What, Why & How do we Know ?
Richard Dawkins is to receive the 2012 BHA award for services to humanism.
Someone is confusing humanism with scientism I fear.
[It was bad enough that he was ever the president of the organization – but at least that was fixed.
Oh, and very spooky, the last positive thing I had to say about Dawkins concerned airport security – see immediate following post today.]
Interesting encounter in the departure lounge in Miami on Sunday.
Drinking a pale ale, as is my wont these days (a Sam Adams Whitewater not-quite-double-IPA in this case), watching Real vs Valencia on one TV whilst the rest of the bar was watching endless “what went wrong” Tiger Woods interviews instead of the final day of the Augusta Masters actually taking place. I started talking to the guy next to me – David Handel – about full and oversold flights. He’s actually grumbling about absence of anywhere to smoke in the airport, not even the bar, and I mention having just had the opposite conversation. In the Hog’s Breath Saloon bar in Key West the evening before, I’d remarked how despite my not being a smoker, I actually liked the fact that in several US states / counties smoking is still permitted in bars – made them feel more “real”, especially if they were music bars. (Those with economies still dependent on tobacco and/or Cuban cigars presumably.)
Turns out he’s a professional conductor, and after displaying my ignorance of classical music in not knowing the International Tchaikovsky Piano Competition winner Peter Donohoe, who hails from the north of England, happens to be his favourite pianist, it becomes apparent he’s been musical director and conductor of the Bolivian National Symphony Orchestra for the last umpteen years. He’s actually in the process of returning “home” to the US and looking to settle in Florida. The conversation moves on to “quality” independent of any sophistication or objective measures of taste in music, or in fact taste generally in any US freedom of choice to do practically anything tasteful or otherwise, given the luxury of the amount of space in which to do it. He remarks how in South America the buildings on which the public lavish the most care are the halls of culture, rather than official public buildings or even churches.
Given the limited South American classical music points of cultural reference available to me, I mention the image of “Fitzcarraldo” that had just flashed across my mind. Not only does he know the Werner Herzog / Klaus Kinski film – a cult favourite of mine (*) – it turns out he’s performed at the opera / concert hall in Manaus which is the focus of the film.
Small connected world. Turns out David is also principal guest conductor at the Moscow City Russian Philharmonic, and was on his way there via an engagement with the Berlin Philharmonic.
(*) Can’t find any previous blog reference – the whole film is shot real on location (including hauling a steam boat across a mountain from one branch of the Amazon above Manaus into the Ucayali – by hand) except for one particularly naff scale-model sequence of the same boat coming to grief, out of control through a series of rapids. Like the Quixotic quest in the plot – I guess the film-maker ran out of budget. Business – the rubber industry in this case – may be based on personal greed, but there always has to be a driving passion on which to spend your money. Great based-on-a-true-story as well as a fine film. Which is probably bringing us back to Godfather III 😉
If Breivik is considered sane, then I really don’t know what insanity is any more.
His guilt – as in personal responsibility for the events – is not in doubt, through ample witnesses as well as his own admission, not to mention plenty of published pre-meditation and planning. Why give him a trial platform to publicly justify his evil ? Surely best all round if he is simply incarcerated in a secure mental institution; humane, sure; therapeutic, sure; but denied social rights for 77 life sentences.
It’s a species of scientistic political correctness that maintains that technically, by objective rational analysis, he’s somehow to be considered sane by a rationally sane (ie insane) society.
That smirk on his face. What am I missing ? I know it, and I’m sure he knows it too.
Just capturing a link to “Who Was Lee Harvey Oswald” – the PBS Frontline documentary from 1993. This is the full 3 hour version – different edits have slightly different introductory sequences, and there are shorter versions shown at various times on other international networks. It’s the best version I know of – gives time to all the conspiracy theories and questions but remains pretty factual, objective and open. (Norman Mailer’s “Oswald’s Tale” is the best written biography I’ve read. Now Ruby, now there’s some debatable motives.)
Great story full of potential and, like any potential, synthetic biology will have its risks of misuse too.
My point is not to confuse this with science – it really is engineering technology based-on science.
As well as being up-front on decisions of risk and morality, I particularly like the reference to encoded information being the real deal here – the work is mainly computational and the business an on-line mail-order affair – a distributed federation of designers and manufacturers linked by ICT (and delivery vans). Funny old world – information really is the foundation science, before logic, maths, physics, chemistry and biology.
Hmmm, the environment proves pretty resilient to these disasters in the medium term, but “no risk” is a tall claim.
Lots of condensate already and very sour and CO2-rich gas from a deep unproductive well. Wonder how long they can avoid ignition ? Presumably no option of “detaching” this fixed platform from the scene ?
Well done on a complete evacuation.
Less can be more when it comes to public communication, yet again:
Some will assume that the only reason [not to] publish a full list …. is because they have something to hide …. There is, though, one other reason – a worry about where transparency will stop.
When the public loses trust in institutions they tend to demand a revelation of all the facts.
Restoration of trust should be the focus.
Now that is an interesting move – could be best use of his undoubted intellect, though I see his role is as Master (of Magdelene).
Interesting piece “What is Science? What is Language?” from Ted Lumley.
Must read the Whorf and Mach references. Here is Ted’s summary:
There is a problem here in that the scientific way of understanding that has been the very foundation of Western civilization is a rising source of incoherence. So long as we stick with the scientific method in our attempts at resolving the dissonances of this incoherence, we shall only exacerbate the problem. Miring us further in this incoherence is the powerful matrix of living ‘icons’ of Western civilization whose high and richly rewarded and privileged status would be radically altered by a collapse of belief in the scientific tenets of Western civilization. Yet we are at a point of ‘revision’ of our understanding wherein, as Dan “Moonhawk” Alford observes:
“… the entire Western worldview logic, reason, science, philosophy, categories the entire ‘civilization’ enterprise of which academia is a part, in fact, is at stake.”
Western civilization is running on the flywheel effect of ‘pride’ as Alford suggests, and on the flywheel effect of the matrix of power constituted by the differentially respected, rewarded, privileged and empowered icons of this civilization.
A long piece, worth a read in full.
A couple of weeks since I blogged – just too busy with work and travel – but as usual that combination gave me reading time on west-bound Atlantic flights. Two recent reads of note:
The (reverend) Sam Norton’s “Let Us Be Human, Christianity for a Collapsing Culture” and (atheist-humanist) Philip Pullman’s “The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ“.
Sam’s is an easy read. Sadly, the scientific evidence of global crises, is a bit simplistic and superficial so it’s hard to imagine many scientific atheists taking the trouble to read on – it smacks of jumping on (and thence reinforcing) that particular meme in order to get published. If culture is collapsing, it is simply happening at the prevailing rate of idolatrous (*) human communication, as it always has been. I say sadly however, because scientific minded atheists are precisely the people who should read this book. I’m no bible-scholar, but the truths that transcend history in the words of the prophets are something science (and scientism in wider life and governance) tends to ignore in its own search for transcendental objective truth. The irony for me is that Sam (in his blog) is not practicing what he preaches (in his book):
Let us get on with the task of building our cathedrals of justice, forgiveness and kindness in our communities, and [allow ourselves to be taught] what it means to be human.
Pullman, is equally easy to read – in fact a very engaging and creative read told by a recognized story-teller, about story-telling. Ironically his setting proves my point about Sam’s book. The impending Judeo-Roman “crisis” around the time of Jesus Christ. Life has always been about dealing with the next crisis – nothing new under the sun since 4000BC in that respect. The book is a creative “how it might have happened” re-telling of the gospels in matter of fact language around the “reporting” of the life and times of Jesus and the parables of what it means to be (a good) human. Good news of the truths recorded beyond actual historical fact; mythical and mystical naturally, but quite independent of any need to believe in earthly powers ascribed to any omniscient or omnipotent god. Excellent stuff – and, without any Greek philosophical content, it manages to weave in a starring role for a (presumed) Greek philosopher, just enough to tantalise that each school of thought fed off the other.
Any more would be a spoiler.
Go read …. both of them.
[(*) Idolatrous in the sense that we “worship” established meaning in words as somehow high-quality, objective reality – after Owen Barfield – whereas Dr. Johnson reminds us “Words are the daughters of Earth” – created by humans.]