What, Why & How do we Know ?
Terrible flirts both of them, but great to see the chautauqua tradition continue. Humans having intelligent conversation that educates. Larry is moved to say: Most things humans have written over the ages (mythological or otherwise) contain some “wisdom” …. Science isn’t wisdom – just one of the raw materials. Wow. He’s good. A chameleon who … Continue reading “When Krista Met Larry”
Finished Rebecca Goldstein’s “Betraying Spinoza” the other day, and found it an excellent piece of work. Having been very busy for a couple of days, I’ve not really had a chance to compose a detailed review. For now … Radical objectivism. Ultimately the self-other dualism is dissolved by expanding the scope of self. I am … Continue reading “Cosmic Man”
Before I review reading the content of Brian Boyd On the Origin Of Stories, a few words on the style and structure of the book itself. There are 540 pages of which 130 are notes, bibliography and index. The 410 pages of text contain only index numbers for the notes, individual references to some of … Continue reading “The Origin Of Stories – Meta-Review”
Struck by the focus of stats in this news story on the illegal drug use in baseball. Stephen Jay Gould majors on baseball stats in “Life’s Grandeur”, if I remember correctly, to illustrate on the illusion of trends, and the psychological tendency to seek such number trends in explanations. The tyranny of numbers.
Just made a connection … between the comment about Gould’s attitude to evolution and his theistic beliefs, according to Dennet, and the point Deutsch made about mainstream science that doesn’t become common-sense world view even of practicioners using that science.
Made a start on my pile of Dennett original reading. Having realised recently I’m practically a pan-Darwinist, I thought I’d start on “Darwin’s Dangerous Idea”. Skimmed it first, and realised I feel I practically know it already; so many of his chapters and witty headings having been quoted by others since 1995. The respect Dennett … Continue reading “The Socratic Dennett – Onward and Upward”
I’m prompted here by a cross-search, that hit on a three year old post of mine referring to Sean Gould. Like me he’s a western engineer, and of a similar age, living in the far-east, in his case Thailand, and unlike myself, it seems he’s been there continuously for several years – his domain remains … Continue reading “From Ancient Books to the Novel”
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”