Tuesday, March 29, 2022

Love, Fear, and the Law of Good Intentions

 

Max Weber, citing Leon Trotsky at Brest-Litovsk, bluntly stated that “every state is founded on violence.” The imaginative theories that have been at times employed to justify the state violence do not fall under the scope of this article. What is analyzed here is the orderly way in which the state elites have jointly prepared the ground to dominate individuals in the fourth technological revolution.

Law and War

Pursuant to the standard definition of German sociologist Max Weber in “Politics as a Vocation” (1918), the state is “a human community that (successfully) claims the monopoly of the legitimate use of physical force within a given territory.” In other words, a state is nothing more than a narrow group of people (i.e., the government) who manage to exert violence on larger groups (i.e., the subjects) in a certain place (i.e., the territory).

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Tuesday, March 15, 2022

Where AI and ethics meet

 


Given a swell of dire warnings about the future of artificial intelligence over the last few years, the field of AI ethics has become a hive of activity.

These warnings come from a variety of experts such as Oxford University’s Nick Bostrom, but also from more public figures such as Elon Musk and the late Stephen Hawking. The picture they paint is bleak.

In response, many have dreamed up sets of principles to guide AI researchers and help them negotiate the maze of human morality and ethics. A 2019 paper in Nature Machine Intelligence throws a spanner in the works by claiming that such high principles, while laudable, will not give us the ethical AI society we need.

The field of AI ethics is generally broken into two areas: one concerning the ethics guiding humans who develop AIs, and the other machine ethics, guiding the moral behaviour of the AIs or robots themselves. However, the two areas are not so easily separated.

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Wednesday, March 9, 2022

From e-Business to e-Consciousness. Managing stress, tension, and enhancing Creativity

 


Contemporary thinking about both leadership and strategy​ be it the corporate world of legal institutions, focus attention on the knowledge base of the firm and emphasizes the value of creativity and learning in organizations.

However, I wish to emphasize that in the twenty-first century, management surpasses even this level and will be based not only on knowledge but on "Knowingness" a comprehensive consciousness-based model which explores inner realities that touch on sensitive core values hitherto unexplored.

The transition of management thought towards the emphasis on continuous learning and leadership at all levels in a learning organization is a progression beyond organizational processes. In the latter part of the century,​  management scholars attempted to identify the true depository of knowledge in organizations.

Recognizing that organizations are indeed knowledge-based,​  they wanted to know how and where in an organization knowledge actually resides. Historically the answer has been that it can be found in the​ databases, files, and accounting systems of the firm, because knowledge contained there is owned and fully controlled by the Institution. But a deeper analysis revealed that a company's knowledge lies in the Human Resources. These apply to all levels of staff. The true depository of knowledge in the institution is therefore the consciousness of the knower himself.

Any outside developmental activities devoid of an inner alteration will only yield short-term results which we can ill afford at this juncture when every effort is being made towards accelerated development.

Strategies with a narrow focus would then leave much​ "Head" knowledge but little or no "Heart" value shift, thus in the long term leaving the person with an inner sense of restlessness and emptiness which contributes in no small measure to producing superficial leaders devoid of substance, highly stressed nervous systems and as it has been revealed in criminology, the possibility of latent criminal tendencies activated.

Today everywhere we witness a steady erosion of values and morals and an immense shortage of leaders of substance. Our alcohol consumption, drug addiction, prostitution and suicide rates are leading indicators of our deep inner restlessness and a vacuum within. Vacuous minds can only produce vacuous thoughts so we witness a bandwagon of leaders who promote outer show to cover up their rotten inner core.

Organization culture and management style can be a source of stress. Poor communications and indifferent leadership also create anxiety.

Lack of competence causes stress too. This may arise from poor selection practices at the time of recruitment, promotion or transfer. It may arise because people have been inadequately trained for the new job. Social and economic events outside the employment relationship cause stress and need to be considered.

Research has found that the way people are managed is the biggest influence on employee attitudes. Adoption of enlightened management practices, (e.g. job design, skills development, involvement, work environment​ and culture, and effective occupational health programmes) is the basis for a positive psychological contract. In turn, a carefully thought-through psychological​ contract supports organizational commitment and job satisfaction - which are associated with higher productivity and profitability.

People who feel under excessive pressure are likely to be working long hours and have a poor psychological contract. Those who find pressure motivating on the other hand also have high levels of commitment, this​ suggests that a positive psychological contract can help reduce feelings of uncomfortable pressure and help people deal with circumstances. In turn, this​ will have a payoff in terms of increased performance, job satisfaction and enhanced well-being. However, those with a poor psychological contract who are​ under continual pressure and working harder and longer are likely to suffer stress. This will result in increased sickness absence, job dissatisfaction and​ quitting the job.​ ​

Is there a way out

Along with various value-added training programmes that​ impart knowledge and diverse skills, specific attention should be focused on the transformation of the leader himself at the deeper level. With that inner​ radiance now released he or she will be able to lead a calmer, more focused life. This would facilitate an inner dialogue and correct any negative​ impressions of the past and open the value of inner release. He will think for himself, develop assertive skills, creativity, higher job satisfaction, and​ move away from the IQ trap to EQ and beyond to SQ, the spiritual intelligence. Then you come across an enlightened leader.

This would also increase the creativity and interpersonal​ skills that would contribute enormously to bring about a society focused on higher values and maintaining unity in diversity, a sure way of laying a foundation​ for a culture of inner and outer peace. This truly would then become transformational leadership. Downplaying this element and engaging only at​ the sensory level is bound to fail.

Prof.Lakshman Madurasinghe

Tuesday, March 8, 2022

e- Consciousness Paradigms of Change


e-Consciousness- Paradigms of Change


Therapeutic Jurisprudence (TJ) with its focus on creating an inclusive, participatory and respectful legal environment, can transform courtrooms. Its emphasis on the individual and how legal rules and procedures may affect respondents' well-being is tailormade for countering group stereotypes.

One such therapeutic intervention I propose is e-Consciousness based method of inner development to help maximize true potential….

David Wexler, one of the forefathers of therapeutic jurisprudence, first began writing about Therapeutic Justice in He later termed it, with his article, Therapeutic Justice and later termed the phrase therapeutic jurisprudence In 1987, in a paper delivered to the National Institute of Mental Health. Glenn Took Therapeutic Drug Courts in Practice Therapeutic Jurisprudence concentrates on the law's impact on emotional life and psychological well-being. It is a perspective that regards the law (rules of law, legal procedures, and roles of legal actors) itself as a social force that often produces therapeutic or anti-therapeutic consequences. It does not suggest that therapeutic concerns are more important than other consequences or factors, but it does suggest that the  law's role as a potential therapeutic agent should be recognized and systematically studied. Wexler.

My research has pointed in a direction that without a radical transformation of the inner core which needs definite access to inner self, no lasting result would be achieved by simply carrying on mechanical movements plus void ego trips to a domain of nothingness.

Therefore, even though we possess all good spiritual teachings and meditations  of thousands of years in antiquity the head knowledge or the cognitive preoccupation alone has not made any radical alteration of the real person. This is well evidenced by the decline in moral values and the increase in drug addiction, crime, immorality  and suicide worldwide.

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Thursday, March 3, 2022

“I See What Is Right and Appr “I See What Is Right and Approve, but I Do What Is Wrong”: Psychopathy and Punishment in the Context of Racial Bias in the Age of Neuroimaging


They say that in Psychopaths a marked lack of empathy is a hallmark characteristic of individuals with psychopathy. The ventromedial prefrontal cortex is key for our moral decision-making. Several studies have suggested the neural basis for empathy is either faulty or lacking altogether in the psychopathic brain.

Research has indicated that psychopaths might have an impaired mirror neuron system— that is, difficulties with the neurons that, in a healthy brain, activate both when we perceive someone else doing an action and when we do that same action ourselves.

When the highly psychopathic individuals were asked to imagine that somebody else was experiencing pain, the same brain areas failed to respond.

Many believe that psychopathy is down to faulty brain circuits. But what causes these disconnects between brain areas? Some have suggested that the male sex hormone testosterone could be the culprit.

A study of 80 prisoners used functional MRI technology to determine their responses to a series of scenarios depicting intentional harm or faces expressing pain. It found that psychopaths showed no activity in areas of the brain linked to empathic concern.

MJTC has shown good results.

Prof.Lakshman Madurasinghe


Please read the article by  Alison Lynch Michael L. Perlin

Wednesday, March 2, 2022

SYMPATHY AND EMPATHY IN THERAPEUTIC JURISPRUDENCE FROM A PSYCHOANALYTIC PERSPECTIVE: FROM FREUD TO POSNER AND BEYOND

It was found that sympathy is best understood as a benign interest in the other, which helps to create the conditions for a successful therapeutic interaction. Empathy was seen to comprise two distinct processes--one involving affective co-experience and the other primarily cognitive understanding of another person.  Affective empathy is useful to the psychoanalyst as part of the transference phenomenon in which the patient transposes past or present mental conflicts into the therapeutic encounter. Such empathy allows the therapist to experience some of the emotional turmoil of the patient, who needs to be dealt with in treatment.

It was concluded that judges are ill-situated and ill-equipped to engage in affective empathy with persons facing court except in certain unique situations, and such practice is therefore not recommended. However, cognitive empathy is considered a valuable technique for both psychoanalysts and judges.  The role of this form of interpersonal understanding in therapy was examined through considering analysis as its primary feature.  Following Kleinian thought, as extended by Bion.



International Journal of Therapeutic Jurisprudence 2016: Arizona Summit Law School

Article by Archie Zarski


https://summitlawreview.org/intl_j_ther_juris_1_1.pdf



Intuitive anger in the context of crime and punishment


The central hypothesis in this study  by Carolyn Côté-Lussie and David is that individuals will experience greater intuitive angry responses when making punitive decisions for purported' stereotypical criminals' as opposed to 'a typical criminals'. This hypothesis is tested using crossed multilevel multiple linear regression models adjusting for within-participant and within-picture clustering of data.

Intuiting may be a complex set of interrelated cognitive, affective, and somatic processes, during which there's no apparent intrusion of deliberate, rational thought. Our own research in our AUGP TJC neuroscience centre confirms the construct of intuition has emerged as a legitimate subject of scientific inquiry that has important ramifications for education, personal, medical, and organizational decision-making, personnel selection and assessment, team dynamics, training, and organizational development. We have also conducted P300 research which we call event-related potential (ERP) component elicited in the process of decision making. It is considered to be an endogenous potential, as its occurrence links not to the physical attributes of a stimulus, but to a person's reaction to it. More specifically, the P300 is thought to reflect processes involved in stimulus evaluation or categorization.

Intuition literature defined intuition as "affectively-charged judgments that arise through rapid, non-conscious, and holistic associations." Outcomes of intuition are often experienced as a holistic "hunch" or "gut feel," a way of calling or overpowering certainty, and an awareness of knowledge that's on the edge of conscious perception.

The results of this study suggest that pictures of 'stereotypical criminals' engendered a statistically significant increased intuitive angry response (occurring between 500 and 1000 ms) compared to that for 'atypical criminals'.

These results, therefore, support the hypothesis that individuals experience greater intuitive anger in response to 'stereotypical criminals'.  

This is an area that will provide all of us in TJ community with much material for further research. We are happy to arrange such studies using some of the sensitive technology we have at our neuroscience centre connected with AUGP Therapeutic Jurisprudence Centre.

Prof. Dr. Lakshman Madurasinghe

Artile may be found here: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/357894208_Intuitive_anger_in_the_context_of_crime_and_punishment


The Rules by Which We Live


What might be the source of the close relationship alleged between free societies and the rule of law is that the only laws that can be applied uniformly and universally in society are the very few that aim to keep us free. Other so called laws are really just edicts from rulers, not bona fide laws, since they apply selectively, not equally to us all.

This goes back, in part, to natural law theory which is itself related to the role of laws in the natural world. Laws regulate everything of a certain kind, not just some such things. The laws of motion apply to all things movable; the laws of photosynthesis to all things that can undergo that organic chemical process. And so on and so forth.

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Therapeutic Jurisprudence

Therapeutic jurisprudence (T.J.) is an interdisciplinary method of legal scholarship that aims to reform the law in order to positively

impact the psychological well-being of the accused person

Basically, therapeutic jurisprudence is a perspective that regards the law as a social force that produces behaviors and consequences.  Sometimes  these  consequences fall within the realm of what we call therapeutic;  other times anti -therapeutic consequences are produced.     



“I See What Is Right and Approve, but I Do What Is Wrong”:

In a recent paper authored by Michael Perlin and Alison Lynch titled "   "I See What Is Right and Approve, but I Do What Is Wrong": Psychopathy and Punishment in the Context of Racial Bias,  the authors stated that there can no longer be any question that issues of race are essential in efforts to understand criminal sentencing. A slew of studies makes clear that, despite federal sentencing guidelines intended to eliminate disparities in sentencing, unexplained disparities in sentencing lengths exist between defendants of different races.

The article adds more light that researchers have found that black defendants fare worse in court than do their white counterparts. Research on capital punishment shows that "killers of White victims are more likely to be sentenced to death than are killers of Black victims" and that "Black defendants are more likely than White defendants" to receive the death penalty.


Prof.Lakshman Madurasinghe


These are great areas where Therapeutic Jurisprudence could make a positive contribution in the months and years to come.


Tuesday, March 1, 2022

THE VALUE OF EMOTIONALLY INTELLIGENT LAWYERS

We believe that Emotionally Intelligent Attorneys would be a great asset to the legal profession and help champion the need for Therapeutic Jurisprudence in their dealings both in and out of the courtroom. The problem is that Attorneys are trained to think analytically and are emotionally unintelligent. Many are interpersonally underdeveloped, and as inimical as the legal system within which they operate.

Legal education develops them to " suppose like a counsel." Law academy trains scholars to dissect, and eloquently speak of legal issues. According to Scott Turow, a counsel, who told his first time attending Harvard Law School, " it is during the first time that you learn to suppose  like a counsel, to develop the habits of the mind and world perspective that will stay with you throughout your career." After completing his first time at law academy, Turow observed that Law schools attract people least suited to them at the launch.

" We're men and women drawn to the study of rules, people with a native taste for order." It isn't surprising that when these scholars with the " taste of order" on their speeches become attorneys, they are skilled to " suppose" like attorneys, but are ill-equipped to effectively perform as attorneys.

Law professor Marjorie Shultz, and psychology professor Sheldon Zedeck, in a much-cited empirical study, developed twenty-six effective"  factors that rehearsing attorneys, law scholars, judges, and guests viewed as " important to effective lawyering performance." Each of those twenty-six  factors falls within the four branches of emotional intelligence. Shultz and Zedeck assert that " emotional intelligence could be important to attorneys who  must manage relations with guests, juries, judges and associates."

Further, emotional intelligence helps attorneys' read and interpret whether dispatches between attorneys and others are being understood."

Shultz and Zedeck organized their counsel effectiveness factors into eight groups,"  including (1) intellectual and cognitive, (2) exploration and information gathering, (3) dispatches, (4) planning and organizing, (5) conflict resolution, (6) customer and business relations-entrepreneurship, (7) working with others, and (8) character. Each order identifies aspects of lawyering effectiveness.

Prof.Lakshman Madurasinghe