect of our social landscape that ought to be assessed in terms of justice. Importantly, sociotechnical systems are more than mere means by which humans pursue valuable ends, but, rather, by mediating human experiences, such systems impact the quality of our lives and shape our moral actions and decisions. Since the problem of social justice is both a moral and practical problem, sociotechnical systems have implications for the ways in which we may begin to both conceive of and achieve social justice, as they help shape the possibilities for—and the limits of—what we can and cannot do.

With this in mind, what I proposed in Uppsala (and am developing in my dissertation), is a sociotechnical critique of John Rawls justice as fairness, arguably the most important work of political philosophy in the last 100 years. I argue that sociotechnical relations can be addressed at three critical junctures in the development of justice as fairness: 1) its justificatory foundations, 2) the design of the original position, and 3) his two principles of justice. Such an analysis proceeds systematically, as a failure to properly account for sociotechnical systems at the first level of analysis would impact deliberation at the second level, and any modification at level two would necessitate a reevaluation at the third level, that is, at the level of his resultant principles. Eventually, I hope to advance a sociotechnical critique robust enough to stand alongside already established critiques—in particular communitarian, feminist, capabilities, and leftist critiques.

Anyway, that is where this thing is headed. #CDP21 was a great place to start exposing some of my ideas to others, and I’d like to thank my colleagues for helpful discussion and feedback at the conference!