If there’s a sneaker way of getting people to read about philosophers, I’d like to see it. Last night when the name “Jeremy Bentham” came up, the Wikipedia entry for him must have peaked as the highest viewed page.
So, who is Jeremy Bentham? He proposed the idea of a Panopticon, a prison where prisoners could be observed without being able to tell if they’re being watched.
The creepiest part, and the part that’s most like what we saw last night on Lost? Bentham requested that when he died, his body be preserved and stored in a wooden cabinet called an Auto-icon. After this, his body was kept on public display. At the 100th and 150th anniversaries of the college, the Auto-icon was brought to the meeting of the College Council.
Pretty darn creepy. Interesting wooden box parallel, eh?