A few articles presented on the BBC News website over the last few days have got me thinking.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23951747
The first is an article about prison suicides following on from the death of Ariel Castro. The American orientated piece was about the US prison authorities’ efforts to prevent inmates killing themselves (as opposed to others) whilst in custody.
The lengths that have been gone to in terms of cell and cell contents design not to mention, inmate supervision are quite considerable. My view; and I admit that this is completely uncharitable, is that if a tried and convicted felon, especially a twisted nutter like Ariel Castro wants to kill himself – why should too much effort be made to stop him? In Castro’s case, the world is a better place for his absence and the state/tax payers no longer have to fund a lifetime of incarceration.
The piece references the high profile UK prison suicides of Harold Shipman and Fred West. My question is does anybody give a damn that they killed themselves? I certainly struggle to care. To be honest, when I read about Jon Venables (one of Jamie Bulger’s killers) being released from prison again, I find myself thinking that (in the absence of capital punishment in this country) maybe we should provide evil scumbags like him with a suicide kit and clear instructions about how to use it.*
In the States the situation is ludicrous, if I understand the last few lines of the BBC piece properly. The state owes prisoners a duty of care and the Supreme Court upholds it – I guess the inference being that an inmate’s family could sue a prison that didn’t take enough steps to stop their relatives killing themselves. This is in a country where the death sentence is still enforced.
Bonkers, totally bonkers!
From one death subject to another; a human extinction warning from Oxford University.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22002530
Interesting reading here – the biggest perceived threat to human extinction is our collective stupidity.
That’s not exactly how the verdict is presented but that’s what it means – essentially the human race is messing about with stuff it doesn’t understand (more specifically scientists, engineers and technologists). The examples; synthetic biology, nanotechnology, genetics fiddling (all right that’s not the technical term) and machine intelligence - essentially the human race is getting more intelligent, more successful at the same time as becoming a bit too clever for its own good and therefore stupid.
What a conundrum.
Whilst we scenario plan for natural disaster, disease pandemics, war, even asteroid hits, the suggestion is we lack the capacity to plan for the new risks. If you’ve ever watched the ‘Terminator’ series or read ‘Second Angel ‘ by Philip Kerr then you might have a better appreciation of the implications of Sean Coughlan’s observations.
Now science fiction hasn’t yet led to the creation of meaningful nuclear fusion power, the teleportation device or time travel but it might have predicted the end of the human race.
Now there’s a nice thought.
From another death subject to another death subject; this time - nuclear chaos at Fukushima.
Regular readers will know my concerns around nuclear power (fission this time). This article should be read because it delivers a worrying combination of science fact and what feels like science fiction (although I hope I am wrong).
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-23940214
For the last two years I have been reading the shocking news from the beleaguered plant (and have written about it on a few occasions too) but the fact is that the situation at Fukushima nuclear plant remains perilous. The latest scheme to stop the release of highly toxic water into the ground (and then into the water table and the sea) is a government funded ice barrier – as improbable as that sounds.
From an inconsequential death to warnings of doom, this article ends in gloom.
It’s not going to work is it? The Japanese authorities and Tepco are surely clutching at straws?
*honestly I read the Guardian and the Times although appreciate you may think me a Daily Mail reader
Blog Home
Blog Library
Home
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23951747
The first is an article about prison suicides following on from the death of Ariel Castro. The American orientated piece was about the US prison authorities’ efforts to prevent inmates killing themselves (as opposed to others) whilst in custody.
The lengths that have been gone to in terms of cell and cell contents design not to mention, inmate supervision are quite considerable. My view; and I admit that this is completely uncharitable, is that if a tried and convicted felon, especially a twisted nutter like Ariel Castro wants to kill himself – why should too much effort be made to stop him? In Castro’s case, the world is a better place for his absence and the state/tax payers no longer have to fund a lifetime of incarceration.
The piece references the high profile UK prison suicides of Harold Shipman and Fred West. My question is does anybody give a damn that they killed themselves? I certainly struggle to care. To be honest, when I read about Jon Venables (one of Jamie Bulger’s killers) being released from prison again, I find myself thinking that (in the absence of capital punishment in this country) maybe we should provide evil scumbags like him with a suicide kit and clear instructions about how to use it.*
In the States the situation is ludicrous, if I understand the last few lines of the BBC piece properly. The state owes prisoners a duty of care and the Supreme Court upholds it – I guess the inference being that an inmate’s family could sue a prison that didn’t take enough steps to stop their relatives killing themselves. This is in a country where the death sentence is still enforced.
Bonkers, totally bonkers!
From one death subject to another; a human extinction warning from Oxford University.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22002530
Interesting reading here – the biggest perceived threat to human extinction is our collective stupidity.
That’s not exactly how the verdict is presented but that’s what it means – essentially the human race is messing about with stuff it doesn’t understand (more specifically scientists, engineers and technologists). The examples; synthetic biology, nanotechnology, genetics fiddling (all right that’s not the technical term) and machine intelligence - essentially the human race is getting more intelligent, more successful at the same time as becoming a bit too clever for its own good and therefore stupid.
What a conundrum.
Whilst we scenario plan for natural disaster, disease pandemics, war, even asteroid hits, the suggestion is we lack the capacity to plan for the new risks. If you’ve ever watched the ‘Terminator’ series or read ‘Second Angel ‘ by Philip Kerr then you might have a better appreciation of the implications of Sean Coughlan’s observations.
Now science fiction hasn’t yet led to the creation of meaningful nuclear fusion power, the teleportation device or time travel but it might have predicted the end of the human race.
Now there’s a nice thought.
From another death subject to another death subject; this time - nuclear chaos at Fukushima.
Regular readers will know my concerns around nuclear power (fission this time). This article should be read because it delivers a worrying combination of science fact and what feels like science fiction (although I hope I am wrong).
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-23940214
For the last two years I have been reading the shocking news from the beleaguered plant (and have written about it on a few occasions too) but the fact is that the situation at Fukushima nuclear plant remains perilous. The latest scheme to stop the release of highly toxic water into the ground (and then into the water table and the sea) is a government funded ice barrier – as improbable as that sounds.
From an inconsequential death to warnings of doom, this article ends in gloom.
It’s not going to work is it? The Japanese authorities and Tepco are surely clutching at straws?
*honestly I read the Guardian and the Times although appreciate you may think me a Daily Mail reader
Blog Home
Blog Library
Home
RSS Feed
