
Go, Brandon! (No matter who you are, I’m sure you need a cheer.)

Answering questions at Boston College O’Neill Library

You made me laugh! We all worry about this sort of thing. The possibilities seem to be: to ignore their request, to respect their request, or to finesse the request by, perhaps, making a donation to a cause in the amount you would have spent on a gift. Which works best – depends on the individual.

The first part is a discussion as old as philosophy; the second is a little more recent. Take a look at this discussion: https://bit.ly/bc-consciousness, and maybe try a search at library.bc.edu for “consciousness and artificial intelligence”

Also an old question. Notice the first result in this search for “faith and reason” is from the thirteenth century: https://bit.ly/bc-faith-and-reason

Suffering is a hard problem in philosophy and religion, and there are lots of possible explanations. Here are a few from my friend, the Encyclopedia of Religion: https://bit.ly/bc-suffer

Lots of different takes on that. Here’s one from Tibetan Buddhism which is pretty detailed: https://bit.ly/bc-bardo

The brain is part of the body and the two can’t be separated (at least not in a healthy way), so technically there is no “other” to be controlled. That said, controlling signals go in both directions, so they actually both have controlling responsibilities for the whole.

As a resident of the lobby, I’m partial to the 3rd floor, myself. That being said, the best floor depends on what you’re looking for. Need a quiet place to study? I’ve heard the newly renovated space on the 5th floor is great. Looking for specialized software or tutoring for an upcoming midterm? The 2nd floor is home to the Digital Studio and the Connors Family Learning Center. The 1st and 4th floors also have study spaces and collections you might be interested in checking out.

$1000 to ten families sounds nice. There’s a chance this would have a larger lasting impact providing it to more families than one. It is also more likely due to the smaller amount, that this would be spent in the community so it would in turn help small business as well.

I don’t really feel qualified to comment, but you can take a look at what lots of scholars think using our resources here: https://libguides.bc.edu/bible-quick-start

There are some terrific guidelines and thinking points for providing context and doing outreach in this article from The Kennedy Center (bit.ly/KennedyCtrSensitiveTopics) It’s not specifically for catholic schools, though many of the points still likely apply.