Psychological experiments reaffirm that it is possible for social structures to encourage and reward cooperation more, and selfishness less, than the ones existing in the US and UK.

Comparing the free software world with the proprietary software world demonstrates the same thing.

Australian thugs listened sneakily to a prisoner's discussion with his lawyer.

The government refuses to tell him why he was arrested and forbids newspapers to mention his name. I wonder if he has been gagged as well — I suspect so. Is any information about this available outside Australia?

If your relative is arrested, spread the word immediately so that the state can't put the cat back into the bag.

Ebola Is Scary, But Antibiotic Resistance Should Scare Us More.

The peace talks with the Taliban endanger the fragments of women's rights in Afghanistan.

I supported the invasion of Afghanistan to liberate women (and to some extent men) from the oppression of the Taliban. However, the existing Afghan government has allowed a large part of the same oppression, even in the places it effectively controls. I can't say that the small freedom Afghan women have gained justifies unending war.

Private companies are finding ways to squeeze money out of supervision of criminals on parole.

These companies function by mistreating their employees, the public, the prisoners, or some combination. Sometimes the indirection means they can't in practice be held accountable for how they treat the prisoners.

The California initiative just approved, releasing many prisoners that there is no need to keep in prison, is very good notwithstanding this problem.