What, Why & How do we Know ?
A pet hate of mine is “rational” people who see the point of a rational argument as being to change someone’s mind, to convince someone of something. A bonkers idea at any time, not to mention a complete waste of time if you think the person you are trying to convince isn’t being rational anyway. … Continue reading “Changing Your Mind”
BHA2015 Conference – Bristol, Grand Hotel, 19 to 21 June 2015 (~400 delegates) Not detailed notes, just rough for-the-record of my own. Will use some to create constructive feedback. Friday afternoon started with a so-called “Ethical Jury” list of suggested ethical dilemma topics from which to discuss 2 or 3 in round-tables of 8 or so. … Continue reading “BHA2015 Review in Brief – Rough Notes”
(Editorial Note : This paper was originally prepared for the 2005 Liverpool Conference on Robert Pirsig and his Metaphysics of Quality (MoQ). It is a personal non-technical view of the MoQ, and indeed the first part of paper is an entirely subjective and naive account of the author’s “thought journey” that led to reading Pirsig … Continue reading “It’s Evolutionary Psychology Stupid”
I’ve been reading my way through Terry Eagleton’s “Culture and the Death of God” pretty slowly – blogged a few times I was both enjoying it and finding it a bit tough going. Subject-wise I’m pretty well read, but of course Terry is really well read and not afraid to construct his rhetorical flourishes from … Continue reading “Culture and the Death of God”
Another interesting post from Sam. (My James Willis Scylla and Charybdis ref.)
An excellent, short (10m), animation of a lecture by Iain McGilchrist. (Hat tip to David Morey on Facebook for the link.) Blogged several references to reading McGilchrist’s “The Master and his Emissary” but never wrote a complete review in one post – It so knocked me out, it led me into other connected readings immediately. … Continue reading “McGilchrist’s Divided Brain”
I was posting a more prominent link to the TED talk by Sherwin Nuland (related to the ECT Meme thread) when I noticed this interesting piece from Jill Bolte Taylor. A brain scientist who got to study her own brain and glimpsed the euphoric mystical “now” … and like Sherwin saw this mystical revelation as part … Continue reading “TED Brains”
Struck in this story initially by the reference to nursing in contrast to health-care-management. Sometimes people are robbed of any intrinsic “job satisfaction” by their management systems. This medical example is the Dr James Willis “Friends in Low Places” agenda. Engagement with the task skills and their primary objectives is a key factor as Richard Sennett’s “The Craftsman” … Continue reading “Meaninglessness at Work”