What, Why & How do we Know ?
When I left Mary Midgley half reviewed here, I suggested things were leading to Gaia. Her final sub-chapter is “What Must We Do ?” and in it she concludes “In the last few decades we have learned a lot of new words, ecosystem, biosphere, Gaia, sustainable development and the rest … words framed to express … Continue reading “Myths We Live By – Review #2”
Reading Mary Midgley’s “Myths We Live By” at the moment, having originally picked up on a review of it way back here. Easy read, starts promising – mainly against misplaced narrow (physical) scientific views being adopted in human scale situations, and plenty of arguments against dualism and Descartes naturally. Tendency to return to “people are … Continue reading “Myths We Live By”
Inspired by “Eats, Shoots & Leaves”, by Lynn Truss, Jennifer Garret has posted “Eats, Blogs & Leaves“. I have to agree. Bad punctuation is only the half of it. Spelling, grammar and syntax are all victims of the rapid publishing habit that is blogging. I’m constantly embarassed to discover howlers in my own blog, often … Continue reading “Panders to Blogs”
I’ve not yet finished reading Eco’s “The Name of the Rose” – great 14th century murder mystery with philosophers, inquisitors and church leaders thrown in – hard to spot where fact ends and fiction starts … anyway the point is I’ve also just received and started reading the 2nd edition (2002) of Nils Brunsson’s “The Organization … Continue reading “Managing Hypocrisy”
e-Biz sounds awfully passe already, but as Business Week’s special issue, “The E-Biz Surprise” (May 5, 2003), noted, “The Web is the same age color TV was when it turned profitable.” It’s gonna need a new name but e-everything has barely started, and the technological capability aspects of it are arriving plenty fast. That’s not … Continue reading “DotCom Boom & Bust was Minor Setback”
Now got through Socrates, Plato and Aristotle in Gottlieb’s book – by far the bulk. The remainder up to 1650 is packed into relatively few pages – as many others have mentioned (see note below). Gottlieb is very defensive of his Greek heros, and to be fair, I’ve learned a lot – makes a change … Continue reading “Post Aristotle”
Evolutionary Intelligence. Harvard Graduate and Doctorate biologist Francisco Jose (Ze) Ayala posted a link to his paper in Google Group comp.ai last year. I didn’t noticed the significance then. The guy has serious credentials in biological evolution and its detailed evidence in the fossil record (S J Gould has cited his work). His paper proposed … Continue reading “Evolutionary Intelligence”
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 … Continue reading “Agents of Change”