A friend of mine saw my May

23 entry, which is about the moral dangers of seeking fame, and asked: "Is

writing a blog part of an effort to become famous?" I replied (in effect):

"I have looked deep within and discovered that 75% of my original motivation

for starting the blog was self-aggrandizement." (At least I’m honest.) But

I do have other goals, including:

1. To explore the ethics of recording

   ideas and experiences in a public way—that is, in a way that’s honest and

   potentially interesting for other people, and that respects others’ privacy rights

   and my own duties to the institutions that I work for. Being public in this way

   is somewhat tricky, and it’s supposed to be a modest experiment in living democratically.

2. To

   experiment with this new genre ("the blog") by writing unusual kinds

   of entries. For the most part, I try not to offer statements of personal opinion

   or simple links to other sites, but instead I like to pose moral or philosophical

   questions that have arisen in some recent experience.

3. To create a notebook

   from which I can later borrow for longer, more systematic writing.

4. To

   have a platform for presenting short comments for a small audience, easily and

   quickly.

5. To present myself to anyone who’s interested. The best description

   of who I am (as a professional) is a record of what I’ve been doing.