Assorted Links

1. Outcome of the Saudi rehab program for jihadists: A previous post regarding this can be accessed here. Now the Saudi government has announced that eleven former enrollees in this program have returned to join terror groups. If you include prominent figures in that, the recidivism rate appears quite high. 2. There are several articles on surrogacy and the ART bill in IJME: a. Social and ethical basis of legislation on surrogacy: Need for debate by Imrana Qadeer b. Regulate technology, not lives: A critique of the draft ART (Regulation) bill by Chayanika Shah c. The draft ART (Regulation) Bill: in whose interest? by N.B.Sarojini and Aastha Sharma. 3. An interesting debate on the future of civil liberties as technology grows (link via The Volokh Conspiracy) written with respect to the US but more generally relevant as well. a. The constitution in the National Surveillance State by Jack Balkin b. The National Surveillance State: A Response to Balkin by Orin Kerr. 4. Nature and Science have published special editions on account of the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin and 150th anniversary of the publication of Darwin’s On the Origin of Species. Below are some articles that might be of interest. a. A debate on whether race and IQ ought to be scientifically studied or not owing to their ramifications on society. i. Should scientists study race and IQ? No: science and society do not benefit by Stephen Rose. ii. Should scientists study race and IQ? Yes: The scientific truth must be pursued by Stephen Cici and Wendy Williams. Readers may also recollect the controversy evoked by James Watson’s comments to The Sunday Times on the intellectual inferiority of Africans and a robust defense of Watson by Jason Malloy. b. Human nature: the remix (PDF is here) talks about ‘human universals’, i.e., human commonality across cultures in matters such as emotional expression, language, religion, math, morality and intertwining of biology and culture. c. Bracing for Islamic creationism by Salman Hameed dwells on teaching of evolution and popular acceptance of the theory in the Islamic world.

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