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The Week in Ideas (7/17)

Posted by Josh Rothman  July 17, 2012 11:27 AM
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Iran's network in a bottle: Abraham Riesman on Iran's new, 100% Iranian internet. "The Iranian government, which presides over one of the most educated and connected populations in the Middle East, is building an Internet all its own. Observers expect it will be fully operational as soon as next year. Iran’s so-called national or halal Internet will be a kind of anti-Internet -- a self-contained loop within Iran’s borders featuring only regime-approved Iranian sites, and cut off from the World Wide Web."

Just what's wrong with doping? Yours truly on the philosophical debate about the ethics of doping. "Though pretty much everyone in sports agrees that doping is wrong, there’s little deeper agreement about why. Everyone acknowledges that, according to today’s rules, doping is wrong because it’s cheating. What’s not so obvious is whether doping is inherently wrong -- whether there’s something fundamentally unsportsmanlike about using drugs to enhance your performance."

Van Halen: Monsters of philosophy: Keith O'Brien talks with John Scanlan, British sociologist and author of “Van Halen: Exuberant California, Zen Rock ’n’ Roll." A Zen-like philosophy of rock and roll is "there in the statements the band -- Roth, in particular -- has made over the years. It’s all there. It’s just a matter of stitching it together."

Plus: Ben Zimmer on zany metaphors for the Higgs Boson, and Kevin Lewis on why hiding at work might make you a better employee.

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About brainiac Brainiac is the daily blog of the Globe's Sunday Ideas section, covering news and delights from the worlds of art, science, literature, history, design, and more. You can follow us on Twitter @GlobeIdeas.
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contributors
Leon Neyfakh is the staff writer for Ideas. Amanda Katz is the deputy Ideas editor. Stephen Heuser is the Ideas editor.

Kevin Hartnett is a writer in Ann Arbor, Michigan. His last article for Ideas was about choosing Congress by lottery.

Guest blogger Simon Waxman is Managing Editor of Boston Review and has written for WBUR, Alternet, McSweeney's, Jacobin, and others.

Guest blogger Elizabeth Manus is a writer living in New York City. She has been a book review editor at the Boston Phoenix, and a columnist for The New York Observer and Metro.

Guest blogger Sarah Laskow is a freelance writer and editor in New York City. She edits Smithsonian's SmartNews blog and has contributed to Salon, Good, The American Prospect, Bloomberg News, and other publications.

Guest blogger Joshua Glenn is a Boston-based writer, publisher, and freelance semiotician. He was the original Brainiac blogger, and is currently editor of the blog HiLobrow, publisher of a series of Radium Age science fiction novels, and co-author/co-editor of several books, including the story collection "Significant Objects" and the kids' field guide to life "Unbored."

Guest blogger Ruth Graham is a freelance journalist in New Hampshire, and a frequent Ideas contributor. She is a former features editor for the New York Sun, and has written for publications including Slate and the Wall Street Journal.

Joshua Rothman is a graduate student and Teaching Fellow in the Harvard English department, and an Instructor in Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. He teaches novels and political writing.

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