A follow-up to my previous post on this frustrating exchange. Here is my final post with Gkochanowsky’s embedded replies. Your characterization of philosophy is ridiculous (again a straw man argument). Do you forget that the origin of some of our sciences is in philosophy? Adam Smith, father of modern economics, philosopher; Gottfried Leibniz, co-creator of the calculus, philosopher; William James, pioneering psychologist, philosopher; Bertrand Russell, great logician aiding in the production of a logical foundation for mathematics and much more (paving the road for computer science), philosopher, etc. I anticipate that you will say that their contributions are science and […]
Monthly Archives: February 2007
6 posts
Bob “The Maximum Leader” Meyer‘s manifesto of the “Logicians Liberation League”, recently quoted by Branden Fitelson in the context of promoting formal epistemology: Do not be deceived, Establishment pigs (this means you too, Establishment dogs). The subservience of past generations of logicians does not mean that we shall bear forever our treatment as animals (you barnyard fowl). We are human beings (you swine). You are living in a day when logicians will not any longer endure your taunts, your slurs, your insults (you filthy vermin). In the name of A. N. Whitehead and B. Russell we gather; in the spirit […]
While researching a bit on android epistemology for a wikipedia post, I came upon a reference to The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow” (NYT Review): Jennifer Marcus, an agoraphobic 22-year-old genius with obsessive-compulsive disorder who was raised in Southern California but born in China. Since she can’t bring herself to step outside her door, let alone work through the bureaucratic red tape of an adoption agency, she decides to build a robot out of obsolete missiles, name it “Jenny Chow,” and send it on a journey to find her mother. Interestingly, the playwright of Rolin Jones happened upon the seminal […]
Let me share my pain. In the talk section of the Occam’s Razor entry of Wikipedia a debate was raging between AceMyth and Gkochanowsky regarding the value of Ockham’s Razor to science. AceMyth ended the exchange as follows: I’d continue this discussion, but running discussions in talk pages in Wikipedia is a time-consuming hobby that consumes time I just don’t have available these days. So I’m swallowing this frog and letting you have the last word, though I’m left with the impression that a lot of what I said has been misunderstood (for one, I think that “actual data from […]
Transhumanists are a fascinating bunch, though I can’t help but see most of their views as simply a projection of religious longing onto science. As Ken MacLeod wrote, the Singularity seems to be “the rapture for nerds”. Apropos, a prayer: Our Posthumanity in Singularity, hallowed be our science, our omega come, our will be done, on earth as in noosphere. Give us today our uploads. Cast off our skins as we see accelerating change. Save us from existential risks and deliver us from senescence. [For the Singularity, the power, and the glory are ours now and for ever.] Amen.
While doing a bit of homework on scienceblogs.com, from Seed Media, I happened upon scientificblogging.com, which has just launched: ION Publications has announced that its online science community, scientificblogging.com, has gone into private beta. The Scientific Blogging community will bring together world-class scientists from universities and the private sector, science writers, science journalists, amateur scientists, science philosophers and everyone who wants to read about and discuss science. “There are a lot of science sites out there,” said Hank Campbell, CEO, “but the more we read the more we realized that most science sites were primarily interested in either politics or […]