I’m reading Dennett’s “Breaking the Spell” at the moment. I’ve made it clear I’m a fan of Dennett as a pragmatic philosopher, unlike Dawkins as an unreconstructed logical positivist scientist. Their language and quality of argument are chalk and cheese. ”Breaking the Spell” is explicitly an argument against god and religion aimed at an American Christian [...]
Entries from August 2007
Meta-Belief
10
August 25, 2007 at 8:28am
by Psybertron
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Nick Maxwell Reviews
2
August 21, 2007 at 7:35pm
by Psybertron
I published a review of Nick Maxwell’s “Is Science Neurotic ?” a month or so ago. Nick was kind enough to reply that “I feel, from the review, that you have entirely understood my book” – which is gratifying. He also provided links to a collection of other reviews; by Donald Stanley at Metapsychology ; by Clare McNiven [...]
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Photo Gallery Update
0
August 21, 2007 at 7:12pm
by Psybertron
Following the mid-western road-trip to Wyoming & Montana, I’ve uploaded some photos. Lots of general scenery and wildlife in Teton and Yellowstone amongst other places, and for Pirsig fans, some relevant ZMM locations … Hebgen Lake, Bozeman and Gardiner The Beartooth Highway – between Gardiner and Laurel Meeting Mark Richardson in Hill City
Oponia’s Ucaster
0
August 13, 2007 at 11:42pm
by Psybertron
A private / temporary web-based file-sharing system, also via McLuhan’s (Next) Message.
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Hypocrisy in Public Life
2
August 13, 2007 at 11:39pm
by Psybertron
An interview with Michael Ignatieff posted at Mcluhan’s (Next) Message. Struck by the reference to the hypocrisy of literalism … Amongst “friends” we recognise that what someone means is more fundamental than what they actually say … but somehow in organised public life we use the flip-side … and interpret our own meaning into the [...]
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Extended Phenotypes
0
August 13, 2007 at 10:54pm
by Psybertron
I happen to be reading Dennett’s “Breaking the Spell” at the moment, so refreshing after Dawkins (creator of the “extended-phenotype” term) attempt on the same topic. Dennett opens early in his book with the lancet-fluke & ant example to illustrate the “viral” metaphor of a meme infecting a brain producing behaviour inexplicable in terms of the brain’s host’s [...]
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The Heights of Wyoming & Montana
0
August 9, 2007 at 12:03am
by Psybertron
After the width of Kansas, we continued after Colorado, via Cheyenne, Laramie, Jackson Hole (Wyoming), Teton Park, Yellowstone Park, Gallatin Forest (Idaho & Montana), and Beartooth highway – now east of Billings MT. Spectacular 13,000 ft peaks above the lakes in Teton, and a spectacular 10,900 ft highway (above the glaciers) over Beartooth. (So much variety of [...]
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The Width of Kansas
1
August 5, 2007 at 7:35am
by Psybertron
Early Saturday morning into Missouri, St. Louis, on to Kansas City, across Kansas the long way to Limon, Colorado.
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A Tale of Two Nashville’s
0
August 5, 2007 at 7:32am
by Psybertron
Off on our hols. Left after work Friday from Alabama, via Nashville, Tennessee, across Kentucky and into Illinois, to Nashville, Illinois.
