What, Why & How do we Know ?
Further to the rant by Jerry Coyne about James Blachovicz piece which I reacted to here, there’s more. Forbes’ Ethan Siegel responded and so did Bill Storage at The Multidisciplinarian. Hat tip @chrisoldfield in all cases. Where to start? It’s still all about turf wars over broad and narrow definitions – and I’ve said what I needed … Continue reading “More on the Myths of Science”
This is really just a riff on some coincidental connections about what needs to happen around the fallout from #EURef (the result of which will finally be announced tomorrow morning.) Not a high profile celebrity these days I guess, so I’d no reason to know if George Steiner was dead or alive, it hadn’t occurred to me … Continue reading “Older US Views of European Union”
Mentioned I was doing a good deal of retro-reading these days. I’m currently reading Joe McCabe’s The New Science and the Story of Evolution. Joe was one of the big movers and shakers in the UK “Freethought Movement”. This particular book is a 1931-ish combination of early woks and essays including The Story of Evolution … Continue reading “The Meeting of Northrop and McCabe”
This is a short post to address the additional “eastern” perspective missing from the post note in my previous blog on the London Thinks “How Do We Believe” event. Here on Psybertron, much of the philosophical journey was informed early on by the qualities of Zen / Tao thinking introduced to millions by Robert Pirsig with … Continue reading “Additional “Eastern” Thoughts.”
Can’t believe how long it is since my last post – but currently buried under a pile of domestic things needing attention, basically a very late-running house improvement project that barely “completed” before Christmas, family Christmas itself, and seeking new paid work since the new year … lots of connected pieces to be picked-up. Lots … Continue reading “We Can Be Heroes – for ever and ever – but for now …”
Hat tip to DVB and ShutUp&Write for tweeting this Sam Wineburg piece on scholars and writing. Reminded me of the psychiatrist who advised Pirsig to “just write something”. There but for grace …
Interesting post from Morgan Giddings, with a Facebook response from Sabine Hossenfelder: Morgan I have mostly maintained a façade of being that “rational, materialist scientist” most of the time … … it was always unsettling to think that consciousness is just some byproduct of what is a random universe made up of a bunch of bouncy-balls. … Continue reading “Is there life beyond materialist science? @metamorgan says F*ck it.”
In my last post – about the BHA 2015 Conference – I noted that listening to Dr Phil Hammond had put me in mind of Dr James Willis. Although the former is now more famous than the latter – stand-up entertainer, TV-panelist, etc – they represent two generations of medical doctors warning against the damage … Continue reading “For the Love of our Health @drphilhammond @JARWillis @microphilosophy”