Dawkins on Bush, Saddam and Bin Laden
Dawkins on Bush, Saddam and Bin Laden. Dawkins writing in the Grauniad [via Rivets]Compare with this one from Flying Snail. [via Gimbo]
What, Why & How do we Know ?
Dawkins on Bush, Saddam and Bin Laden. Dawkins writing in the Grauniad [via Rivets]Compare with this one from Flying Snail. [via Gimbo]
Bureaucratic Hyper-Rationalism. Not what I expected to find here, an analysis of an unitelligible Powerpoint slide from Boeing that may have contributed to mis-analysis of Shuttle Columbia’s insulation damage before its disastrous end. Edward Tufte calls the overstructured style “bureaucratic hyper-rationalism” – sounds like my main thread ? [via Jorn again] Rodcorp also picked-up on … Continue reading “Bureaucratic Hyper-Rationalism”
Metaphor and War – George Lakoff at AlterNet. [via Jorn]
Picked up and started Dawkins’ A Devils Chaplain last night, but more of that in a minute. I also picked-up on impulse, a copy of Ayn Rand’s Philosophy, Who Needs It ? – having seen how many books she’d published, but knowing nothing about her I thought, I’d dip my toe in and find out. … Continue reading “Ayn Rand, Dawkins, Evil and Religion”
Having finished The Blind Watchmaker – I was browsing Dawkins contribution to The Third Culture, which includes commentary on, and by, other members. I was struck by one of Dawkins quotes about Stephen Jay Gould “building non-existent windmills to take a tilt at” and felt the same problem I’m having with Rorty at the moment. … Continue reading “Brian Goodwin”
Dawkins got me thinking – I’m going to collect a page on big numbers. He spends a lot of time on the statistics of improprability of various cosmic, geological and evolutionary events on the one hand and the various microspcopic, molecular genetic, scales on the other. He is at pains to emphasise that our ability … Continue reading “Big Numbers”
Had a traumatic two weeks IT-wise. Recently acquired a new P4/XP machine and loaded Norton Anti-Virus and Internet Security stuff. The combination played havoc with various web-sites I use and has taken until now to recover. Anyway in that time I finished Dawkins’ Blind Watchmaker and moved on to Rorty’s Philosophy as a Mirror on … Continue reading “Dawkins to Rorty”
The Unloved American – Simon Schama writing in The New Yorker [via Jorn] See also the earlier Rudyard Kipling reference under “the empire that dare not speak its name“. Also from Simon Schama in the Guardian this piece on US one year on from 9/11. Disingenuous reverence and religion conspiring against open debate on the … Continue reading “The Unloved American”