Archive for January, 2008
Wednesday, January 30th, 2008
How much attention should we pay to the political process?
How much responsibility does the average citizen have to remain aware of an ongoing political process?
Does it depend on the process? On the location? On the scope — municipal, county, province, federal?
Hat tip to dbl.
6 Comments » - Posted in bigbig, law, politics by Josh Millard
Tuesday, January 29th, 2008
How do you make difficult decisions?
There are decisions and then there are decisions. When faced with a touch choice, how do you go about deciding?
And how do you help yourself feel okay about the decision you’ve made?
11 Comments » - Posted in bigbig, philosophy, priorities by Josh Millard
Monday, January 28th, 2008
Could civilization persist without sight?
Big ol’ What If premise: let’s presume that some affliction — say, a viral pandemic — dooms every human on the planet to permanent blindness within a few months of the spread of the affliction. The complete failure of every human eyeball on the planet, accurately predicted but unstoppable.
Could civilization effectively brace itself for […]
4 Comments » - Posted in bigbig, medicine, scifi by Josh Millard
Saturday, January 26th, 2008
Meta thread: weekend Big Big Questions?
I’ve been running BBQ as (with a couple exceptions) a one-big-question-a-day venture, including weekends. We’ve seen a pretty interesting variety of responsiveness to different topics and different types of questions, which is great. But I’m wondering if Saturday and Sunday are good days or not so good days to drop new questions.
Does it make more […]
12 Comments » - Posted in bigbig, meta by Josh Millard
Friday, January 25th, 2008
Is there freedom in not having money?
If there are things that money can’t buy, does having money make those things nonetheless easier to acquire? Just how cold a comfort is the idea of the nobility of poverty?
What are the upsides of living without means? What’re the advantages to being broke?
(Hat tip to Cat and Girl, via the inimitable Dorothy Gambrell.)
8 Comments » - Posted in bigbig, economics, philosophy by Josh Millard
Wednesday, January 23rd, 2008
Respecting speech while respecting death?
In various contexts, where is line drawn between unconstrained discussion of death and the (recently) dead — including criticism of the deceased and metacriticism of the discussion — and a social expectation of respect for the dead, for the gravity of death as a shared experience?
Where do you think the line should be drawn? […]
4 Comments » - Posted in bigbig, death, ethics, language, philosophy, sociology by Josh Millard
Tuesday, January 22nd, 2008
What wastes your time?
Inefficiencies. Speed-bumps. Hurry-up-and-wait. What are the things that waste your time, at work, at home, out and about?
What are the longest delays you deal with? What are the little Death By A Thousand Cuts annoyances that stack up in the long run?
And what would you do — if you had your […]
10 Comments » - Posted in bigbig, priorities by Josh Millard
Monday, January 21st, 2008
What’s the deal with airline food?
It’s a running joke — a metajoke, even, jabbing at hack comics using tired bits — but it’s also an interesting question:
Why is airline food bad? Or meh? Or good, even? Why does it vary? Who gets it right? How has any of that changed in the last ten years? […]
10 Comments » - Posted in bigbig, economics, sociology by Josh Millard
Sunday, January 20th, 2008
Worst way to go: decapitated by a giant lion’s head in the fireplace.
Would you spend the night in a haunted house? Let’s devise a scenario: the house is large, decadent, without electricity and notoriously thought of by the locals (none of whom live within three miles of the place) to be haunted. You can bring a flashlight and a sleeping bag but nothing else. I’d prefer you […]
8 Comments » - Posted in bigbig, metaphysics, priorities by Terminal Verbosity
Saturday, January 19th, 2008
ZOMG Super Computers.
So. You have a horde of super computers attacking you. What do you do?
11 Comments » - Posted in bigbig, scifi by Phire
Friday, January 18th, 2008
What’s the biggest animal you can kill with a slingshot?
Hold on, let me explain. One of the great small pleasures in my life is looking through the referrer logs on my websites — especially the google/etc search-string listings. The logs for Big Big Question are shaping up nicely: we’re a popular stop for those shopping for body parts or examining the ethics […]
14 Comments » - Posted in bigbig, physics by Josh Millard
Thursday, January 17th, 2008
Are we turning into our parents?
How much of your parents do you see in yourself? Where are the similarities? What are the biggest contrasts? Has it any of it been intentional — and has any of it been despite your best efforts?
What have you been most surprised by?
7 Comments » - Posted in bigbig, family by Josh Millard
Wednesday, January 16th, 2008
University or Metafilter? MetaUniversity? MetaUniverse?
Is it possible to systematically educate someone based on a series of internet discussions with both amateurs and professionals in the field who genuinely hold an interest in the subject? E.g. I learned more from the “What would happen if you halted advertising for major brands like Coke and Pepsi” thread than I did from […]
4 Comments » - Posted in bigbig, education, philosophy by Phire
Tuesday, January 15th, 2008
Guv’mint or Charity?
1. What’s your take on government welfare versus personal charity? Should it be the role of government to help the poor and needy or should individuals do it?
2. If you think individuals should care for the poor, do you think such a system is practical in today’s society?
3. Should people be forced to help the […]
4 Comments » - Posted in bigbig, economics, medicine, philosophy, sociology by dbl
Monday, January 14th, 2008
State vs. Language
Could the state institutions that we currently have (in the form of government, e.g.) exist without some form of written language?
7 Comments » - Posted in bigbig, language, philosophy, sociology by Phire
Sunday, January 13th, 2008
She don’t lie, she don’t lie, she don’t lie…
From Mind Hacks, would you vaccinate someone against an illegal drug, or take one yourself? Should such a vaccine be widely administered to the public? If further progress is made on vaccinations for other illicit substances, could this end the decades long war on drugs, and what would be the likelihood that the […]
5 Comments » - Posted in bigbig, ethics, law, medicine, sociology by dbl
Saturday, January 12th, 2008
What is the most ridiculous thing you’ve ever snuck into a movie theater?
Tonight while my friends and I snuck in three hamburgers and an assortment of beverages, I got to thinking about actually managing to bring a little table, a tablecloth, vase of flowers, etc. What have you snuck in?
9 Comments » - Posted in bigbig by whir
Friday, January 11th, 2008
Would you pull the plug?
Your close family member is in a coma. The doctors say 3 weeks or 3 months, you decide. What would you do?
13 Comments » - Posted in bigbig, death, ethics, medicine by Marie Mon Dieu
Thursday, January 10th, 2008
No, not the spidey sense!
It’s an ages-old hypothetical, but one I have answered differently at various stages in life. Forced to choose, would you opt for blindness or deafness. And of course, why? Let’s open this up to all senses as well.
19 Comments » - Posted in bigbig, priorities by Terminal Verbosity
Tuesday, January 8th, 2008
Who should be allowed to immigrate to your country?
What are the criteria you would set if you were the only one to decide who was allowed to emigrate from their country and immigrate to yours?
Would you allow refugees, what type (political/economic/cultural), and what proof would they have to provide of their need? Would you set a net worth limit, so that anyone […]
6 Comments » - Posted in bigbig, economics, law, politics by Kickstart
Monday, January 7th, 2008
Is the philosophy of eugenics morally reprehensible?
The philosophy of eugenics, “a social philosophy which advocates the improvement of human hereditary traits through various forms of intervention”, is usually spoken of as an evil thing. In the 20th century we’ve seen things like forced sterilization of certain classes of people, and the Nazi “racial purity” programs.
But if we separate the concept from […]
7 Comments » - Posted in bigbig, ethics, medicine, philosophy by agropyron
Friday, January 4th, 2008
When and how will humanity end?
How will humans die out? How long from now? Will it be caused by man (nuclear or bio warfare), nature big (asteroid hitting Earth), nature small (plague) or something else?
10 Comments » - Posted in bigbig, death by starman
Thursday, January 3rd, 2008
I’d hit that
What’s the most vulnerable thing to a terrorist attack? What vital piece of modern infrastructure would be the easiest to take out that would affect the largest number of people? What is Homeland Security overlooking that you think would make the best action movie plot? Extra points for feasibility and not requiring coordinated […]
5 Comments » - Posted in Uncategorized by dbl
Thursday, January 3rd, 2008
Where’s the personal responsibility line?
One of the biggest conflict between the “left” and “right” all across the world is what level of responsibility lies with the individual and what level lies with the government the individual pays.
Without government or any form of community organization, the line is obvious…all responsibility lies with the person. The larger the government gets, the […]
3 Comments » - Posted in bigbig, ethics, law, philosophy by Kickstart
Thursday, January 3rd, 2008
How would you redesign current internet technology if you were starting from scratch?
Like most of you, I am a big fan of the internet as it exists today. However, there are a number of things about it that are quite undesirable from a technical level. The most obvious example is probably that SMTP is authentication-free and allows the vast tragedy of the commons known as […]
1 Comment » - Posted in Uncategorized by whir
Wednesday, January 2nd, 2008
How much damage can the internet sustain and stay functional?
ARPANET, the “1.0″ version of what we now comfortably call the Internet, has a history going back forty-some years and roots in a defense initiative to create a durable communications network — one that could withstand damage and still function. History lesson adjourned. Now:
At which point — at what practical limits of direct and indirect […]
6 Comments » - Posted in bigbig, science by Josh Millard
Tuesday, January 1st, 2008
Happy 2008! So about those resolutions…
It’s a new year. What are you (and aren’t you) aiming for this time around?