Equal employment opportunities for all - even zombies

HR magazine has reported that The London Dungeon has recruited two new zombies to embark on a £30,000 per year career of scaring visitors. There were over 200 applicants for the role and around 60 were auditioned. Louie McKenna and Jeremiah Barnes were selected as the two best suited to take on the role of the undead, after the London Dungeon launched a recruitment campaign for ‘zombies - dead or alive'.

And, again at the end of July, estate agent Carole Bonahan was appointed as the new Witch of Wookey Hole. She beat more than 300 applicants - some who had queued since 5am - to the post, at the visitor attraction near Wells, Somerset.

It’s good to know that Britain’s equal opportunities legislation extends beyond mere men and women to almost all states of being.

It has even been revealed that the Government is considering holding a bank holiday in remembrance of employees who die while at work. So that will extend employment legislation to everyone.

Well done, Gordon – but how many of them will vote for you when the Election comes?

Plato meets science fiction

People are being introduced to the key concepts of philosophy through science fiction in a course run by London-based philosopher Peter Worley. The course, run in London on six evenings in September and October, under the auspices of The Philosophy Shop, explores philosophical questions and themes behind much modern science fiction literature, films and television dramas. That can be The Matrix's introduction to the question, ‘how do we know what is real?’ through issues around personal identity in a film like Bladerunner to complex issues around ethics and epistemology in films like Solaris or 20001: a Space Odyssey.

The programme starts with a general introduction to philosophy, and links science fiction with the key concept of the ‘thought experiment’. Dating back to Plato, the thought experiment is an imagined scenario in which the philosopher is able to consider the various implications of an idea – which is almost a definition of the science fiction of the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries.

The course covers such issues as: personal identity (Bladerunner, The Prestige, Memento, Solaris, Dr Jeckyll and Mr Hyde); free will (Gattaca, Groundhog Day, Minority Report, The Truman Show); knowledge / the external world (Total Recall, Abre Los Ojos, The Electric Ant); space time / time travel (Terminator, The Time Machine, Dr Who, 12 Monkeys, Back to the Future), and philosophy of mind (I Robot, Colossus: The Forbin Project, 2001: a Space Odyssey, A.I.). According to the organisers: ‘Space is limited, so pre-booking essential: to book your tickets please email emma@thephilosophyshop.co.uk or phone 020 8699 9314.’

Isn’t this starting the whole process off by being extremely judgemental? Philosophy – for it to be of value – has to challenge preconceptions and accept no limits. So stating, from the start, that ‘Space is limited’, makes the whole course flawed.

Use of Social Media - Online Reputation Management

A summary of this morning's session may now be redundant given Adam's excellent blog post, so I will offer only the briefest of additional thoughts.

The main message I wanted to convey was the need for each of us to consider our own online presence, and how we manage this. Given the examples discussed, I would argue strongly that ignorance is not a good strategy, and that at the very least we should be aware of what has been written about us, and what is out there that might, rightly or wrongly, impact on others' initial impressions of us.

Using tools such as blogs (including commenting on other blogs - like this one!!), Twitter and LinkedIn can increase our profile in a way that we can, to some extent control. This can be a valuable proactive step in mitigating any negative links that we might suffer at some time.

Comments are welcome as ever.

Have a good week!