What, Why & How do we Know ?
Vive La Différance – or a white swan in the hand is worth more than risking a few black feathers in the bush. I’ve regularly used the Derridan version of difference (différance) ironically and usually when talking about gender differences. That minefield of: what differences there really are between men and women (specifically archetypically, but … Continue reading “Vive La Différance, Again.”
Post-Iraq and Afghanistan, with regime-change and support for Arab-spring events, the west and neighbouring governments made plenty of mistakes in the actions they actually chose to take and in how far they thought-through the immediate consequences and the longer-term stabilisation of Middle-East countries. Not to mention the running sore of the unfinished business in Israel-Palestine. Which isn’t … Continue reading “A Rose in a Fisted Glove”
Just a holding post of related links: Recurring theme of mine – very smart, highly rational people converting to christian religion, even catholicism, as they grow older and wiser. Triple-first C S Lewis, Marshall McLuhan, inklings etc. This piece on losing faith in experts includes a reference to C S Lewis Screwtape Letters. (Hat tip … Continue reading “C S Lewis and other idiots?”
Plenty of respectable people this morning pillorying The (socialist Daily Worker) Morning Star for seeming to “celebrate” the “liberation” of Aleppo by forces led by “fascist” Assad and supported by Iran and “imperialist” Russia and – whilst many of said forces now reported to be slaughering innocents. @jonsnowC4 Today’s Morning Star celebrates “liberation” of Aleppo by … Continue reading “Aleppo Liberated – Sectarian Free For All?”
During the recent US election night I followed the BBC coverage from Times Square, backed-up by the real-time New York Times dashboard, and all the social-media feeds I could handle. (So did Robbie.) The BBC coverage was excellent, probably second to none. Andrew Neill, Katty Kay and Emily Maitlis are as good as journalism gets, … Continue reading “Experts, Polls and Journalism”
Had to capture this one. @nntaleb Thought you may like the principle of Chesterton’s Fence: https://t.co/WdBiv7F5Rp — Rory Sutherland (@rorysutherland) September 5, 2016 Been drafting a piece on Robert Frost’s quote for some time now: “Good Fences Make Good Neighbours.“ However I have, in fact, used Robert Frost’s quote in so many contexts recently that … Continue reading “I See No Reason, is No Reason.”
I’ve been largely offline for a week visiting Florence, and in fact did very little reading whilst I was away. Florence was too fascinating. So, Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s “Black Swan” and “Antifragile“ and Simon Blackburn’s “Truth” and “Hume“ remain incomplete and un-reviewed despite enjoying the gist I’d already gleaned from all four. Their styles could … Continue reading “Physics Moves in Mysterious Ways – Carlo Rovelli’s “Seven Brief Lessons””
Further to the rant by Jerry Coyne about James Blachovicz piece which I reacted to here, there’s more. Forbes’ Ethan Siegel responded and so did Bill Storage at The Multidisciplinarian. Hat tip @chrisoldfield in all cases. Where to start? It’s still all about turf wars over broad and narrow definitions – and I’ve said what I needed … Continue reading “More on the Myths of Science”