Defeat of the Will

According to an article in Sweden's premiere tabloid rag (which is in Swedish, of course), a researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Neurological Research, Wolf Singer, contends that a criminal can not be held responsible for the crimes he committed, as human beings do not possess free will, at least not in the sense it's commonly understood.

All the choices we make are the result of a pre-determined biological chain of events, with the choice being made before we're even aware of it. In a sense we are programmed by our upbringing and other environmental factors to react in a predictable manner to choices we are to make. A criminal is a human being with a faulty programming.

I'm neither a neurobiologist nor a philosopher. I am a blogger, though, which is all the credentials one needs in this day and age.
What little I know of how the brain functions, Singer's proposition of us being programmed to act a certain way makes sense.
And, as an aside, clearly there's something not quite right in the head of a murderer.

But "criminals can't helpt it" as an approach to lawmaking doesn't seem particularly smart at all. Not guilty of shoplifting due to insanity? Although, it might make for a viable defense, should the MPAA come a knockin'...

Downloading this blog entry is a criminal offense punishable by death

In the past few years or so, just about every DVD I purchase features this unbypassable antipiracy advertisement that starts the minute you pop the DVD into the DVD player. The ad goes something like this:

"Waah! Waah! Stealing is bad! Waah! Waah! Instead of making 11.5 gazillion dollars last year, we only made 10.5! Waah! Waah!"

Granted, they do have a point. If everyone just downloaded all the movies they wanted to see, the movie companies would go bankrupt. Of course, one could then argue that if your business model doesn't work, perhaps it would be prudent to change business model. But that's for another blog entry (or not).
But here's where they're completely off the mark: Since I've purchased the DVD in the first place, I don't fucking need to be lectured about the virtues of buying goods! I'm with you on the whole capitalism-as-an-economic-system paradigm! And I particularly don't need to be lectured about it on every single DVD that I buy, and every single time I sit down to watch a freakin' DVD.

And while I'm in a complaining mood, what's up with those warning labels on cigarette packets?
"Smoking can cause cancer."
"Smoking is bad."
"No, seriously, smoking is really bad."
"If you smoke this, you will die a horrible and painful death."
What purpose do they serve? Are there any habitual smokers out there, who upon noticing the warning labels think to themselves "Waah! I had no idea smoking was hazardous for your health! I better stop smoking immediately!" I think not.