Month: April 2004

ANKOS Reviews

ANKOS Reviews. When Stephen Wolfram’s book came out, I tried to read it and read many reviews as part of that unsatisfactory attempt. I noticed, browsing Ray Girvan’s “Apothecary” site that he had done a serious review of ANKOS, and provides interesting links, to a site full of ANKOS reviews and a site with a “Crackpot Index” for grading scientific papers that claim groundbreaking content.

Reading – Latest Update

In the excitement of receiving the Pirsig materials on my return from a week away over Easter, I forgot how much reading I’d got through.

Joyce’s “Ulysses” I finished at last. I can see why it’s such an important work artistically and stylistically, and why it benefits from serious analysis and detective work, but I don’t get the major relevance to philosophy and epistemology I’m afraid. Genius close to madness again. Still reading the copious end-notes and the various reference materials linked from Jorn’s site. Read a couple of stories from “The Dubliners” – the book happened to be in the small collection at the house (converted mill at Yearle) that we stayed in. Still expect I’ll give “Finnegans Wake” a shot in the near future.

Also read Bryson’s “A Short History of Nearly Everything”. He clearly admits it’s the direct result of his own reading of a clutch of popular science books of the last ten years or so, so if you’ve already read a fair share of them you’ll find little new except Bryson’s readable style and disarming humour, and a useful reading list if any of the areas sparks your interest. Ultimately a little too earnest “save the world from extinction” for my liking. As a history of almost everything – its very much skewed to the sciences at the exclusion of ideas and arts (Physics, Cosmology, Geology, Human Evolution mainly.) Also read a major part of “Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors” by Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan, very much a popular history of Darwin and Evolution as far as I got – readable but nothing new. I’ll still be giving Bryson’s “Mother Tongue” a try.

Tucson 2004 – Science of Consciousness

How did I miss this ? The 2004 Science of Consciousness, Tucson conference at the University of Arizona is this coming week ! That’s what happens when you’re too busy with your day job.

Pinker, Dennett and Blackmore as keynote speakers. (No Stapp or Josephson this year, which is a pity, but probably an indication that the subject matter has already moved into the superstar league. Different conference in fact – Science of Consciousness even years, Quantum Mind odd years.)

Agents of Change

Agents of Change. Another one from Daniel Quinn [Ishmael Quote] Each of us must become an agent of change within the range of our own influence, and it doesn’t matter how great that range is. If you can’t reach a hundred (Ishmael’s suggested number), then reach ten, and if you can’t reach ten, then reach one, because you never know — that one may reach a million! [Unquote].

Two points – (a) change is about hearts and minds (Memetics), not facts and regulations, and (b) some change agents seem more effective than others, (Tipping Point et al again), but even a single individual mind changed is part of the process.

Ishmael – still not actually read Daniel Quinn’s book(s), even though they have been on my reading list for almost three years. Browsed lots of the Ishmael Community on-line resources in that tme, and feel I know the messages already. Why is it that this apparent common sense has to take on such an earnest religious flavour – probably explains why I’ve still not dived into the books yet. Perhaps my Scylla and Charybdis are common sense and religion, rather than scientific fundamenatlism and pseudoscience ? [the latter after James Willis]