What, Why & How do we Know ?
Counting Sheep – Didn’t I just read this in Dawkins, talking about big numbers – Blind Watchmaker wasn’t it ? Spookily, Disenchanted (linked to Qubits) relates quantum cryptography to intuitive “folk” view of large numbers. What would Dawkins think of it, I wonder ? (In Devils’ Chaplain he rolls current Quantum “hype” into the unscientific … Continue reading “Counting Sheep”
Stalled a bit recently in reaction to “hyper-rational” rants by Rand (objectivist) and Dawkins (scientist) which boiled my blood and knocked my confidence a bit. Picked-up Nietzsche’s “Beyond Good and Evil – Preface to a Philosophy of the Future”. I struggled earlier with Zarathustra, as I was warned I would, but so glad I came … Continue reading “Nietzsche”
Navier-Stokes to the Rescue – At the risk of being branded a mystic I’ll mention this spooky little synchronicity.I’ve just been reading Dawkins’ A Devil’s Chaplain and written an article prompted by it (Stop Press – Article now on-line here). As an aero engineer I chose, in that article, to follow an aeronautical analogy, picking … Continue reading “Navier-Stokes to the Rescue”
Having finished The Blind Watchmaker – I was browsing Dawkins contribution to The Third Culture, which includes commentary on, and by, other members. I was struck by one of Dawkins quotes about Stephen Jay Gould “building non-existent windmills to take a tilt at” and felt the same problem I’m having with Rorty at the moment. … Continue reading “Brian Goodwin”
Dawkins got me thinking – I’m going to collect a page on big numbers. He spends a lot of time on the statistics of improprability of various cosmic, geological and evolutionary events on the one hand and the various microspcopic, molecular genetic, scales on the other. He is at pains to emphasise that our ability … Continue reading “Big Numbers”
I think that’s the correct title of Dawkins latest offerring. By coincidence, given the previous blog, he was on Start the Week this morning with Andrew Marr on BBC Radio 4. Another member of the panel said he could not believe that there were enough “creationists” left in the world for Dawkins to feel the … Continue reading “Devils Chaplain ?”
No joy with finding Susan Blackmore’s Meme Machine last night so I guess I’ll have to order on-line. Did pick up Richard Dawkins (Blind Watchmaker) as well as Karl Popper (Life is all about solving problems), and some Richard Rorty by way of introduction. I can see why Dawkins is so loved by so many … Continue reading “Quantum Information Processing – Again”
Normal Mailer on US Psyche and 9/11. Full text from the Times interview with Mailer, from Google (in two parts) via Jorn. Long interview on thoughts around the US Psyche, following 9/11 / Enron / Andersens / WorldCom etc and “why nobody loves us”. Powerful stuff about rationality, the complexity of life, and a reasonable … Continue reading “Normal Mailer on US Psyche and 9/11”