What, Why & How do we Know ?
Read and recently re-read “The Emerging Mind” originally prepared as the 2003 BBC Reith Lectures byVilayanur Ramachandran – Rama to his friends aparently. First time through (the book) I was initially disappointed (as ever) but in fact the book of 5 lectures is a gem. I was initially put off by his early suggestion that … Continue reading “Vilayanur Ramachandran”
The controversial meta-meme that memes are controversial, seems to have spread … like a meme. This post is partly in response to this article in Andrew Brown’s Guardian Blog, and partly as a result of a comment thread that became attached to an earlier (unrelated) post here, comments in several threads over at Sam’s Elizaphanian blog, and a … Continue reading “A Meme By Any Other Name”
I’ve mentioned the idea of the “memetic arms race” (after Dennett) and the devaluing of subtle terms that get simplistically mis-represented in rhetorical argument, and this is simply another example.
When Zizek writes like this his sense and “wisdom” is easy to see. When he writes like this, it is harder to see because he makes so many statements against others … creating strawmen in the mouths of others, in order to disagree with them … but he is right on the topic of debate. This is … Continue reading “Don’t just do it; Talk !”
Can’t see any acknowledgement of Dennett’s words in the title of this Andrew Marr piece. Looks promising though.
Another great Einstein quote, provided by Steve Peterson in the Hildebrand / Dewey / Rorty thread mentioned earlier on MoQ.Discuss. “Physical concepts are free creations of the human mind, and are not, however it may seem, uniquely determined by the external world. In our endeavour to understand reality we are somewhat like a man trying … Continue reading “The ever quotable Einstein”
Just a hold that thought link. Prompted by another link from Thinking Meat to a paper at PhysOrg.com on the origins of life. The one thing it sparked was this increasing / decreasing entropy paradox. Many people talk of life (and intelligence) as a reversal of the inexorable entropy gradient – creating order out of disorder. … Continue reading “Make Yourself Small Enough”
As promised herwith a few pointers to those items of interest in answers to the 2009 Edge Question. Answers ring like scientific odes to uncertainty, humility and doubt; passionate pleas for critical thought in a world threatened by blind convictions. THE TORONTO STAR Sue Blackmore – predictably, when some other “artificial” technological meme replicator becomes … Continue reading “What Will Change Everything ?”