What, Why & How do we Know ?
It’s fair to say 2020 wasn’t the year most of us were expecting, and it’s not over yet. It’s been a very long 2020. As well as the culmination of the self-inflicted BoJo/Brexit/Trump insanities that meant UK and US were distracted from what really needed attention in the world at large (Chinese Uyghurs anyone? Climate … Continue reading “We Can Be Heroes in 2021”
Different collection of conspiracy theories, different anti-establishment target … but Spent over a year building the bomb in the RV in his back yard – trespass warnings on gate and front door – reported by a girlfriend back in 2019. Mailed his “manifesto” to conspiracy mates, used his dog’s name Julio as his on-line ID, … Continue reading “Breivik#2 – The Nashville Bomber – Tip of an Iceberg.”
Having got quite excited last month to reconnect with Martin Rowland’s simple presentation of the mathematical symmetries at the root of fundamental physics several neat graphic representations turned up via Twitter just this week. Now normally I react to flashy graphics in science as giving too much mis-placed concrete credence to someone’s speculative musings – … Continue reading “Fundamental Physics in Graphics”
Had this piece from The Harvard Gazette bookmarked for a couple of weeks and still not fully digested: “How the West Became WEIRD – that is Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic.” It’s an interview of Joseph Henrich by Juan Siliezar. Main thread in my own agenda that “western rational arrogance” is a disease that … Continue reading “The West is Dangerously Weird”
Just capturing a link to the AntiMatter blog pages of Cormac O’Rafferty. (Like me he blogs about plenty of current affairs and global politics beyond his academic teaching interest in physics. For me these are in fact deeply connected via human memetics and social decision making – in both science and politics.) Capturing the link … Continue reading “Cormac O’Raifeartaigh / O’Rafferty”
A thread with Massimo Pigliucci ended with this tweet from me. (I’m guessing he muted the conversation at that point): Anything derived from a metaphysics is testable by the methods of science. It may conflict with the existing body of science. If it didn’t, it wouldn’t add anything of value. You are a constant stream … Continue reading “Stoical in the Face of Metaphysical Doubt?”
I’ve been sceptical since I first heard of the project, indeed considered it laughable that anyone would seriously set out to build or replicate a human brain on any human timescale. Of course ten years on the project has failed. Typically good analysis from Ed. This idea never made sense, and how it became an … Continue reading “Human Brain Project Dies”
Mentioned a couple of posts ago I was planning to read some Michael Gazzaniga after reading a couple of reviews that rang bells because he was one of the contributors to Iain McGilchrist’s Divided Brain film. Wasn’t sure if I was ordering the right Gazzaniga book in his latest, so I’ve been digging. Basically, I … Continue reading “Serious Research?”