When The Daily Mail waged atypically putrid and ill-informed campaign against My Chemical Romance and the dangers of emo music in 2008, it was the first time many people had ever been confronted by the term. Much guffawing and puzzled looks were exchanged around the country by so-called normal folk. What was this emo music that My Chemical Romance were the leading lights of?

The irony, to anyone au fait with the roots of this music, is that when MCR were tagged as the genres figureheads, it totally changed the definition of what emo actually was. The tag emo, derived from the emotional hardcore of the mid-80s punk scene, bears little or no resemblance to Gerard Way and co. From Rites Of Springs meek and melody-heavy tunes, the Descendents geeky, lovelorn buzzsaw punk or Fugazis discordant, socially conscious and freeform ire, the inspiration for emo was radically different from theself-loathing horror punk itsnow associated with.

It was established as a genuine movement and sub-genre during the 90s as a slew of bands took the sound of hardcore and stripped it of all the bullish machismo that had become the norm, instead infusing it with an honesty and sensitivity that had never been heard before. Jawbox, Far, Nada Surf, Gameface, Garrison and more all existed deep within the underground, pulling in a more introspective, thoughtful college audience that eschewed the glue-sniffing, phlegm-gobbing aesthetic of traditional punk rock. These were bands who were influenced as much by The Smiths as they were by Black Flag ironic given that MCR openly admitted that those two groups had a huge influence on their sound.

What they didnt do was sell records, ensuring that emo was still an unheard-of, word-of-mouth movement in the main. That was until the turn of the millennium, as the globe-straddling commercial behemoth of nu metal began to run out of ideas and its fans were forced to searchelsewhere for an antidote to its creative decline.

Those seduced by the heavier elements soon found sanctuary in the nascent metalcore movement and the reimagining of thrash that bands such as Lamb Of God andTrivium delivered. But for those who related to early nu metals wounded lyrical honesty and forward-thinking sonic approach, the void was filled by a group of post-hardcore acts, led by Glassjaw, At The Drive-In and And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead. Theybeganto actually infiltrateMTVandmainstream culture while being confusingly monikeredas emo, post-rock and screamo at various times. Clearly, emo was stillimpossible to pin down to an actual sound.

It was the success of Jimmy Eat World, Thursday, Taking Back Sunday and British acts Funeral For A Friend and Hundred Reasons that offered emo a clearly defined sound and look. Skinny jeans, fringes and classic American apparel were married to chiming guitars, whisper-to-shriek vocals and a melding of anthemic choruses with indie-esque punk.

This is where MCR come in. Having toured with the aforementioned Thursday and Taking Back Sunday here in the UK, it was easy to pigeonhole them alongside their peers, yet they were radically different to those bands. The only real comparisons would be AFI and Alkaline Trio, two bands that ignored heartbreak and introspection and instead concentrated on a black-hearted, gothic-heavy, macabre sound that wasstrongly influenced by the Misfits B-movie schlock punk.

In fact, Gerard Way himself stated bluntly that MCR never felt partofor identified with the scene. Basically, its never been an accurate way to describe us, he told American college website TheMaine Campus. I think emo is fucking garbage; its bullshit. Ithink theres bands that we unfortunately get lumped in with thatare considered emo and by default that starts to make us emo.

Of course, once MCR broke, the look and sound of emo were definedby their every action. Despite being vocally anti-violence andanti-suicide, themes of self-harm, depression and distress becameinexplicably linked with their sound and image. They were followed by countless also-rans trying to pull the exact same trick. Now every band that adds even a touch of melancholy to their music, from Black Veil Brides to Bring Me The Horizon, are sneeringly referred to with the tag.

For better or worse, the change in emos DNA isall due to the massive impact of My Chemical Romance.

My Chemical Romance head out on tour later this year. Check out full dates below:

Jun 18: Milton Keynes, Stadium MK, UK Jun 20: Milton Keynes, Stadium MK, UK Jun 21: Milton Keynes, Stadium MK, UK Sep 09: Detroit, Little Caesars Arena, MI Sep 11: St Paul Xcel Energy Center, MN Sep 12: Chicago Riot Fest, IL Sep 14: Toronto Scotiabank Arena, ON Sep 15: Boston TD Garden, MA Sep 17: Brooklyn Barclays Center, NY Sep 18: Philadelphia Wells Fargo Center, PA Sep 20: Atlanta Music Midtown, GA Sep 22: Newark Prudential Center, NJ Sep 26: Sunrise BB&T Center, FL Sep 29: Houston Toyoto Center, TX Sep 30: Dallas American Airline Center, TX Oct 02: Denver Pepsi Center, CO Oct 04: Tacoma Dome, WA Oct 06: Oakland Arena, CA Oct 08: Los Angeles The Forum, CA Oct 10: Sacramento Aftershock, CA Oct 11: Las Vegas T-Mobile Arena, NV

See the article here:
My Chemical Romance and the evolution of emo - Louder

Dunkin Brands CEO Dave Hoffmann compared growth in 2019 to the triangle offense, a basketball scheme championed most notably by the 1990s Chicago Bulls.

Instead of Hall-of-Famers Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, and Dennis Rodman, though, Dunkin points to beverage leadership, food innovation, and consistent value as the key pillars of its blueprint for growth strategy.

In 2020, the company will focus more on that triple threat, as Hoffman calls it, through a multi-million-dollar investment.

Dunkinas part of the push for NextGen remodelingwill shell out roughly $60 million for state-of-the-art, high-volume brewing equipment for domestic locations, with matching investments from franchisees, it said. The brewers will allow the brand to expand the variety of drip coffee blends, increase operational efficiencies, reduce waste, and enhance the quality and consistency across the system. This is on top of the new espresso machines installed in 2018 and the new iced coffee brewers in 2019.

The brand ended 2019 with 525 NextGen stores, a redesign including an eight-headed tap system, modern dcor, front-counter bakery, efficient coffee line, and enhanced pick-up area. The company expects to end 2020 with 1,400.

There's a natural momentum with NextGen, said Scott Murphy, president of Dunkin Americas, during the companys fourth-quarter and annual review. Once a franchisee has a couple of units open and has worked out any operational kinks, they love it. The crew loves it and importantly the customers love it. NextGen represents our best comp and traffic driver in our system.

The 13,137-unit breakfast and coffee chain saw a 2.1 percent increase in domestic same-store sales in 2019 (9,630 U.S. locations), the highest in seven years. In the fourth quarter, comp sales rose 2.8 percent, year-over-year, the highest in six years. Baskin-Robbins domestic comp sales grew 0.8 percent in 2019 (2,524 domestic units) and increased by 4.1 percent in Q4. Across both brands, revenue bumped 3.7 percent to $1.37 billion in 2019. In Q4, revenue rose 5.1 percent to $335.9 million.

Internationally, Dunkins Q4 comp sales increased 6.9 percent, year-over-year, the 10th positive quarter in a row. Baskins global stores saw a 3.2 percent rise. Dunkin operates 3,507 stores outside of the U.S., while Baskin has 5,636.

Amid the growth, Dunkin will exit and terminate its agreement with 450 Speedway stores along the East Coast. Murphy said those units represented less than 0.5 percent of Dunkin domestic sales in 2019. He believes the holes left by these stores will be filled by the chains NextGen restaurants. The agreement with the convenience store chain dates back more than a decade ago with Hess Corp. Speedway took over the Dunkin locations when it acquired Hess in 2014.

By exiting these sites, with minimal financial impact, we're confident we'll be better positioned to serve many of these trade areas in the coming years with new Dunkin' NextGen restaurants that offer a broader menu, said Kate Japson, chief financial officer.

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Dunkin' to Invest $60 Million in NextGen Evolution - QSR magazine

MADISON, Wis. (CBS 58) In a wide-ranging interview, Melissa Missy Hughes, the new CEO of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, told CBS 58 that the Evers administration is, absolutely rooting for Foxconns success and that the state is ready to help the company achieve its goals.

Hughes took over the position in 2019 following the departure of her predecessor, Mark Hogan. The former Organic Valley executive inherited the Foxconn project and hit the ground running when it came to the development.

My goal is to come in and understand it, Hughes said in an interview with CBS 58 at WEDCs Madison headquarters. To learn what Foxconns vision is and to help them as their business plans evolve, to make sure that the project and the contract that WEDC is responsible for are all aligned and working together.

The plans for what Foxconn will eventually develop at its Mount Pleasant site have changed since President Donald Trump announced the project in July 2017. Details like the size of the plant, what will be built and what kinds of jobs will be available have all shifted.

While the Taiwanese company says those details have changed because of shifts in market demands, it has maintained that it will create 13,000 jobs and has reaffirmed its commitment to the state.

Theyve been pretty open about saying their business plans have evolved, Hughes said.

The evolution has led to the Evers administration urging the company to renegotiate the contract it has with the state, something that WEDC is tasked with managing.

But when asked if Foxconn has established a timeline over when those renegotiations may happen, Hughes replied, Its up in the air.

She added, We stand ready to work with them, when theyre ready to do that.

Foxconn did not meet required benchmarks in job creation in 2018 to receive tax credits and its still to be determined if that will be the case for 2019.

In a statement to CBS 58, Foxconn said it is, proud to have hired hundreds of hardworking employees over the last year while investing millions of dollars in the State of Wisconsin. The company regularly communicates with the State regarding Foxconns commitment to bring substantial impact to Wisconsins economy, workforce, and educational institutions.

It goes on to say, as outlined in Foxconns agreement with WEDC, the company will be disclosing figures regarding capital investment and employee hiring numbers in 2020. Foxconn will continue to comply with the reporting requirements as prescribed in the agreement for employees hired and capital expenditures during the 2019 reporting year."

Hughes is optimistic about the states future with Foxconn and adds that the state and its taxpayers have learned a lot through the process.

Without Foxconn I dont think anybody in Wisconsin would really be as aware of what tax incentives are.

Opportunities with the 2020 DNC

The 2020 DNC in Milwaukee places a national spotlight on the city and state, an opportunity Hughes says can be huge for its economy.

Its our chance to put our best foot forward, Hughes said. Its also our chance to really tell our story about whats happening in Wisconsin especially with regard to business.

Governor Tony Evers has discussed how the DNC is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to attract new residents and talent to the state. Hughes wants to do the same with attracting businesses and says she has a simple, but powerful pitch for why businesses should invest in the state.

The most valuable resource that Wisconsin has [is] its people, Hughes said. The communities that our citizens create and the quality of life for raising families and for running your business with super hard working people and innovation, its our best resource.

Minority business growth

When it comes to boosting minority business and entrepreneurship growth in the state, Hughes points to examples like the Sherman Phoenix project in Milwaukee for how WEDC is working to improve in this area.

We have to be conscious that we are making sure that everybody in Wisconsin knows about our programs and is able to access them. One of my challenges is to go back and look at our programs and make sure we havent unintentionally put up obstacles to those communities and maybe theres deeper ways we can dig in and help entrepreneurs and start-ups.

Audit concerns

Recent audits of WEDC found issues with how it distributed tax credits to companies, specifically with some that got job creation tax credits for jobs that were never created. Hughes says the agency is addressing those concerns.

There has been a lot of improvement, Hughes told CBS 58. I think theres always the opportunity to continuously improve. I think one thing to remember is the basis of WEDC as a public-private entity is to keep flexibility. So our challenge is to respond to things that are raised and also remember that keeping flexibility and being able to respond to the realities of the market place is what the taxpayers have hired us to do.

Relationships with Evers, Vos and Fitzgerald

While WEDC is a public-private entity, it requires working closely with the state government. Hughes says her relationship with Governor Evers is very positive.

[Its] really, very great, Hughes said. He is such a gentle soul. I really appreciate listening to him and Ive been able to do a few visits around the state with him and so I can hear about what hes concerned about. Hes so concerned about people and quality of life and education and health care. Those fundamental pieces, he wants to make sure everyone in Wisconsin has the opportunity to be solid in those things.

Hughes was also asked about her relationship with the leaders of the Republican-controlled legislature, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald. During the Lame Duck session in 2018, the GOP pushed through legislation that prevented Gov. Evers from appointing a WEDC CEO until September of 2019. But Hughes says shes been able to develop a good relationship with them.

Both of them, Ive had the opportunity to sit down with. Speaker Vos just once and Senator Fitzgerald a few times and I really enjoy hearing their perspectives and this is really an opportunity [] everybody wants Wisconsins economy to do well and Speaker Vos and Senator Fitzgerald are both very dedicated to that and recognize that WEDCs role is important in that.

More here:
WEDC CEO: Foxconn contract renegotiations 'up in the air' - WDJT

Shania Twain attends the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards at Staples Center on Jan. 26, 2020 in Los Angeles.

Shania Twain has been pushing boundaries with bothmusic and fashion throughout her entire career, and that hasn't stopped in 2020. Whether she's owning the red carpet or dominating the stage at her latest Las Vegas redicency, the country superstarisn't afraid to be bold with her style.

"I have more fun with it than I take it seriously, because its really just about playing for me," Twain tells Billboard."Im a recording artist, Im not a model, so for me Im playing dress-up when Im playing with fashion."

Twain will be celebrating her love for fashion on Wednesday (Feb. 5)when sheperforms a medley of her hitsat the American Heart Association's Go Red for Women Red Dress Collectionevent for New York Fashion Week. Two of those hits are "That Don't Impress Me Much" and "Man! I Feel Like a Woman," which are as iconic for their melodies as they are for their fashion-forward videos.

Ahead of her NYFW performance, Twain reflected on some of her most memorable looks and how she's paved her own lane in the fashion world -- and why she thinks Lizzo is doing "everything that I would do" now.

You told Billboard on the Grammys red carpet that your fashion is "beautiful and sexy without compromising integrity." How do you feel youve managed to maintain that throughout your career?

I embraced my feminity late, because I was always such a tomboy as a kid. So when I finally started making videos, I realized how fun it was to try on clothes that flattered my body instead of hid my body. But at the same time, I wanted to be sexy and still be able to look back at the footage and not be embarrassed by it, or felt like I had compromised for the sake of fashion, or for the sake of a director. Its tricky, because its easy to take direction and forget about what your own limits are when youre in the moment. You have to be clear and very strong on what that means to you, where your limits are, and what sexy means to you -- and stick to that.

You were a country artist wearing crop tops and outfits in a time when they were more what pop stars would wear. What did it mean to you to express yourself through fashion in a genre that was more traditional? Was there any fear that youd face backlash?

I always like to have a twist on everything. I need to just be able to walk my own path and do what I feel is good for me creatively. And as an artist, I never have paid too much attention to what the traditions were, especially associated to music, because thats just limiting. I couldve never have imagined being limited by an expectation of a music genre look and what thats supposed to be. The stereotype wouldve been something I wouldve deliberately ignored, especially at that time.

I just did my own thing. It didnt really matter what was expected. Doing the unexpected is a lot more interesting for a creative person, and its more unique. I want to be original. Art is whatever you think it is, so limiting yourself to a stereotype or some sort of boundary is a creative buzzkill.

When you first introduced leopard print into your image, did you think itd permanently become part of your brand?

I dont know why, but I was really attracted to it. I think it was more about just being able to wear an animal print without an animal skin that I liked about it.Animal skins look best on the animal [Laughs], but I enjoy the print, so its a win-win for me.

For the That Dont Impress Me Much video,It was really brilliant of [designer/frequent Shania collaborator] Marc Bouwer to bring in the red colors with the bejeweled bustierand the choker. I wouldnt have personally combined red with leopard print.I learned a lot from himtaking some chances and doing things that were a little bit more unusual.

How have you been able to transform how your fashion will translate and appear onstage without repeating history or going too off-the-wall?

Im enjoying my femininity more than ever now, even as I get older. In my shows, for example, Im having fun with more transparent fabrics, showing more skin in that sense. When I was younger, it took me a while to just get more and more comfortable in my own skin.

I remember when I did the Man! I Feel Like a Woman video, the designer wanted me to wear this really short skirt, which is what I wore; the song was calling for that. But at the same time, I was like, I never wear short skirts, Im just going to be too shy to wear a short skirt and be comfortable giving a good performance. The alternative wasthe thigh-high boot --that developed more out of an insecurity on my part, but then it became such a statement as part of the look.

I think your own fashion has to be dictated by how youre feeling: what you want to show, what you dont want to show, how to get around in it. It also makes you very innovative and creative about it. Im more comfortable now with my legs than I was then -- I wear more short skirts now than I ever did before. My confidence has evolved more with age.

Speaking of the "Man! I Feel Like a Woman" video, how did you come up with the idea for the black trench coat and top hat ensemble?

[Robert Palmer's] Addicted to Lovewas the reference for that video;I took the looks and role-reversed them.It was about creating a strong female look -- women have always looked amazing in business suits. Thats where the trench coat and top hat came in, and it all came together with my body type, what I was comfortable in. Marc [Bouwer] knew how to pull it together as a female --masculine, strong, feminine, hybrid look. Its very much a hybrid of genders, and how they all belong together in fashion.

I loved that you brought the look back in the "Life's About to Get Good" video.

We used the actual clothes, I cannot believe it. That was a squeeze, Ill admit that. But I did it! [Laughs]

It has to be cool to see newer artists calling back to your famous looks too, like Halsey with her "You Should Be Sad" video.

It so is! And when I look back and think about how insecure I was about my body when I was younger, I was more careful and cautious about it, less liberated about it. I see the Halsey video, and I realize, Wow, I dont know whyI was so worried about it. I think women are feeling more liberated and less self-conscious than before, I see progress there. So its really fun to watch my wardrobe influences being carried over to more freedom.

Are there any other artists whose style youre loving right now?

The coolest, hottest fashion sense Im seeing out there right now that is just awesome is Lizzo. She walked by me at the Grammys, and I thought, That is gorgeous! She is just rocking beautiful clothes. She was wearing a black velvety sparkle thing, and then the other one was white and more like aribbed sparkly thing. Everything she wore was gorgeous.

Did you see her tiny purse at the American Music Awards?

Yes -- I mean, come on! You have to just love that fashion sense. Its fun, its gorgeous. Shes doing everything that I would do. I think its beautiful, and she looks comfortable. Whatever you wear well is what works, and shes doing that.

Lastly, why is being part of the American Heart Associations Go Red for Women initiative important to you?

We need to focus on womens health. Self-care is becoming more of a focus in my life than ever before -- I think Ive taken that for granted. Its a big eye-opener to realize that women have such a high percentage of heart health risks;its something that is not high on the awareness list of anyone, let alone women. So Im really happy to be part of this awareness to bring it to the forefront.

I imagine you'll be wearing something red?

Ill be red and shiny -- Im in a sparkly mode right now. I look forward to sparkling away and bringing some smiles.

Here is the original post:
Shania Twain Interview on Her Fashion Evolution & Why She Loves Lizzo's Style - Billboard

Singapore's public housing authority, the Housing Board (HDB), celebrates its 60th birthday this year.

Today, more than one million flats have been completed in 24 towns and three estates across the island, and HDB flats are home to over 80 per cent of the Republic's resident population.

Established on Feb 1, 1960, during the nation's housing crisis, HDB was tasked with providing sanitary living conditions to replace the then prevalent unhygienic slums and crowded squatter settlements.

From providing basic homes to developing towns with character and identity, and introducing new housing typologies as projects were built taller and more innovatively, much has changed over the past 60 years in terms of the design and functionality of public housing.

In the early years of independence in the 1960s, HDB's focus was to address the severe housing shortage due to the rapid population growth and poor housing conditions.

The flats built then were mainly simple, long slab blocks, consisting of basic smaller flats along a common corridor. This made construction faster and easier, and kept the cost low. Lifts stopped only at intermediate floors.

HDB had to design the flats from scratch, taking into account factors such as how best to fit them along the corridors, what to include in the units, and even where residents might hang their clothes out to dry.

By the 1970s, HDB shifted from its "rush-to-build" mode to focusing on providing people with more than just a roof over their heads.

HDB began to build based on the New Town Structural Model, where the town centre was located at the geographical centre of a town, with neighbourhoods ringed around it.

>1 million Number of HDB flats completed in 24 towns and three estates across the island.

>80% Percentage of Singapore's resident population who live in HDB flats.

In terms of design, HDB began to try out variations in shapes, heights and features. Blocks were designed to make the most of topographical features like slopes and bends in the lay of the land.

As the flats took on a different look, so, too, did the block shapes.

In addition to the traditional rectangular slab blocks, newer blocks took differing forms and shapes such as L, U, Y and square or point blocks. With their distinctive designs, many have since become iconic landmarks of the towns.

1967: The unique Y-shaped Block 53 Toa Payoh Lorong 5, as seen from Gem Residences. The block was famous for a viewing gallery at the top for Queen Elizabeth II, who visited it in 1972. The entrance to the gallery has since closed. ST PHOTO: NEO XIAOBIN

With increasing affluence, demand for larger flats rose and, in the 1970s and 1980s, four-room and five-room flats were built.

In the 1980s and 1990s, there was an added emphasis on strengthening town identity. The precinct concept was introduced to foster a greater sense of identity and belonging among residents.

The size, layout and design of the precinct provided residents with common facilities like children's playgrounds and open spaces and courts for various sports, to encourage interaction among neighbours.

1971: The curved structure of Block 34 Whampoa West gives it a distinctive look. With the longest corridor block in Singapore at 320m, it was built in the 1970s when HDB began to try out variations in shapes, heights and features. ST PHOTO: NEO XIAOBIN

Distinctive features and new building designs were introduced at the town and precinct level, including in the street architecture, to break the monotony of the skyline and inject a greater sense of character into the town.

The juxtaposition of low-and high-rise developments formed a "checker board" that provided visual relief for residents. This planning principle was applied to all HDB towns, including newer ones.

The 2000s saw HDB reach for the skies - literally, by going higher and in creativity. This saw the launch of HDB's first 50-storey and also its tallest public housing project, The Pinnacle @ Duxton, which features the world's two longest sky gardens, each stretching to 500m.

1981: Block 259 in Ang Mo Kio Avenue 2 is made up of four 25-storey circular columns. It is the first and only circular block of flats in Singapore, and has been renamed The Clover @ Kebun Baru. ST PHOTO: NEO XIAOBIN

New housing projects also came with multi-storey carparks that have rooftop gardens, enabling residents to enjoy greenery and facilities, away from traffic, while the estates were beautified with improved landscaping.

Facilities catering to the needs of different age groups included playgrounds and fitness stations, and social communal facilities such as childcare and eldercare centres.

In response to residents' desire for greater privacy, HDB redesigned its flats such that windows no longer opened into the corridors but afforded external views instead. In addition, wider and larger windows in the living room and bedrooms offered better views, natural ventilation and more light.

MID TO LATE 1980s: The ski-slope architecture of the blocks in Potong Pasir Avenue 2 has become an iconic feature of the estate. In the 1980s and 1990s, there was an added emphasis on strengthening town identity in HDB estate designs. ST PHOTO: NEO XIAOBIN

To bring more nature to what could easily be concrete jungles, HDB introduced new methods of greening its housing projects. The top decks of the multi-storey carparks were designed as landscaped spaces, for instance, designed to allow for future community gardening. The "Housing in the Park" concept was also introduced.

There is greater focus on weaving green and blue elements into the housing landscape to enhance the liveability and environmental sustainability.

Greenery plays a crucial role in softening the urban environment, mitigating heat gain and slowing down rainwater run-off. Besides reducing temperatures and cooling the environment, greenery and water bodies also offer residents visual and spatial relief in a high-rise living environment.

2015: SkyVille @ Dawson piloted the flexi-layout scheme, which gives buyers more flat-design options. Like SkyTerrace @ Dawson, it is also designed with a Housing in the Park concept and incorporates sustainable features. ST PHOTO: NEO XIAOBIN

Over the decades, the design of public housing has continued to evolve, with more attention paid to infusing character and identity into the towns.

Some of the new ideas include new housing typologies such as flexible internal layouts and paired units for multi-generational living.

But even as housing developments become more modern, HDB makes a conscious effort to incorporate heritage elements where possible. For example, the Heritage Wall at SkyVille @ Dawson comprises a series of murals that trace the estate's history and its iconic landmarks over the years, starting from its humble village roots in the 1950s.

2015: Waterway Terraces I and II (pictured) were inspired by terraced rice fields, with the undulating ridges of each level helping to provide shade. ST PHOTO: NEO XIAOBIN

To enhance the distinctiveness and strengthen the identity of every town, HDB will be developing town design guides for each of the 24 towns.

Unique to each town, it will chronicle the town's history, planning vision and design intent, thus serving as a useful reference to guide future developments as the town evolves.

2018: Oasis Terraces is the first of the new-generation neighbourhood malls by HDB. It features community gardens that encourage urban farming and a fitness corner on the rooftop. ST PHOTO: NEO XIAOBIN

Correction note: Some captions in this article have been edited for accuracy.

See more here:
Evolution of HDB designs, Housing News & Top Stories - The Straits Times

Black Pearl is one of the worlds largest sailboats, but it is not a sailboat per se. Its actually qualified as a sail-assisted motor yacht, a 3-deck superyacht decker that uses massive (black) sails for added power and the reported ability to cross the Atlantic with zero fuel. It is also among the worlds largest superyachts.

Commissioned in 2010, launched in 2016 and finally delivered to the owner in 2018, Black Pearl has attracted plenty of interest during the entire production process and beyond. Strange enough, nothing is known of the owner as, as far as we can see, there are no photos available of its interiors. Some details are available, but the focus has fallen on the challenge it was to build it.

As noted in the video available at the bottom of the page, most of the stuff on Black Pearl has never been done before, so building it was the real challenge.

Shipyard Oceanco supplied the team of designers with the naval platform of a 98-meter (321-foot) yacht that they had built some time before. The designers, including world-renown Dykstra Naval Architects, Ken Freivokh, Nuvolari Lenard, BMT Nigel Gee and Gerard P. Villate, took the platform and made it bigger, using it to create what is now the 106.7-meter (350-foot) Black Pearl.

The biggest and most impressive alteration was the addition of three 70-meter (229-foot) carbon masts for the DynaRig system. The masts rotate, bringing the sails so close to one another that theres no gap left between them. This allows them to act as a single airfoil and, in turn, translates into more speed for the boat.

The black sails occupy an area of 2,700 square meters and can be furled in under 8 minutes, at the touch of a button. Good ol Captain Sparrow would be impressed!

Black Pearl has a steel hull and aluminum superstructure, and offers accommodation for 12 guests in 5 cabins: one master suite, 2 VIP suites and 2 double cabins. Not much is known of the interior, save that it is the work of designer Valentina Zannier and architect Gerard Villate, and that its inspired by Louis XIV, the last king of France. Actual photos of the furnishes are not available, but renders show the kind of cabins youd see in a period film, the kind where strict decorum is a must even for the most trivial gesture.

Reports online note that one of the longest stages in the entire creative process behind Black Pearl was research for the interiors, as Zannier and Villate wanted to get the feel of the time just right. Press materials reveal a raised pilothouse and a superyacht sundeck, as well as a full beam beach club that can be converted into a cinema.

More impressively, though, Black Pearl is eco-friendly. It has a waste heat recovery system, and can use its propeller as a turbine to generate electricity for on-board systems. It also has a hybrid propulsion system so, when its not powered by wind, it can sail at speeds of up to 17.5 knots using a pair of MTU 12V2000M72 diesel engines and two 400kW electrical propulsion motors.

Originally known as Project Solar, Black Pearl was built on a dare, more or less: the challenge to show that DynaRig-Equipped vessels have great potential for transatlantic cruises and impressive speeds. So far, Black Pearl is on the right path.

See original here:
Black Pearl, the Stunning Superyacht for the Eco-Conscious Modern Pirate - autoevolution

Though the NFL didnt admit to blackballing Kaepernick (who remains unsigned), it reached a settlement with him last year. Months later, the NFL and Jay-Zs label, Roc Nation, announced that the artist would lead the Inspire Change partnership, which supports social causes of the players choosing in areas such as education and criminal-justice reform. Jay-Z, who had rapped about turning down an invitation to perform at the Super Bowl at the height of the NFLs public controversy with Kaepernick, insisted the joint venture would be a step in the right direction. But as The Atlantics Jemele Hill wrote at the time, It doesnt matter whom the NFL partners with, or how much money it pours into social-justice causes. The leagues actions come off as disingenuous because Kaepernick remains unemployed as a result of a peaceful protest.

Jemele Hill: Jay-Z helped the NFL banish Colin Kaepernick

By the end of Boldins Super Bowl ad, its clear that the athletes testimonial, however sincere, wasnt a traditional PSA. There was no reference to the work of a specific community-based organization or commentary on what kinds of policies might best combat police brutality. Rather, Boldin invoked his cousins memory specifically to promote the NFLs Inspire Change program; with the spot, the league chose to elevate its own work above everything else. Because Kaepernicks protest ignited such heated responses from conservative viewers, some people have noted that the ad may spark new controversy. But like the work of the Players Coalition itself, this commercial obscures how racial injustice endures: through discriminatory systems, not just the actions of individuals. The Inspire Change ad notes repeatedly that Joness killer was a plainclothes officer, and Jones would have had no way of knowing the man was law enforcement. In other words, the blame is assigned to one bad actor rather than to institutions.

Despite the obvious tragedy of Joness death, the ads sharp turn to a feel-good ending registers as only slightly less opportunistic than two other Super Bowl spots that aired last night: a presidential-campaign ad for Donald Trump, which featured adulatory footage of Alice Johnson, a black woman who was granted clemency in 2018and one for Mike Bloomberg, in which a black woman whod lost her son to gun violence spoke tearfully about the need for reform. Both ads present the actions of their respective politician as a necessary balm for a womans suffering, and the only paths to justice for their slain children and marginalized communities. Ultimately, the NFL ad similarly tugs at heartstrings without answering larger questions; it capitalizes off Kaepernicks original message while excluding him from any record of the leagues evolution.

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The NFLs Most Valued Cause Is Itself - The Atlantic

Fixing the Problem: Integrating Virtue Ethics into U.S. Special Operations Forces Selection, Education, and Training

Benjamin Ordiway

Background

A survey of allegations of serious misconduct across our formations over the last year indicate[s] that [United States Special Operations Command] USSOCOM faces a deeper challenge of a disordered view of the team and the individual in our SOF culture.

General Raymond Thomas, Former Commander of USSOCOM, December 13, 2018[i]

We have a problem.

Rear Admiral Colin Green, Naval Special Warfare Commander July 25, 2019[ii]

. . . this force does not have a systemic ethics problem.

General Richard Clarke, Current Commander of USSOCOM January 28, 2020[iii]

In The Story of Civilization, Volume III, philosopher and historian Will Durant warns, A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself within.[iv] Just as elevation is often associated with a position of tactical advantage in combat, the moral-ethical[v] high ground is key terrain in the defense of our civilization; when internal actors surrender the moral-ethical high ground, our adversarys work is done for them. Every minute spent dealing with the consequences of moral-ethical breaches cedes a contour-line of respect and creates a widening window of opportunity for those who seek the United States capitulation as a global power and leader. Special Operations Forces (SOF), which fall under United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), are the sentries entrusted with guarding this moral-ethical high ground across the continents.

SOF teams, though small in number, are designed to achieve outsized effects in support of strategic political and military objectives while in hostile or politically sensitive environments.[vi] Whether coordinating humanitarian assistance projects in the Balkans, enhancing counter-terrorism capabilities from Burkina Faso to Colombia, or targeting Islamic State (ISIS) fighters in Syria, SOF are persistently engaged as frontline emissaries of the United States. To this end, all SOF undergo a multi-week selection process and receive specialized training, which contributes to the development of unique and rich unit cultures.[vii] A sample of SOF unit mottos describe teams that are called to be quiet professionals[viii] (Special Forces), always faithful, always forward[ix] (Marine Raiders), and warrior-diplomats[x] (Civil Affairs). But what happens when the actions of a few servicemembers are neither quiet nor professional, causing senior political and military leaders to lose faith in the character and abilities of those forward? From war crimes, to drug trafficking, to murdering colleagues, a web-search of special operations moral-ethical issues returns plenty of front-page material. May of 2019 was an especially difficult month for USSOCOMs reputation. In the span of thirty days, the military sentenced two Green Berets to nine years in prison for drug trafficking,[xi]and a Navy SEAL and a Marine Raider pleaded guilty to negligent homicide in the 2017 death of an Army Special Forces Soldier. Two months later, the Navy convicted a SEAL for posing in a photo with the corpse of an ISIS fighter.[xii]

As the number of incidents grows, so does the outcry. Unfortunately, the response is becoming predictable. Congressionally-directed ethics reviews risk becoming commonplace in the National Defense Authorization Acts,[xiii] and memorandums from USSOCOMs highest levels perennially call for cultural introspection across SOF.[xiv] Nevertheless, the findings of the recent ethics and culture review maintain a drumbeat that there is not a systemic ethics problem.[xv] As the report would have it, Congress and the public are encouraged to believe that the headlines are owed to the actions of a few bad apples. Should we expect and accept these spoiled fruits as an inevitable consequence of a strained force facing deployment after deployment?

Introduction

In August 2019, USSOCOM began a comprehensive review of SOF culture and ethics, which, at the lowest level, entailed a small group discussion with ones peers facilitated by a review team. Additionally, every subordinate command within USSOCOM discussed ethics with the rank and file.[xvi] Upon hearing the details of the recent SOF moral-ethical breakdowns, many in the audience essentially asked, what were they thinking? as opposed to the metacognitive question, how were they thinking? Alarmingly, some even challenged the fairness of questioning the behaviors of those on ethics-trial, claiming that those in air-conditioned offices are committing the fundamental attribution error by assigning blame to a character flaw rather than the power of the situation. [xvii] Worse yet, others complained that an afternoon was spent unproductively discussing the acts of a few bad apples, further opining that the nature of SOF work is inherently gray, and that the media and Congress tend to overreact. Cynicism is more common than many would care to admit. It seems to dispose of personal responsibility and an individuals moral agency, while also disregarding the warning signs that our status within the profession of arms faces an existential threat. A question left unaddressed during both events was, did USSOCOM select, educate, and train SOF for the correct type of moral-ethical thinking to prevent these situations?

When deployed, a SOF teams high operational tempo, its embedment in a foreign cultureeach with unique values, beliefs, norms, and temptationsand isolation from its higher command present unique challenges to SOF. These conditions yield fertile soil for situationism to take root. Situationism is the idea that situational factors (e.g., the actors stress level, sense of urgency, amount of social pressure, and the proximity of an authority figure),[xviii] determine how people act, significantly more so than character traits.[xix] While few dispute that a situation, alternatively referred to as the environment, does not contribute to a subjects behavior, some ultimately say character traits are minimally important or that there is no such thing as character altogether.[xx] A middle way adopted by many in the field of moral psychology, known as interactionism, combines elements of situationism and trait theory. Many outside of the field of moral psychology would take interactionismthe idea that both situations and character traits affect our actionsto be common sense.[xxi] Interactionism forms the golden mean between the two extremes of trait theory and situationism theory by incorporating an actors character traits and the external environmental factors when explaining behavior.[xxii] What, then, should leaders focus on when assessing and selecting future special operations service members if aiming to deploy individuals and teams that will conduct themselves and their missions in morally and ethically appropriate ways? SOF leaders should pay heed to the saying prepare the child for the road and not the road for the child. Given that it is impossible to predict every situation or environmental factor those in SOF will face, the only practical and morally responsible choice is to focus on developing characterwhat some call virtueto guide thinking and behavior.

Thesis

I propose that the best prevention of SOF moral-ethical transgressions is a systemic inoculation against situational influences. This can be achieved by raising selection standards and by educating and training personnel to think, decide, and act according to a virtue ethics framework. SOF leaders should expand existing selection criteria to include tests for moral and adult development. Once selected, units should steep individuals in a virtue ethics-based education before deployment. Finally, SOF unit leaders should incorporate moral virtue ethics tenants into field training to develop excellence in the exercise of moral-ethical judgment. These measures will increase individual resilience against the situational influences SOF personnel contest with at home and abroad, ensuring SOF mottos ring truer than regrettable headlines.

SOF Selection

The great challenge of a military profession in an increasingly pluralistic society is that we now have people coming into the profession who have far different and wide-ranging personal moralities than the institutional ethos.

Colonel (Retired) Don Snider[xxiii]

SOF selection generally focuses on physical and cognitive abilities, personality compatibility deemed appropriate for mission success, and psychopathological issues.[xxiv] What goes unmeasured, at least formally, is an aspirants moral and adult development. Such screening would assist SOF commanders in knowing that all personnel in their formation demonstrated a moral foundation which could be reinforced through education and training to support institutional ethics. While additional testing may reduce the available pool of viable SOF candidates during selection, it need not. Instead, if a candidate scores on the lower range of moral and adult development, the assessors could flag the candidates file to inform future team placement, assuming the candidate passes the rest of the assessment and selection phase.

Two theories SOF assessors might rely on during the assessment and selection phase are Lawrence Kohlbergs Theory of Moral Development and Robert Kegans Theory of the Evolution of Consciousness. Assessors could apply these theories through one-on-one interviews, through essays dealing with practical moral-ethical dilemmas based on vignettes from former and current SOF personnel, and through focused observation of an individuals behavior in group settings with an eye toward their moral-ethical decision making. Additionally, SOF selection should incorporate these theories into tailored scenarios where individual SOF candidates may take a moral-ethical stand without being acutely aware of what is being evaluated. Finally, SOF candidates should be evaluated for incongruences between their individual behavior and behavior within a group setting with respect to instances where an assessment and selection event poses a moral-ethical question. A significant deviation between behaviors may illuminate areas of concern, such as a willingness to compromise a moral-ethical principle when exposed to the pressures of group conformity.

Lawrence Kohlbergs Theory of Moral Development

Lawrence Kohlberg, expanding on the work of developmental psychologist Jean Piaget,[xxv] developed a three-level model of moral development spanning pre-conventional to post-conventional moral reasoning. Kohlberg further divides each level into two stages of increasingly complex types of reasoning. Finally, each level corresponds with an age range. [xxvi]

Pre-conventional morality encompasses the kind of moral reasoning found in preadolescents. In stage one, what is deemed right is obedience to an authority figure, and what is wrong is what that authority decides to punish. In stage two, moral reasoning incorporates instrumental purpose; what is right is what provides immediate value to the individual and what encourages beneficial reciprocity from another.[xxvii]

Conventional morality, forming stages three and four, encompasses the type of moral reasoning first arising in grade school and continuing through young adulthood. In stage three, ones reasoning is a function of conformity to a social group. What is right for a person in stage three is living up to what is expected by people close to you. . . because of the desire . . . to be a good person in your own eyes and those of others.[xxviii] Stage four builds on the external pressure of a social group by adding adherence to a social system. What is right in this stage is fulfilling ones duty, upholding laws, and contributing to institutions and society. [xxix]

Post-conventional morality forms the final two stages. Stage five moral reasoning operates from a social contract perspective. What is right is what promotes the common good and protects the rights of all involved with impartiality and recognizes there may be a conflict between individual morals and norms or laws. It follows, then, that a person in stage five is more attuned to dilemmas and willing to consider a course of action that may be in opposition to group norms. Finally, in Kohlbergs sixth stage, called universal ethical principles, what is moral is what is universally applicable, such as fundamental human rights and the dignity of the individual.[xxx] A person operating in this stage of moral reasoning may very well disregard the social contract, seeing themselves as unconstrained by an ineffective system if that system conflicts with internalized universal principles.

Kohlberg concludes that the majority of adults do not advance beyond conventional morality. In short, most applicants seeking to join the ranks of SOF likely think, decide, and act in situations where a moral question existsperceived or otherwisebased on what individuals and social groups deem acceptable or unacceptable. This is not without its implications for SOF teams, which are themselves a social system.

Robert Kegans Theory of the Evolution of Consciousness

In his seminal work, In Over Our Heads, Kegan describes increasingly complex ways the human conscious constructs meaning, with higher orders including and being preferred to the lower.[xxxi] The four orders most relevant to adult life are order two through five. In order two, called the instrumental mind, individuals relate to others as separate and unique beings,[xxxii] but ones own needs maintain primacy.[xxxiii] This order is marked by competition and compromise within social settings, with relationships tending toward the instrumental or transactional, hence the name.[xxxiv] In order three, called the socialized mind, individuals are acutely aware of their feelings and demonstrate mental abstraction by perceiving and considering others desires and emotions.[xxxv] Kegan states that this order is akin to tribalism, where ones group ideology reigns[xxxvi] and where other people are experienced as sources of internal validation, orientation, and authority.[xxxvii] In order four, called the self-authoring mind, individuals assume responsibility for their values and belief systems.[xxxviii] In this order, relationships with others no longer serve as the foundation for ones identity. Moreover, individuals can see linkages between abstract concepts such as the rule of law and individual rights. Kegans final order, the self-transforming mind, is rarely observed in others under the age of forty.[xxxix] In this order, a person demonstrates the ability to see beyond societal constructions and culture and can incorporate commonalities that transcend ideologies and national borders.[xl]

Numerous longitudinal studies conducted by Kegan and others in the field of developmental psychology indicate that nearly two-thirds of adults have not reached the fourth-order of consciousness.[xli] Instead, most adults are conscious of others insofar as they can make use of them (treating people as means rather than ends) or are conscious of others insofar as they form their identity in relation to them. With Kohlberg and Kegan in mind, the ideal SOF candidate should demonstrate post-conventional morality and a self-authoring mind, as both serve as preconditions for adopting and developing a virtue ethics framework. Aristotle, one of the founders of virtue ethics, presupposes that one must first be willing to adopt and train according to a potentially new system of habits. In Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle writes, The virtues, then, come neither by nature nor against nature, but nature gives the capacity for acquiring them, and this is developed by training.[xlii] Incorporation of Kohlberg and Kegan into SOF selection will assist in highlighting those individuals whose natures are open to the adoption and development of Aristotelian virtue ethics.

An Overview of Aristotelian Virtue Ethics

. . . the practice of . . . professionals is to make discretionary judgments routinely; those judgments are highly moral in nature; such decisions are better made by professionals of high moral character.

Colonel (Retired) Don Snider[xliii]

Aristotle writes that all designed objects, inanimate and animate, have a specific function they are best suited to accomplish.[xliv] Synthesizing Aristotle and Snider, I submit that the specific function for which SOF is best suited is the application of discretionary moral-ethical judgment[xlv] in the conduct of operations in hostile, denied, or politically sensitive environments [which] are characterized by one or more of the following elements: [they are] time-sensitive, clandestine, low visibility, [or] conducted with [or] through indigenous forces, [require] regional expertise, and/or a high degree of risk.[xlvi] Though the object (or in this case the collective body of SOF) may suffice in accomplishing a different function from which it was designed, it will be unable to be employed in an excellent manner consistent with its full potential. To illustrate this point, just as a Navy SEAL platoon is not designed to engage in mounted maneuver warfare (e.g., tank vs. tank battle), an Army cavalry platoon is not designed to conduct a hostage rescue. While either force could conceivably swap roles, neither the tank nor the hostage would likely fare as well.

Simplifying by way of analogy, the function of a sword is to cut or pierce. A virtuous sword is one that is balanced, honed, maintains an edge, and ultimately cuts or pierces well. If a sword lacks any of these virtues, we call it a poor sword; it lacks the characterthe summation of virtues (or the means)of a good sword. By extension, SOF application of discretionary moral-ethical judgment in accordance with virtue means doing so with balance, within a honed moral-ethical framework. Moreover, that framework must be able to hold its edge when tested in the presence of a moral-ethical question. Just as the sword best displays its virtue in cutting, SOF exhibit the epitome of proper discretionary moral-ethical judgment when doing so according to a virtue ethics framework. Those SOF personnel that reason and act against virtue (i.e., they reason and act in accordance with vice) lack the character required of military professionals.

Aristotle describes many virtues in Nicomachean Ethics that all should seek to develop. Though he discusses the virtues of honor, justice, even anger, he holds twocourage and temperancein high esteem.[xlvii] Were SOF to focus only on habituating adherence to these two virtues within the ranks, there would likely exist a sufficient bulwark against moral-ethical lapses. To be virtuous, then, is to moderate our reasoning and actions. It means heading former Secretary of Defense, James Mattiss call to run the ethical midfield[xlviii] and to shy away from the vices of excess and deficiency on the sidelines. Taking courage, for example, the vice of excess is rashness; the vice of deficiency is cowardice. Regarding temperance (self-restraint), the excess is insensibility; the deficiency is self-indulgence.[xlix] Each time a situation exists where the virtue of courage or temperance is hanging in the balancewhich is to say nearly every discretional moral-ethical judgment a military leader makes in the conduct of dutythere is an opportunity to reinforce these virtues through habituation.

Finally, Aristotle posits that the virtues can be learned through modeling the behavior of virtuous people (what those in the military might call leaders of character), and the virtues are ingrained (made implicit) through habituation of proper reasoning and proper action. Habitually acting out of virtue will likely place one in direct contention with those exercising other ethical frameworks and with those who routinely dispose of moral-ethical considerations altogether. In these casesespecially when circumstances call for moral couragefalling on ones sword may be the only virtuous option.

Why Aristotelian Virtue Ethics?

Leaders must prepare their units to fight and adapt under conditions of uncertainty and, during the conduct of operations, must also ensure moral conduct and make critical time-sensitive decisions under pressure.

The Army Capstone Concept: Operational AdaptabilityOperating Under Conditions of Uncertainty and Complexity in an Era of Persistent Conflict, 2016-2028.[l]

Aristotles virtue ethics provide SOF personnel flexibility in moral-ethical decision making in ways that deontological (duty or rule-based) ethical systems do not. Furthermore, the character-building inherent in the practice of virtue ethics takes a proactive and preventive approach to moral-ethical breaches. This is because virtue ethics places the locus of control within the actor. In contrast, a deontological approach risks reducing moral-ethical agency by placing the locus of control external to the actor. When faced with a moral-ethical question, the internalized habituated virtue is drawn forth. This implicit adoption of virtuous thinking and acting is superior to deontologys reactive nature, as deontology requires that one respond to a situation after referencing a set of rules. When under pressure, facing a critical, time-sensitive decision,[li] a reactive nature is a liability.

Immanuel Kant, arguably the most influential deontological ethicist, argues that our motivation for action should be bound by duty. Kant maintains that we should obey moral law above all else regardless of the consequences, saying the moral worth of an action does not lie in the effect expected from it, nor in any principle of action which requires to borrow its motive from this expected effect.[lii] With Kant, there are no qualifications when it comes to deciding our response; he mandates that we behave according to a moral imperative such as do not kill regardless of the circumstances. Given that the military profession is inherently violent, it would seem necessary to violate the moral imperative or to create a subcategory within it such as do not kill except in self-defense or do not kill unless your target is a lawful combatant. Qualifying a moral imperative adds tension to the moral system. For example, two parties engaged in combat may equally say their actions are in the interest of self-defense. Who then maintains the moral high ground when killing? Kant would undoubtedly take issue with expanding upon the original moral imperative because doing so may undermine the integrity of the moral law. This impracticability of rigid adherence to deontological ethics is one of its most significant criticisms.

In the abstract, dealing with the rigidity of a moral imperative through the incorporation of a subcategory seems reasonable and may even be generally sufficient to maintain good order. For example, it is wrong to violate the speed limit. However, many would agree that if a passenger is suffering a medical emergency, speeding is acceptable; therefore, the possible expanded sub categorical imperative might be it is wrong to speed unless there is an emergency. Still, when complex, high-pressure situations call for an expanded categorical imperative (one that likely has not been identified in training nor explicitly codified in an organizations ethics), the ability for SOF personnel to construct an appropriate exception to the rule is less predictable and therefore full of risk. As a SOF team deployment date nears, the chain of commands awareness of risk manifests itself on paper.

A commander, realizing too late that the deploying teams virtue has not been vetted, ponders every possible moral-ethical bump in the road and constructs a pre-deployment Rules of the Road memorandum. These legalistic documents place a pylon near every prognosticated moral-ethical pothole, effectively creating rule-based chokepoints. Though well-intended, these memorandums often serve more as a defensive document that leaders wave as evidence of engaged leadership once an individual or team suffers a moral-ethical breach of conduct. The length of such memorandums is likely inversely proportional to the amount of time the signatory invested in training and educating subordinates to conduct themselves within a moral-ethical framework. What is more, burdening teams with legalese violates the very tenants of core doctrine.

In recognition of todays unconventional conflicts, where adversaries seamlessly float in and out of the civilian population, the Army published The Army Capstone Concept: Operational AdaptabilityOperating Under Conditions of Uncertainty and Complexity in an Era of Persistent Conflict. The Army intended for this doctrinal text to compel an institutional-level change in preparation for perceived threats its personnel would face out to the year 2028. USSOCOM leadership and subordinate commands would do well to embrace the following from its pages, To facilitate the necessary level of adaptation, Army forces empower increasingly lower echelons of command with the capabilities, capacities, authorities, and responsibilities needed to think independently and act decisively, morally, and ethically.[liii] The best way to empower leaders to act decisively, in harmony with accepted moral principles and institutional ethics, is to educate and train individuals within an inherently adaptive virtue ethics framework.

Consequentialism, commonly referred to as the ends justify the means by pragmatists, holds that the outcome of an act provides the basis for judging the acts rightness or wrongness.[liv] The means, though possibly unsavory, are always subordinate to the rightness of the ends. Clearly, there are certain means which those serving in SOF are unable to employ in realizing the desired ends. For example, the Uniform Code of Military Justice and the International Law of Armed Conflict serve as ethical backstops to an array of means that might otherwise be considered available (e.g., killing an unarmed suspected terrorist to prevent future attacks). Consequentialist thinking risks opening the door to moral-ethical fading, the desensitization to moral-ethical questions. Despite an action being intuitively immoral or unethical, a consequentialist approach may push an actor toward an end that provides more utility than doing the right thing in the supposed service of accomplishing the mission. The type of rationalization that allows for a seemingly insignificant rule to be broken because, say, following the rule is supposedly a detriment to unit morale (e.g., enforcing haircut standards and uniform regulations) creates a debt to discipline. This debt risks collection once deployed and increases the likelihood of moral-ethical breaches. When SOF individuals and teams train on the ethical sidelines, supported by a unit culture that tacitly approves acts of indiscipline, we should not be surprised nor expect teams to run operations in the ethical midfield. Detractors will immediately decry the supposed use of an absurd extrapolation. Still, the military has long adhered to the broken-window theory of discipline, in part because doing so guards against consequentialism. Only months ago, Rear Admiral Green, the Commander of all Naval Special Warfare forces, connected the dots between low-level indiscipline and the more extreme ethical breaches which have garnered national attention. In an August 2019 memorandum, he banned the use of unofficial unit patches and demanded subordinate leaders enforce basic grooming standards. These measures are designed to target a root cause of ethical fadingan organizations tacit approval of indiscipline.[lv]

This is not to say that consequentialist and deontological constructs do not have their place. Instead, this is to say that service in special operations first requires virtuous actors and virtuous teams. With the virtues serving as the foundation, SOF personnel should then engage in principled but practical consideration of the rules and then consider the most appropriate outcome. Developing virtuous actors will ensure SOF personnel steer toward the ethical midfield by creating options outside of dogmatic adherence to rules and by expelling any immoral and unethical means in pursuit of the ends.

Applying Aristotle to SOF Education and Training

The current SOF ethics education for officers and enlisted service members is insufficient in scope, frequency, and applicability. Discussing deontological, consequentialist, and virtue ethics frameworks during professional military education and engaging in case studies, although a good start, is not enough to impel change at the tactical level. These discrete forays into the academic realm, sprinkled throughout a 20-plus year career, practically ensure that moral-ethical development is viewed as something for the classroom only.

Just as unfortunate, the junior officer(s) leading a SOF team is often years removed from any formal ethical training, yet is expected to serve as the moral-ethical compass for all service members in the organization.[lvi] A point about actual compasses thoughthey do not lead or make decisions; they only point at an attractive element. These attractive elements may manifest themselves during deployment as the opportunity to misuse funds for personal gain, the longing to remain popular within a team that has blurred the lines between officers and enlisted personnel, or perhaps the desire to execute vigilante, frontier justice on a suspected combatant. How do SOF organizations ensure their junior leaders moral compasses do not orient on the wrong element?

Though it is a multifaceted answer, one which includes selecting the right people, another facet must be education and training. Incorporating moral-ethical scenarios into field training and providing feedback during developmental counseling ensures that moral-ethical development will maintain a persistent presence within the unit culture. As it stands, SOF teams are not educated or trained to identifymuch less addressmoral-ethical questions in a practical setting within a virtue ethics framework. Perhaps the reason for this is that the military tends to train what it can easily measure, such as physical fitness and weapons qualification.

Many SOF units are required, at a minimum, to test individuals for physical fitness twice every year. Practically every SOF installation or compound features state-of-the-art gyms complete with contracted personal trainers to promote physical excellence within the ranks. Surely SOF leadership can make time for moral-ethical fitness assessments to support excellence in discretionary moral-ethical judgment. Perhaps teams are just expected to rise to the occasion while deployed. Yet, no organization in the military expects its members to simply rise to the level of an expert marksman when at a weapons range. To illustrate the point, units do not conduct a weapons qualification until all personnel revisit, through education and practical exercises, the fundamentals of marksmanship. This is followed by a validation (zeroing) of each weapons sights before engaging a target for record. Qualifying on a weapons range is a less demanding feat than correctly addressing a moral-ethical question, and it is less fraught with potentially catastrophic consequences. Why, then, would SOF leaders deploy individuals and teams who have not been formally educated on moral frameworks and whose moral-ethical alignment has not been validated? The cost of doing so is only time; the cost of not doing so? Well, just read the headlines.

Where there is a moral-ethical shortcoming, there is also a training and education opportunity. Recognizing that so-called small moral-ethical transgressions are actually, cracks in the SOF foundations,[lvii] is only a part of the solution; we must also recognize and reward quiet courage and shadowed self-restraint. When individuals step forward and demonstrate moral courage, likely at the cost of expediency and their popularity (and potentially their safety), leaders should pause and recognize these virtues in action. Organizations must ensure that whistleblowers are not alienated by those whose actions were called into question, as courage of this nature is a precious commodity in short supply. These individuals are the ethical circuit breakers which just might save an organization from an ethical inferno.

Conclusion

[I]ndeed we shall do well to suspect, in philosophy, any doctrine which plumes itself on novelty. Truth changes her garments frequently. . . but under the new habit she remains always the same. In morals we need not expect startling innovations[.]

Will Durant, The Story of Philosophy[lviii]

In an age where newer is often confused for better, suggesting that USSOCOM adopt, educate, and train according to the tenants of a 2,500-year-old text is a tall hill to hike. Still, better to trudge upward with Aristotles Nicomachean Ethics in hand than to continue responding to the gross moral-ethical breaches that continue to dominate news cycles and call into question the very foundation of the professional military ethicour ability to self-regulate.

If we agree that morals are deeply held, unchanging principles governing right and wrong, it seems necessary to select those individuals who not only exemplify sufficient moral alignment with SOF institutional ethics but who also demonstrate an acceptable capacity for discretionary moral-ethical judgment. With respect to the sword, we should be selecting post-conventional, self-authoring blades willing and able to take an Aristotelian edge. An individual demonstrating post-conventional morality is willing to consider right and wrong largely independent of a proximal social group, reducing the likelihood of unhealthy conformity on a team; likewise, an individual demonstrating a self-authoring mindset is more committed to personal responsibility than personal relationships. This commitment leads to greater moral-ethical agency while reducing the impact of situational factors.

Beyond SOF selection, the hard work of educating and training teams to decide and act in a virtue ethics framework should begin immediately. The good news is, once leaders expose all individuals to the tenants of Aristotelian virtue ethics, no syllabus is required, no online-mandatory training need be developed, and no lunch breaks need be interrupted with discussions of abstract ethical dilemmas. Rather, anywhere and anytime a moral-ethical question arises in the workplace, there exists an educational opportunity. When field-based training lacks a moral-ethical question, a leader can inject one that creates a window for virtuous action without the hindrance of a resource request.

Without so much as defining the term ethics, the USSOCOM Comprehensive Review, despite over 20 pages of findings and recommended actions, assessed that USSOCOM does not have a systemic ethics problem.[lix] While there is limited attention paid to SOF assessment and selection, nowhere in the 69-page document is a substantive change to current moral-ethical education or training mentioned, specifically regarding developing excellence in the application of discretionary moral-ethical judgment.[lx] Education and training are major building blocks of unit culture; without addressing these key areas, there can be no systemic solution. Failure to do so all but guarantees another batch of unfortunate headlines followed by increased congressional oversight, leading to another round of policy letters and a comprehensive review which will likely say, according to a January, 2020 Stars and Stripes article, that SOF ethics slips are largely the product of deploying too much.[lxi] Essentially, the blame is placed on the external factorsthe situationinstead of a SOF individuals faulty moral-ethical foundation.

Every day in SOF units, leaders and subordinates should be asking themselves if the person adjacent to them demonstrates a sufficient capacity for discretionary moral-ethical judgment. Each day is a training opportunity for SOF leaders to improve upon the individual and collective defenses of its moral-ethical fortress. Likewise, each time leaders tacitly permit, approve, or pardon a moral-ethical transgression within the ranks, they weaken the integrity of the moral-ethical framework and damage the cornerstone of accountability within unit culture, ultimately sabotaging the work of the good and rewarding that of the bad. Through the millennia, Aristotle reminds us, . . . and so with builders and the rest; by building well they will become good builders, and bad builders by building badly.[lxii] Were he on the House Armed Services Committee, Aristotle might suggest that USSOCOM leadership reflect deeply on the selection, training, and education of its builders, as opposed to sifting through the rubble of failed creations.

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Kant, Immanuel. Ethical Philosophy: The Complete Texts of Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals, and Metaphysical Principles of Virtue, Part II of The Metaphysics of Morals. Trans. James K. Ellington. Indianapolis: Hackett Pub. Co., 1994.

Kegan's Theory of the Evolution of Consciousness. Stanford University: Tomorrow's Professor Postings. Accessed November 29, 2019. https://tomprof.stanford.edu/posting/1110.

Kilner, Pete. When 'Moral Compasses' Need Calibration. Association of the United States Army. Accessed November 28, 2019. https://www.ausa.org/articles/moral-compasses.

Kohlberg, Lawrence. Child Psychology and Childhood Education. White Plains, NY: Longman, 1987.

Kristjnsson, Kristjn. An Aristotelian Critique of Situationism. Philosophy 83, no. 323 (2008): 55-76. http://www.jstor.org/stable/20185287.

LaPorta, James. U.S. Special Operations Command Issues Ethics Guidance after Inexcusable and Reprehensible Violations by Personnel. Newsweek. Last modified December 13, 2018. https://www.newsweek.com/us-special-operations-ethics-war-crimes-military-1255843.

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End Notes

[i]. Raymond Thomas, Ethics and Our SOF Culture 7 A Call To Action SOCOM: General Raymond Thomas, SOFX, last modified July 18, 2019, https://www.sofx.com/2018/12/13/ethics-and-our-sof-culture-7-a-call-to-action-socom-general-raymond-thomas/.

[ii]. Paul Szoldra, Top Navy SEAL: 'We Have a Problem', Task & Purpose, last modified August 1, 2019, https://taskandpurpose.com/seal-admiral-problem.

3. Richard Clarke, Special Operations Forces Culture and Ethics Comprehensive ReviewLetter to the Force, accessed January 30, 2020, https://www.socom.mil/Documents/Multi-star-letter-to-the-force-as-of-27-JAN-20.pdf.

Read the rest here:
Fixing the Problem: Integrating Virtue Ethics into US Special Operations Forces Selection, Education, and Training - smallwarsjournal

What is going on?

If we wish to follow the Logos where He leads, we need to listen to critics, especially those with interesting things to say.Jeff Williams is a critic of metaphysics. A University of Chicago grad, he agreed to present his argument and I have posted it here unedited (except for some formatting and the title). As result of his rejection of metaphysics, he rejects objective moral law as an illusion.

Mr. Williams previously argued that Athens has no need of Jerusalem, which contributes nothing good to Western civilization. I respondedand enjoyed the interaction immensely. Mr. Williams has taken the time to discuss Martin Heidegger, a philosopher not much in favor when I was in graduate school. I have enjoyed reading more Heidegger (alas in translation). As usual, I allowed his post to stand without comment for a time and now here is a response. Mr. Williams suggested to me that I had not gotten him right, so it seemed decent and in order to let him respond. I suggested that Mr. Williams has ended up looking for a pony, because he has found a pile of LEGO blocks shaped like a pony.

Mr. Williams finds my response lacking, so I joyfully invite you to follow the argument where it leads. In this case, it leads to a sadly dogmatic physicalism (or materialism) that sees gaps or problems where there are none. We also learn that having a bad history of the philosophy of science can lead to some bad conclusions.

The Physicalist has adeal for you!

Once one adopts a point of view, there is a dangerous temptation to reduceevery problem to a coming triumph. Some adopt an entire metaphysical position (such as there is not metaphysical realm) based on certain past events. Too often this hapless soul is like an investor who careens into a bad deal becausepast successmeans future success

And as the fine print on such deals always says: maybe, maybe not.

Theless the circumstances are the same, the lessone kind of success is a guide to the other. A coach with a Hall of Fame NFL record as a football coach hired to manage might seem like a great idea (past success!) unless it is for a baseball team. Such a manager is not more likely to win the World Seriesbecause of his past coaching success.Some of the experiences are relevant, both are sports-ball and both consist of leading men to victory, but many relevant skills are not!

The problem of comparing two things that arenot alike is particularly easy to do in philosophy, especially if your worldview collapses categories. Berkleys idealismcan explain what is happening when Samuel Johnson kicks a rock, but we must force askwhy anyone would have adopted physicalism to start. The default position amongst experts is thatnumbers exist and world class thinkers like Frege have argued for this position. In fact:

Mathematical platonism enjoys widespread support and is frequently considered the default metaphysical position with respect to mathematics. This is unsurprising given its extremely natural interpretation of mathematical practice. In particular, mathematical platonism takes at face-value such well known truths as that there exist an infinite number of prime numbers, and it provides straightforward explanations of mathematical objectivity and of the differences between mathematical and spatio-temporal entities. Thus arguments for mathematical platonism typically assert that in order for mathematical theories to be true their logical structure must refer to some mathematical entities, that many mathematical theories are indeed objectively true, and that mathematical entities are not constituents of the spatio-temporal realm.

I am not arguing from authority that thisis true, but that any dismal of metaphysics as obviously wrong or ad hoc is quite foolish. Mr. Williams is, I suppose, entitled to assert on the basis of a priori physicalism that these positions cannot be so, that numbers cannot be real, but that is not an argument. This is merely a form of Bulverism. I fear Williamsis explaining away problems with could be, not explaining on the basis of an almost overwhelming sense of what is happening. Abstract objects (like numbers) really may exist and they seem to exist to the relevant experts. At the very least, the subject is not closed and there is no reason for the level of confidence Mr. Williams displays.

I amnot sure numbers exist and both theist and atheist philosophers are in both camps. I am sure that plenty of atheists take this is a good reason to doubt strong physicalism, but read for yourself and decide.

An Important Agreement: Avoid the Guru

On many issues, Williams and I agree and one of them is a hatred of gurus who tell us to agree with their views. Williams says:

Perhaps we two are destined to eternally consider each other to be in error, which is in no way a bad thing. I shudder in horror at the thought of everyone agreeing with me a fate no better than solipsistic imprisonment.

To which I can only say: Hoop la! Just so! Amen, brother!

We must not look for certainty, the just will live intellectually by faith. One sometime meets on social media folk (theist and non-theist) who invent definitions that are unique to themselves and demand people answer questions using their terms. This is guruism and often comes with self-aggrandizing tales of intellectual triumph.

Williams is to be strongly commended for rejecting that approach, doing his homework, helping us all understand an important philosopher better (Heidegger) and using standard academic approaches. Even when his views are (as far as I can tell) in a minority, they are careful and part of a respectable minority of scholarship.

This isimportant,because it enables us to talk, disagree agreeably, and make progress. Private, self-contained systems (some apologists and some cranky atheists) keeps us from having such intellectual fellowship.

On Consciousness: Williams Asserts

As we have seenthere is no certainty in the present academic community, that all that exists is physical.In fact, mathematicians default to a denial that this is trueeven atheist mathematicians. There is another more basic phenomena that seems to be in an utterly different category from material stuff: consciousness.

This is not an eccentric view. Human consciousness is the hard problem for the physicalist, because it does not even seem like itcould be solved. My consciousness to me, your consciousness to you, in ourmost basic experience are less like our experience of the physical than football is like baseball! Attempts are made to solve this problem (of course), but none are widely held to be successful.

If onemust be a physicalist and think that matter and energy is all there is, then I suppose you must accept on faith some solution is out there. Whydo this?My thought, my experience of the cosmos as experience, is not at all like my experience of a LEGO. Even when are not sure, theists and atheists look to past success of science in explaining physical phenomena to rationally assume that science will probablybe able to explain this physical thing. To compareanythingso dissimilar as our experience of selfhoodand a starand assert that they will have the same type of explanation as to what they are is a leap of faith utterly unjustified by the evidence.

Willaims says:

Although it was commonly believed among metaphysicians since at least Descartes that mind was proven to be non-physical, that is not so obviously the case.

Note how absurd this response really is. We do not think our experiences are not physical, because Descartes or anyone else told us this is so, but because of our experience. Descartes simply used this universal experience to make a point. Ideas in my mind, or your mind, seem nothing likea pile of stuff.If we must (?) reduce everything to a pile of stuff, then clever men might work on how to do this, but sincenobody has ever done so to most thinkers satisfaction, there is no reason to think they ever will.

Only assumptions flowing out of dogmatic predispositions would makeanyonethink we could reduceHamletto a collection of any physical things. Theplay is the thing that captures theconscience of the King, not paper and ink chemistry hanging out with some neurons. Where isHamletin that? Where is the experience of Hamlet? Themystery of how the brain works will almost surely be solved by science using physical causes, because a brain is a physical thing that is very complex, but still physical.

An idea just is not or seems very, very different than a brain. We dont have past success in reducing ideas to LEGOS or any other physical thing to cheer us on. This is true of numbers and consciousness. I am betting that past failure suggests (though does not prove!) future failure.

Essentially Williams justifies this (fairly bizarre) assumption about ideas and numbers by a false history of the development of science. He says:

In my last response, I traced the continuous appropriation by physical inquiry from what had been the province of metaphysics since the time of Bacon. The word ontology had been coined to accommodate the migration of the question of being increasingly into the realm of the physical. Consciousness is but the most recent emigrant from the land of metaphysics to that of neuroscience, theoretical physics, and non-metaphysical philosophy. I believe that denying the ability to explain consciousness solely through physical terms will someday look as nave as those who thought gravity could never be explained. Some physicists are looking into evidence of a sort of panpsychist universe with levels of consciousness varying with levels of complexity, which could ultimately explain entanglement. This is an important premise, for example, in Sean Carrolls Many Worlds Theory. The philosopher Thomas Nagel has also done important work in this area. Other physicists and neuroscientists study the similarities between quantum indeterminacy and action of wave functions to the function of the brain and how mind could emerge purely from physical waves, which are the basis of all reality. Michio Kaku, among others, is a proponent of this direction of study which could also explain the reality of free will. Its interesting to note that the two instances of being that seem to not be under deterministic causality are quantum events and the mind.

This is the kind of history of the development of science one can believe until one examines the details of thehistory of the philosophy of science. Medieval philosophydid not confuse the physical with the metaphysical. Doubt this? Mr. Williamswho exactly did this and where?

Give us details or go read a good overview of the topic as found in John Losee. Philosophers favoredphysical explanations for physical things (primary causation) with the possibility of secondary causation by mind or Mind.For example, cows made cows. God may have created the first cows directly or (Augustine?) set up the system so that cows came to be (secondary causation).

This side of polemicist Dickson White, nobody nowthinks everything in the Middle Ages was explained by God and metaphysics and then science came and pushed metaphysics out. This was widely believed in the mid-twentieth century (sadly), but research and scholarship on the Middle Ages showed this to be wrong. (This went along with the myth of the dark Christian ages.)

Atheist historians no longer defend that perspective.

Christians in the Middle Ages didnot primarily explain physical actions by invoking metaphysical causes (like angels) and then slowly retreat from that view. This is a secular urban legend that metaphysical gaps in the created order were slowly filled by physics. This is just not so. In fact, Christians explained physical phenomena by physical causes. We (rightly) saw a role for personal causation and so left a place forthe human and the divine.

Those qualifications have served us well and have not changed. Williams sees it differently:

If the mind proves to be a physical manifestation the last gasp of metaphysics will expire along with any concept of god. Your claim to experience god could be no more than a metaphysical interpretation of what is properly the mystery of physical Being.

No, but now we get the introduction of metaphysics by capitalization. Saying the mystery of physical Being is a kind of Platonist woo (capitalize All the Things) united to physicalism. We can feel like there is a mystery when all that is there is a pile of stuff. From that pile of matter nobody has ever found aHamlet,the missing fourth, or consciousness.

Its all inTimaeus.

And by the way the notion that gravity has been explained is deeply naive as well. . . The world is a lot less settled that mid-twentieth century European physicalism thought and Mr Williams apparently still thinks. Whatis gravity? Who knows? What isa physical object?Even that is hard to say, so to assume thephysical is sure and somehow the metaphysical (like numbers) is unsure is exactly wrong.

We are more sure that 1 is 1 than whatgravity is. As a result, though I am not an idealist, idealism of the Berkeley sort is more sensible just now than hard physicalism. Science still makes sense. The things that appear physical can be treated as if they are physical. We do not have a hard problem of consciousness, numbers exist just like mathematicians think they do, and ideas are ideas. If we must reduce everything to one thing, ideas in a mind (or even Mind! Woo!) seems like a more rational bet.

I prefer to keep looking for physical explanations for physical things and metaphysical explanations for metaphysical things, since that has worked so well in the past.

Williams often confuses what a thing ismade of with the question of what it is:

Much depends on what you mean by existence, but it has been shown that numbers and ideas exist solely in the human subjective mind. Your claim that the experts believe otherwise is somewhat akin to the fallacy of argumentum verecundiam. Kant clearly showed the subjective ground of ideas and number, which reason through the subjective senses of space and time. Since then, evolutionary biologists have shown how reason came to evolve in homo sapiens, around when that happened, and the changes in the brain that enabled it. Contemporary neuroscientists such as Donald Hoffman and Anyl Seth demonstrate how this happens in the brain. I would clearly count Kant, evolutionary biologists, and contemporary neurologists among the experts.

Our minds use our brains.

Just so.

God bless neuroscientists who show us how this happens. This has nothing whatsoever to do with our discussion unless we assume that physicalist accounts are true. That a brain can be used by a mind no more shows the mind is a brain, then showing that an organist can use an organ reduces the organists to the organ!

Assuming this thing that seemsentirely non-physical (ideas, numbers, minds) MUST be PHYSICAL because PHYSICALISM is not persuasive to anyone not in the cult of physicalism.

On Morality at Last

Williams turns to morality at last:

We are made of complex drives, otherwise we would not need moral sensibilities. These moral sensibilities are a very late evolutionary development which enable our consciousness to reach a higher plain and are all we need to determine the ought from the is through our evolved conscience which is derived from these sensibilities and refined over time. The only question is the grounds for these sensibilities.

Assume we aremade of complex drives. Assume those produce moral sensibilities inus.That does not imply that this isall those moral sensibilities are anymore than my ability to see you based on my physical eyes and brain means you arejust my physical eyes and brain.

I have no idea, and Williams has not told us, what makesour recentbeliefs a higher plane. Evolution is by scientific definitionunguided. We are not going anywhere. Why prefernow to then? Williams has actually imported a theistic assumption into his worldview. If evolution is unguided development, why prefer our dispositions today to our dispositions yesterday?

That I am able to ask the question means that the question can be answered: I defy the flow of biology with my mindeven if biologycreated my mind. My dreams can present a better possibility than reality. This isalsotrue of what is. So why prefer Williams just-so story about what all this means to another?

The notion that nature refines or reaches a higher plane is merely a creationist assertion of teleology snuck into a physicalist account of the world. There is no God, butsomehowas in a PBS nature show, Nature (capitalization WOO!) does awesome andgoodthings.

Nonsense.

That is as much pseudoscience (from the physicalist point of view) as Answers in Genesis. Nature has no plan. We can dislike or disputenow as compared to then. Of course, I (as a theist) do see a plan in the totality of reality. All the world contains our dreams, our ideas, our numbers, and matter and energy. All is orderly and there is, as Dr. King would say, an arc to history bending toward justice. We can form the beloved community.

I can say that consistently as a theist. Mr. Williams must use weasel words that betray his very position.

Or so it seems to me.

An Agreement that Williams is a Good Chap

In his first post, Williams who knows much more about Heidegger then I, spent a good bit of time quoting, using, and explaining the world according to Heidegger. To say this philosopher is controversial is . . . True.

Let me clear: extensive use of Heideggerin some ways has implications that are dangerous. I certainly do not think that Williams is a fascist or a Nazi. I do not bother to dialog with such cretins and Williams is no boor.

Yet.

When one starts looking to nature, thegood chaps (like Williams) will twist whatis to what they hope should be.

All good.

Sadly, sinceis in nature does nothing to tell us whatshouldbe, other less noble people end up seeing what they wish to see in nature.Williams is a good chap so sees decent things, but not so much with the philosopher he extensively uses (Heidegger). Nature is no certain guide. Whatevolution is telling us is too often whatever the thinker already thought. It isuseless.

On Logic

Oddly Williams has attacked the idea that A=A is true. I asked him to explain this and Williams claims he has:

A more careful reading of my last response would reveal that I did explain it as the difference between metaphysical objectification and ontological thought. Perhaps an example would help? You know your wife in a deeper sense than objectification and would surely say that your wife is your wife, with is being more than just a copula, but would you say she is equal and additive to or replaceable by any other wife? When you reduce to a concept you eliminate the physical essencewhich in this case inheres in the physical being of your wife.

Pause.

Ignore the big words.

Williams must explainhowA does not equal A. How do you think this will go? Demand clarity of us both.

He uses an example of Hope, my wife, and the result is a (romantic) disaster.

As a Christian, I think my wife is bothutterlya body andtotallymore. I love her body, soul, and mind. Irefuse to ignore one, because that would be ignoring one awesome part of the beloved.

Suppose my wife gets a heart transplant. Because she ismorethan that body part, she is still the woman I loved, love, and will love for all time.

Suppose in some future science (God allow it!) Hope canlive longer as part after part of her physical body is replaced. Still I will love her, just as I love the fifty-six year oldnow more than the twenty-two year old I married so long ago. Her bodythen is long gone, butshe has continued. Our love can live as our bodies change, because themind goes on.

Andyet even the memory of the way she was is sacred to me.I do not deny she is not physically the same. I do not deny any love for her body and the matter and energy that house her soul. I venerate that shrine, even if every decade or so every physical cell of her is gone. She endures, because she is more than those cells.

Williams analogy suggests that there ismore to Hope than her body, though I love every cell every day of her blessed body. Sheendures over time even though her cells do not.

When the last day comes, and she slips the surly bonds of Earth and touches the face of God, I will love Hopemore passionatelythan I didthirty-five years ago even though not one physical cell is the same as then.The woman is thing that captures the love of her beloved.

On Morality

Williams now attacks my views of moraliy:

Next, we move on to the topic of our discussion: objective morality. Ironically, you also portray this objective law as altering over time. I had noted that if the morality of the Bible were objective it would also be immutable, yet very few of us would want to return to the laws of Leviticus and Deuteronomy. Our refined moral sense finds much of it barbaric and offensiveto our moral taste. You try to explain this away thus:

I donot portray justice (the objective law) as changing over time. I portray ourabilityto understand the objective law as changing over time.

Think.

I get to work with a kindergarten through college school.

There are some ideas explained in elementary school that we explain differently to the junior high, because they can take more difficult concepts. By the time they come to high school, we go deeper. College gives a better answer.

The truth has not changed, but the capacity to understand the truth has and so has our heuristic devices. We give them the best they can grasp, while pushing them to something better. Educational revelation is progressive, just like divine revelation.

My Papaws lived hard lives in the Great Depression andI would never wish to go back, yet their growth in understanding the world are why I am here today. Standing on the shoulders of moral giants, does not mean there is not morality to see when standing there. As Jesus put it: in the beginning it was not so, one had to do the best one could with intervening broken minds, and now we can dobetter.

God told us what we could hear and over time we could hear more.

Imagine how ludicrous is the alternative:

There is an undeniable contradiction here: the Bible cannot be a source of objective morality and change over time. Morality is either objective and immutable or it is alterable over time. Itcannot be both. Even more, a good God would not countenance slavery, genocide or stoning of people with different beliefs even in the primitive Bronze Age. I would have expected him to set a better standard rather than one that is now too egregious to accept. It is infinitely more likely that man, on his own, improved his moral senses instead as he distanced himself from Biblical morality. It is undeniable that the Bible provides no acceptable immutable objective law.

The Bible can be the source of objective moralityandour understanding of that unchanging standard can develop over time. Even as simple a concept as monotheism was hard to grasp in our broken state. Imagine love your enemies. Slowly, asking for our consent at every turn, God helped us see the arc of history bending toward justice.

Never Strawman

Williams thinks I was unfair to him in my last:

Next you construct a strawman in order to more easily confront an argument I made:

When one says morality is an innate sensibility then one has run into explanation by semantics: like the use of instinct to describe why a being acts as he does.

Even if I had said something like that, instinct would be a better explanation than an imaginary metaphysical construction, but you conflate sensibility with instinct. Instinct is a wired and usually involuntary reaction to specific stimuli. Sensibility is very different in that it is a general emotional attitude toward something that we are able to direct through reason or contemplation. You attempt here to both misstate evolution as araw-toothed drive that always seeks its own individual need over all others and to reduce our mental abilities to mindless instinct. Both are false. As I noted last time, and you still ignore, evolution seeks best fit for adaptation, and many times that involves cooperation among individual instead of competition. The animal world is rife with such examples, and our innate sensibilities for empathy, fairness and love contribute to that enabling cooperation an adaptation that has allowed us tosurvive beyond any other species.

I agree. Absolutely! Evolution can (and should!) be seen as cooperative.

However, evolution contains both cooperative and selfish desires. Whichshould I choose to prioritize?The moment I ask the question evolution says nothing. God is love, so I know why I prefer love. Evolution showslove and red fangs just now. I am confident Mr. Williams, who is an honorable man, prefers love to blood, but do not really see why he should. Both are seen in nature. At best, he might balance both?

As a Christian, I must seek the beloved community and pay attention to the limits of present nature, but not allow my moral ambitions to be limited by them.

Read more:
Physicalism of the Gaps! A Reply to Jeff Williams - Patheos

The vast majority of woolly mammoths went extinct at the end of the last ice age, but small, isolated populations managed to hold out for a little while longer. New research uncovers the extent to which at least one of these final mammoths suffered due to its many mutations.

Diabetes, developmental disorders, male infertility, and even the inability to smell flowers are at least some of the health problems experienced by one of the last mammoths to grace this good Earth, according to research published today in Genome Biology and Evolution. The new paper, co-authored by evolutionary biologist Vincent Lynch from the University at Buffalo, highlights the dramatic extent to which inbreeding likely affected the final populations of woolly mammoths, who were trapped on small islands in the northern Atlantic.

Woolly mammoths roamed the Pleistocene landscape for hundreds of thousands of years, inhabiting a territory that practically encircled the planet. As successful and well-adapted as they were to cold climates, however, their long reign eventually came to an end an extinction process that transpired across two phases.

Between 15,000 and 10,000 years ago, as the Pleistocene transitioned to the Holocene, all continental populations of woolly mammoths disappeared. The end of the ice age and associated loss of habitat played a critical role in their demise, but other factors, such as human predation, may have contributed as well.

But a pair of relict populations managed to survive, at least for a little while.

Image: The University at Buffalo

Woolly mammoths on St. Paul Island lasted until around 5,600 years ago, while mammoths on Wrangel Island finally expired around 4,000 years ago. Rising seas left the mammals stranded on these islands, which proved to be as much a blessing as a curse. The tiny, isolated populations suffered from a lack of genetic diversity, leading to a host of problems associated with inbreeding.

That these proboscideans suffered from deleterious mutations is not a huge surprise. In 2017, a study co-authored by Rebekah Rogers from the University of North Carolina identified a host of genetic glitches in woolly mammoths from Wrangel Island, including an inordinate amount of deleted and non-functional genes, disrupted gene sequences, retrogenes, and an unhealthy abundance of premature termination codons, which normally identify the end of genetic translations, among other problems.

The new research is unique in that it demonstrates the functional consequences of specific genetic mutations, which scientists call alleles.

What we did that was different [from previous studies] was try to determine if mutations in the Wrangel Island mammoth genome changed the way genes functioned, which we did by resurrecting some of those genes, explained Lynch to Gizmodo.

We could then test the functions of those genes in the lab and it turns out all the mutations we tested changed how Wrangel Island mammoth genes functioned, and in ways that are expected to be pretty bad, said Lynch, whose team included scientists from the University of Chicago, Northwestern University, University of Virginia, University of Vienna, and Penn State.

As Lynch noted, he and his colleagues reconstructed the genome of a single Wrangel Island woolly mammoth. The DNA from two continental mammoths, both of whom lived when mammoths were abundant, and three Asian elephants were used as comparative references. After detecting a batch of genetic mutations unique to Wrangel mammoths, the scientists tested synthesised versions of these alleles in mice to assess normal gene function a test these genes subsequently failed.

The scientists identified several deleterious mutations that are predicted to cause diverse behavioural and developmental defects, wrote the authors in the study. These included disruptions to genes associated with neurological developmental defects (including a dangerous condition known as hydrolethalus syndrome), diabetes, reduced male fertility, and strangely, an inability to detect floral scents, according to the paper. In other words, this Wrangell mammoth had lost the ability to smell the flowers.

Interestingly, similar loss of olfactory function has been documented in dolphins and whales, but their ability to smell slowly withered away due to their transition to aquatic environments (whales and dolphins are descended from four-legged terrestrial mammals).

In terms of how this impaired smelling ability might have affected the mutated mammoth, Lynch said it could smell things, just not floral scents, adding that its also remarkable given just how important smell is to elephants they have thousands of genes for detecting various odours, which is way more than other mammals.

Lynch said the new research has plenty of overlap with previous studies and that recent papers on the subject are really complimentary. Together, these efforts are painting a progressively clearer picture of what happened on Wrangel Island.

We found that mutations changed the function of mammoth genes in ways that likely caused disease, said Lynch. Previous genetic studies have suggested that but not demonstrated it and found that the population of mammoths on Wrangel Island was small and getting smaller all the time, which led to lots of inbreeding among distant relatives. That kind of thing usually leads to an accumulation of genetic defects and disease, which certainly didnt help the population escape extinction and probably contributed to extinction.

Lynch is obviously conscious of the fact that his teams research describes the genetic constitution of a lone Wrangel woolly mammoth, but the study suggests at least one Wrangel Island mammoth may have suffered adverse consequences from reduced population size and isolation, as they wrote in the paper. Analyses of other Wrangel mammoth DNA would be helpful, as it would show if these problems were widespread. Analysis of DNA from the St. Paul Island mammoths would show if they endured similar genetic meltdowns.

Id love to get both! said Lynch. There are some people attempting it; the fossils are not uncommon, but getting preserved DNA is the tricky bit, he told Gizmodo.

Given what we already know about the DNA of these final holdouts, however, these findings are likely indicative of problems faced by many of the last mammoths. As research from last year found, the habitat at Wrangel Island was perfectly liveable when these mammoths finally disappeared, but their weakened genetic condition made them vulnerable to other threats.

The final mammoths on Wrangel Island outlasted their continental cousins by roughly 6,000 years. Sadly, however, this isolation appears to have taken a terrible toll on the creatures caught at the very end of their species.

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One of the Last Mammoths on Earth Was So Mutated, It Lost the Ability to Smell Flowers - Gizmodo UK