Archive for March 2023

These “Justice” lectures are covering my favorite topic - Libertarianism.

If I need to define my political views in one word, it would be Libertarianism. HOWEVER, when I am talking with my Libertarian acquaintances, I can call myself a “Pro-states man.” ;-)

For me, it is very clear why Libertarianism is not so popular:

• most of the people who promote it are fanatics
• they try to see the world in “black and white” and close their eyes to fundamental problems.

Fundamental problems include:

I continue overviewing lectures about Justice and sharing my mind-maps. This time I’m sharing my mind-map from the lectures on Utilitarianism.

Download full mind map (PDF)

Summary of the lectures:

Lecture 3: Utilitarianism - Jeremy Bentham

In this lecture, the speaker discusses Jeremy Bentham’s version of utilitarianism, which aims to maximize general welfare by balancing pleasure and pain, and the application of utilitarianism in cost-benefit analysis used by companies and governments. The lecture explores the example of a Philip Morris study on smoking in the Czech Republic, which found a net public finance gain of $147 million. The lecturer also discusses the Ford Pinto case, where Ford did a cost-benefit analysis to determine whether it was worth putting a special shield to protect the fuel tank and prevent it from exploding. The lecture also focuses on the contentious issue of putting a dollar value on human life in cost-benefit analysis, and the objections to utilitarianism, particularly the effect on minority groups and the trade-offs of individual rights for the greater good. The example of the shipwreck boy who was eaten is used to illustrate these objections.

I have started a repeat of Harvard’s course Justice by Professor Michael J. Sandel. This course is about philosophy and discusses what is good and what is bad, and how these ideas have evolved over time. The course is especially important in today’s world as AI will soon be making decisions about WHO SHOULD LIVE AND WHO SHOULD DIE (being an IT specialist, I am interested in the patterns of falling into the first category, as you may guess ;-)

Our IT books club has started reading new book - about Software Engineering at Google - processes, culture, and tools that help Google create and maintain high-quality software. First chapter is about Software Engineering in general:

• What is Software Engineering vs Software Development/Programming?
• Three principles Google consider:
  • Time and Change
  • Scale and Growth
  • Trade-offs and Costs
• How these three principles are applied to Software Engineering and how it is different from Software Development/Programming

Interesting opening chapter of the book: