I just wanted to introduce myself to the list,...
Basically, I am a fourth year (Honours) student in Philosophy at LaTrobe
University in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
My thesis (to be finished by the end of December 1997) looks at whether our
society possesses a "collective mind" and the possible effects which this
might have. The thesis starts out with a brief look at a recent article
about a race of humanoid cyborgs called The Borg, in the Star Trek: The Next
Generation series. It then examines traditional and contemporary literature
in the Philosophy of Mind which fail to shed light on this subject, and
continues on to use Vygotsky's sociocultural approach to justify its views.
Finally the thesis concludes that our society does possess a collective mind
but that this does not pose anywhere near as great a problem as it may at
first appear.
My interests in philosophy include the Philosophy of Mind, Ethics, Political
and Legal Philosophy, Philosophy for Children, and generally anything that
has not yet been done to death :-) Oh, Computer Science and Artificial
Intelligence are also interest areas of mine.
Trust that this gives you all a good idea of my interests and I look forward
to some inspiring discussions.
Cheers
Nicole