Recent discussion of the alleged adverse consequences of space colonization by Phil Torres in this journal is critically assessed. While the concern for suffering risks should be part of any strategic discussion of the cosmic future of humanity, the Hobbesian picture painted by Torres is largely flawed and unpersuasive. Instead, there is a very real risk that the skeptical arguments will be taken too seriously and future human flourishing in space delayed or prevented.

The seminal Satisfiability Coding Lemma of Paturi, Pudlák, and Zane is a coding scheme for satisfying assignments of k-CNF formulas. We generalize it to give a coding scheme for implicants and use this generalized scheme to establish new structural and algorithmic properties of prime implicants of k-CNF formulas. Our first application is a near-optimal bound of n⋅ 3^{n(1-Ω(1/k))} on the number of prime implicants of any n-variable k-CNF formula. This resolves an open problem from the Ph.D. thesis of Talebanfard, who (...) proved such a bound for the special case of constant-read k-CNF formulas. Our proof is algorithmic in nature, yielding an algorithm for computing the set of all prime implicants - the Blake Canonical Form - of a given k-CNF formula. The problem of computing the Blake Canonical Form of a given function is a classic one, dating back to Quine, and our work gives the first non-trivial algorithm for k-CNF formulas. (shrink)

Milan, David While esteemed Christian apologist C.S. Lewis ruefully puzzled over The Problem of Pain, the theologians invented their own word - 'theodicy' - to describe the futile attempts (to date) to resolve monotheism's conundrum - that of an omnipotent, all-loving deity magisterially presiding over a world in which widespread evil is so pervasive. And what a mind bender this is!

Milan, David An atheist and his christian friend are engaged in cordial conversation. The latter is taken aback and is rather indignant when his atheist friend declaims, 'On this question of the existence of god I believe that our respective positions are much closer than you imagine'. The Christian's firm riposte is that, by definition, such a harmony of viewpoints is impossible. Unfazed, his non-believing friend offers a thoughtful defence of his claim. He begins, 'You know that, since time (...) immemorial, humankind has taken unto itself all manner of gods, and that almost all of these tribal deities have long since vanished into obscurity.'. (shrink)

We consider the Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence (SETI) activities from a bioethical standpoint. In particular, we argue that there is a moral duty to search for other intelligent beings in the Universe. Some of them could – and are likely to be – morally enhanced in the sense that they are not only capable of unmistakable moral reasoning but are also capable of consistently acting upon the results of such deliberations. Even if the probability of finding such morally superior beings (...) is small, it is higher than zero in any case; in fact, our astrobiological knowledge suggests that this probability is significant. Hence, there are both deductive and inductive arguments for the proposition that our duty is to search for such morally superior extraterrestrial beings. In other words, there is a duty to undertake and support our SETI efforts. The argument to that effect runs parallel to some of the arguments deployed in current debates on human moral enhancement. (shrink)

Both “optimists” and “sceptics” in regard to extraterrestrial intelligence tend to hold the view that we are entitled to an epistemically clear position: either there will be a signal, in the sufficiently general sense, proving the existence of extraterrestrial intelligence, or no such signal is forthcoming. The distinction, I wish to argue here, is not at all so clear-cut. On the contrary, there are arguments, intrinsic to the subject matter, to the effect that the detection of ETI will be a (...) protracted affair characterized by uncertainty at every step. Such view of SETI discovery mandates different policies from those conventionally discussed in the literature. We should not gear our expectations and publicly promote the view that the Contact will be a clear-cut, Archimedean “Eureka!”-style discovery. In contrast, the tempo and mode of the process of discovery might significantly influence societal and political reactions to the discovery. We should be prepared for such a protracted unfolding of events. (shrink)

U radu posvećenom osamdesetogodišnjici rođenja filozofa Ante Pažanina, učenika Joachima Rittera i Ludwiga Landgrebea, autor raspravlja o jednom od najdiskutiranijih pitanja kasne faze fenomenologije Edmunda Husserla – o odnosu svijeta života i transcendentalnog ega kao temeljima fenomenologije. Uzelac posebnu pažnju posvećuje formiranju Pažaninovih filozofskih stavova pod utjecajem Landgrebeove teze iz šezdesetih godina XX. stoljeća o Husserlovom napuštanju kartezijanskog puta, kao i potonjem Ritterovom utjecaju na Pažaninovo učešće u rehabilitiranje filozofije politike. U završnom djelu autor se, pozivanjem na Eugena Finka i (...) Hansa-Georga Gadamera, vraća razmatranju problema formuliranog već u naslovu i ističe kontinuitet Husserlovog mišljenja zastupajući tezu da naglašavanje problematike svijeta života ne znači ni napuštanje kartezijanske tradicije, ni metafizike .In seiner Arbeit, die dem 80-jährigen Geburtstag des Philosophen Ante Pažanin, dem Schüler von Joachim Ritter und Ludwig Landgrebe gewidmet ist, behandelt der Autor eine der meistdiskutierten Fragen der späten Phänomenologiephase von Edmund Husserl, nämlich das Verhältnis zwischen der Lebenswelt und des transzendentalen Ego als Grundlagen der Phänomenologie. Uzelac widmet besondere Aufmerksamkeit der Gestaltung von Pažanins philosophischen Standpunkten unter dem Einfluss von Landgrebes These aus den 60er Jahren des 20. Jahrhunderts über Husserls Abkehr vom kartesianischen Weg sowie Ritters späterem Einfluss auf Pažanins Beteiligung an der Rehabilitation der politischen Philosophie. Sich auf Eigen Fink und Hans- Georg Gadamer berufend, kehrt der Autor im Schlussteil zu der Erörterung des bereits im Titel formulierten Problems zurück und hebt die Kontinuität von Husserls Denken hervor, wobei er die These vertritt, dass die Betonung der Problematik der Lebenswelt nicht gleichbedeutend ist mit der Abkehr sowohl von der kartesianischen Tradition, als auch von der Metaphysik. (shrink)