The Emperor’s New Markov-Blankets?

I mentioned in my review of Anatoly Levenchuk’s “Systems Thinking 2020” having some subsequent dialogue about common ground in other areas of the Psybertron agenda. A significant overlap is the work of Karl Friston (Free Energy Principle / Markov Blankets / Emergent Organism / Active Inference) in my reading of Mark Solms, and in Levenchuk’s … Continue reading “The Emperor’s New Markov-Blankets?”

What is the Matter with Things?

A Summary of Iain McGilchrist “The Matter With Things” My writings on Iain McGilchrist’s TMWT, and TME (The Master and Emissary) before it, are many, but unfortunately that means that no single post, since my reading of TMWT, gives any introductory overview for a new reader. So here goes: What is the matter with things? … Continue reading “What is the Matter with Things?”

Rationality According to Pinker

Start the Week – Rationality in an Irrational Age – BBC Sounds Another fantastic edition. Well done @amolrajan – it really is possible to have intelligent dialogue on “tricky” subjects.@amiasrinivasan and @sapinker on sex between student and professor anyone? https://t.co/pzjjdUeCnE — What, Why & How do we know? (@psybertron) October 18, 2021 So as defined … Continue reading “Rationality According to Pinker”

“TERF War” Culmination?

Reaction to the recent bullying of philosopher Kathleen Stock at Sussex Uni has maybe brought this awful “war” to a head? A “TERF War” as a symptom of wider culture wars, cancel culture and woke identity politics in general. As someone with no direct skin in the games of Feminism and LGBplus rights it has … Continue reading ““TERF War” Culmination?”

Bogdanov

Mentioned being impressed with Carlo Rovelli’s references in Helgoland to Aleksander Bogdanov. I considered Bogdanov an entirely new source to me just earlier this year. [Holding post – collecting links etc.] I’ve also mentioned previously, as a “social-democratic liberal” type myself, being very impressed with (Marxist) Paul Mason’s “Project Zero” in his Post Capitalism. What … Continue reading “Bogdanov”

Back to the TERF War – at Last?

Getting the feeling more sensible voices are prevailing in this war at last. Maybe I can stop posting about it sometime soon. (To me – without specific skin in the feminist<>trans-gender debate aka “TERF War” – this is simply a raging example of my meta-agenda about received rationality in a world where everyone has rights … Continue reading “Back to the TERF War – at Last?”

Ole Peters on the Ergodicity Problem

I have had this 2019 paper by Ole Peters bookmarked for a while, and today, I re-read the abstract and dived into actually reading it. (Ergodicity is an important but little known topic, that became “my favourite word” back in 2017 but still seen few use the term since.) The 2019 paper is published in … Continue reading “Ole Peters on the Ergodicity Problem”

A remarkable book. It changes everything.

Busy, Busy, Busy. Mentioned strange times regarding work-load and productivity a few posts ago; my pipeline stuffed with unread bookmarks and unresolved references, and a to-do-list with at least seven dimensions of priorities to juggle, personally and professionally. Not exactly “treading water”, but difficult to discern progress going anywhere. Ironic that the immediately previous Wittgensteinian … Continue reading “A remarkable book. It changes everything.”