Recent posts tagged science
2019
Something To Think About
On the use and abuse of thought experiments.
Progress Not Guaranteed, Pt. 2
More on Steven Pinker.
2018
The Uncertainty Principle
What did Bertrand Russell mean when he said, "Do not feel absolutely certain of anything"?
The Life Of The Mind
An influencer seems more interested in being well-known, being "influential", than in being motivated by a thirst for the truth.
From The Shoulders Of Giants, The View Is Lovely Indeed
"The negation of a [scientific] theory is not a new theory."
The Unthinkable Lightness Of Being
On how Zen and Buddhism are not anti-intellectual, but non-intellectual. Big diff there.
The Royal We And The Singular I
On what we do with the discovery that we're not things, but processes.
2017
Outside Lookin' Inside Dept.
If past, present, and future are all unknowable, what's left? (And why frame things that way?)
2016
The Big(ger) Picture Dept.
On why the problem is not belief or the absence of same.
Be Ye Not As Jerks Dept.
Belief or nonbelief isn't absolutely correlated with good behavior; it's all in how you use it.
Bigger Fish To Fry Dept.
"My problems are bigger than yours" is always a bad argument.
Not The Smartest Guys In The Room Dept.
I don't think SF authors have an obligation to be scientific authorities, but I do think they have an obligation to be scientifically literate.
2015
The Smartest Guys In The Medium Dept.
"...the doctrine that the genius must be in advance of his time is almost wholly false and vicious..."
Unthink For Yourself Dept.
Sure, maybe Zen is "irrational", but who's complaining?
Holy Fools Dept.
I'll tell me what to really think.
Killing In The Name Of Me Dept.
Anders Breivik’s Inexplicable Crime - The New Yorker I do not believe that Breivik himself has anything to teach us. I believe that his life is a coincidence of unfortunate circumstances, and what he did was such an anomaly that...
Many Legs And Too Many Brains Dept.
"...smart people, lacking any sort of compelling real world data, are great at debating and rationalizing bad decisions."
2014
Don't Dream It, Be It
You could be the change, or you could just hold your breath and wait for it.
Fictioned Science Dept.
On creative work presenting itself as science for the sake of legitimacy.
The Snore Of Reason Dept.
Breeding monsters, and all that.
Guns And Butter Dept.
Why does it always come down to having to choose between science and art, between Shakespeare or the bomb?
My Water Cooler Runneth Over Dept.
On the communal enjoyment of entertainment and the 'paradox of choice'.
Squinting Into The Future Dept.
If looking to SF for a vision of the future is a bad idea, can we at least say which SF we're talking about?
Artificial Stupidity Dept.
The smarter the machine, the more likely we are to cozzen up to it.
2013
Futurism-ism Dept.
The mysticism of the future by way of technology is no improvement over the mysticisms of the past.
