What, Why & How do we Know ?
Disappointed in finishing Krauss’ “A Universe From Nothing”. He makes some good points (see previous post) but nothing entirely new – quantum fluctuations, big bang, matter asymmetry, inflation, flatness, cosmological constant, CMBR distribution – and most of the newer stuff is very speculative. If this is new to you then he is a strongly recommended … Continue reading “Krauss Falls Short of Nothing”
I’m reading “A Universe From Nothing” following this post, and am 80% through already. Some quick notes summarising significant points he makes: Anthropic principles do warrant serious scientific consideration. (Despite the various “fine-tuning” questions, no updated mention of the CMBR correlation with earth’s orbit.) String theory(ies) are overblown in public consciousness well beyond their scientific … Continue reading “Larry Krauss”
Apologies for the headline, but since I tend to use Dawkins as my prime example of the arrogant scientist who doesn’t get the value anything other than science (and objective / deterministic logic), but by way of balance, this conversation with Larry Krauss from February this year, has some excellent content. It does of course still … Continue reading “Dawkins Talks Sense”
This year’s Edge question 2012 is: WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE DEEP, ELEGANT, OR BEAUTIFUL EXPLANATION? Many of the responses don’t really answer the question, but there are hundreds of responses on many subjects. These are a few that caught my eye – almost all mean further reading! Some are just interesting to see in this … Continue reading “The Edge 2012 Q&A”
Been re-reading a number of “anthropic” pieces – prompted subconsciously I suspect by the death of Christopher Hitchens raising the god vs rationality debate in my mind again. And looking back at the Paxman / Hitchens interview from a year ago; Paxman suggesting that Hitchens own anti-theistic atheism is so dogmatic, it too is (was, sadly) a … Continue reading “Privilege”
Seems Ian Angell is a Costa Coffee man. A man after my own taste. Actually, I prefer Cafe Nero, but either way, anything but Starbucks. Magic I first mentioned Angell when I heard him on Thinking Allowed discussing his book “Science’s First Mistake” with Laurie Taylor. I mentioned in the footnote there, the suggestion, gained … Continue reading “Forget Starbucks”
When watching last week’s BBC Horizon, I was disappointed to see the singularity and inflation still at the root of big bang theories. That’s despite the fact that two key subjects were brought up very early – causation itself (which is actually not discussed further), and the logical problem with the idea of time itself … Continue reading “Before the Big Bang ?”
Speculative presentation from Brian Josephson … I love the anti-reductionist “levels of reality” aspect – and the teleological “future directedness” of life. Explanation being distinct from predictability – no unique cause-effect or whole-part relations, and two-way causal & explanatory dependencies. Such basic common-sense stuff from the Nobel Laureate. … note the parallels in his fundamental life idea … Continue reading “Fundamental Life”