On a lighter note...

A Dilbert animation about the Prisoner's dilema.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ED9gaAb2BEw

Dilbert understands the concept of the prisoner's dilema, and so he decides not to give the police any information, but his co-conspirators are not on the same page, and the joke lies in the fact that Dilbert clearly doesn't understand the concept at all.

Panopticon YouTube video

Everyone MUST see this eerie YouTube video about surveilance and the panopticon, called "Panopticon"

It touches on a range of ideas, includng Foucault's ideas of disciplinary society, Bentham, and even relates these concepts to people "broadcasting" their good deeds on facebook with the new "join cause" option.

Drug Courts as the Modern Panopticon

Drug Courts as the Modern Panopticon by Corey Colyer

ABSTRACT:

"Contemporary drug courts merge the therapeutic resources of the human services sector with the coercive power of the State. While these programs help drug using offenders enter treatment for drug addiction, they also serve in a control capacity. Drug courts are disciplinary institutions; the modern day equivalent of Bentham’s Panopticon. By sharing information across agency boundaries, subjecting program participants to frequent examinations, and reinforcing self-regulatory behavior, drug courts embody the disciplinary ideal. This paper draws on two years of field research in a drug court program to outline the ways in which Drug Courts have become the modern Panopticon."