What, Why & How do we Know ?
Does the very word “information” imply a consciousness to be informed by it? Simple answer is no, but that’s about defining what we mean by information – a language problem – but there are important underlying concepts worth unpicking. Let’s separate two issues first. Firstly, in theory – Verb-Nouns – nouns whose root is a … Continue reading “Information > 140chars Quickie”
Here (#3) below is the David Hamill piece from the Free Thought Prophet blog that triggered the two … previous (#1) … posts (#2) as well as a lot of comments and tweets. Most of my earlier thoughts concerned the Jerry Coyne post given as a reference and the linked Dan Dennett Big Think video. … Continue reading “Dennett and the “Little People” #3″
I came across a twitter thread of Free Thought Prophet (FTP, otherwise anon) recommending a blog post by John Hamill (Atheist Ireland National Committee) about Dennett’s position on free-will. FTP I know as a knockabout humorous commentator in the space occupied by the four horsemen. As a rationalist, atheist, humanist myself, “free-thought” is the traditional tag … Continue reading “Dennett and the “Little People””
By most people’s standards I over-use “scare-quotes”. It’s a recognition that in many contexts use of a word to name a concept is inherently “political”. All naming is identity politics. Naming the classification of any “object” is always short-hand for a whole collection of variables, simply to get a handle on the topic of conversation, … Continue reading “Classic Classification”
So much UK media traffic this morning. The basic “tech” news story. All the original story links below. Lots of social media feeding the PC side of it that the the guy that wrote it must have had a sexist / racist agenda. Some, but not so many including myself, pointing out he has some … Continue reading “The Google Gender & Diversity Furore”
Little did I know when I made a passing reference to the Beard vs Taleb spat on Twitter in my previous post (the one before that actually) that it would turn into a full international incident. Nassim Nicholas Taleb holding-up Mary Beard – and her baying mob of PC-supporters – as all that is wrong with … Continue reading “More Heat Than Light”
I’m fond of saying that humans ARE special, humanity IS special. That is technically we are a species, as distinct as any other, and in practice we are the most highly developed intelligent life and culture to have evolved in the universe we know. That is not exceptionalism in any unique or exclusive sense. We … Continue reading “Physical Inevitability of Intelligent Life”
Attended a presentation last night by John “Mr Compost” Cossham – entitled in his own slides, as well as the organiser’s pre-publicity as – “What is Fracking?” Less than 1% of it had anything to do with fracking. It’s against my better nature that I have been egged-on to write anything about it at all, … Continue reading “Do Me a Frackin’ Favour!”