Come join my next live Rationally Selfish Webcast! This week, I’ll answer questions on fear of death, using the do not call registry, genetic influences on thinking, the morality of selling your body, and more.
As always, it’s on Sunday morning at 8 am PT / 9 am MT / 10 am CT / 11 am ET. You can watch the webcast and join in the text chat via www.RationallySelfish.com. Greg Perkins of Objectivist Answers will be my audio co-host, as usual.
Each week, I answer questions on practical ethics and the principles of living well. I select the most popular and interesting questions from the ongoing queue of questions. Please submit your questions, as well as vote and comment on questions that you find interesting!
Here are the questions that I’ll answer this week:
- Question 1: Fear of Death: Should death be feared? Why or why not? Also, why do most people fear death? How can a person overcome that, if ever?
- Question 2: Using the Do Not Call Registry: Should the “Do Not Call” Registry exist? The National Do Not Call Registry was established in 2003, and it’s run by the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Trade Commission. Is this legitimate? Does a person have a right not to be called by solicitors and other unwanted persons? Given that there was no real attempt to come up with a private, market-based solution for the issue of unwanted solicitations, was this a legitimate case of “market failure”? Should advocates of free markets put themselves on the “Do Not Call” list and/or report violators thereof? Why shouldn’t a person just hang up?
- Question 3: Genetic Influences on Thinking: Do our genes affect our reasoning? Evolution makes fruit taste sweet and burning human flesh smell awful. Presumably, evolution can hard wire pleasures and pains because interaction with that thing has caused our ancestors to live longer or die earlier. Wouldn’t this same process make certain actions easier or more difficult, such as sacrificing yourself to save your child versus watching your child die? Couldn’t evolution affect that decision by making focus more difficult, so that a person is easier impelled by his immediate emotions?
- Question 4: The Morality of Selling Your Body: Is it moral to sell your body? Selling our bodies or certain parts of them are perfectly acceptable in our society, such as being an egg or sperm donor, being a pregnancy surrogate, or selling hair. But others are condemned, such as prostitution or selling organs. Where should the line be drawn? When is it moral to sell a part of oneself — and why?
After that, we’ll do a round of totally impromptu “Rapid Fire Questions.”
If you can’t attend the super-fun live webcast, you can listen to these webcasts later as audio-only podcasts by subscribing to the NoodleCast RSS feed:
However, I hope that you’ll join the live webcast, because that’s more exciting and lively than the podcast. People chat merrily amongst themselves while watching the webcast. And I love the immediate feedback of a live audience — the funny quips, serious comments, and follow-up questions. So please join the live webcast when you can!
Finally, you can support the Rationally Selfish Webcast (and Podcast) contributing to our tip jar. We suggest $5 per episode or $20 per month, but any amount is appreciated. If you would prefer to send a check, please send it to “Diana Hsieh; P.O. Box 851; Sedalia, CO 80135.” Please write “RS Webcast” in the memo field.
I hope to see you on Sunday morning!
