Category Archives: Science

Finally! The truth about truth: Folk foundations of scientific reductionism

On The Media I’m not a psychologist, but I think that at some deep level, if the situation you’re living is a lie, and the situation these boys were living was one, and, moreover, at least the father was complicit … Continue reading

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Posted in Analogies, Framing, Linguistics, Negotiation, Philosophy, Science, Social Science, Technology and life | Leave a comment

Collective cognition, culture, mind share and patterns of action

Ubuntu: Just how popular is it? – Starry Hope Productions…Ubuntu has managed to gain a large portion of the Linux mind share, at least amongst the tech community. Wikipedia: Mind share is the amount of attention required by something and … Continue reading

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Posted in Cognition, Framing, Science, Social Science | Leave a comment

Science vs. social science of the environment

FT.com / Comment & analysis / Comment – Freedom, not climate, is at risk As someone who lived under communism for most of his life, I feel obliged to say that I see the biggest threat to freedom, democracy, the … Continue reading

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Algorithms and everything

digg – The Digg Comment Algorithm Everything in this world can be shown as a flowchart algorithm. This, of course, applies to the complex and not well researched field of “Digg comments“. Here’s my humble attempt to define an algorithm … Continue reading

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New Atheism and old religions or the other way around?

On The Media: Transcript of “God No!” (December 15, 2006) In response to the global challenge posted by religious extremism, a small group of impassioned atheists has taken a new approach. They target the tolerant with both reason and ridicule. … Continue reading

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YouTube of the 1890s

BBC – Radio 4 – Archive Hour – 21 October 2006 Matthew Parris uncovers the remarkable story of the Electrophone, the first sound broadcasting service to operate in Britain. Electrophone (information system) – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The name Electrophone … Continue reading

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Is mathematics an empirical science?

Maths has the reputation of a a ‘pure’ discipline which sets both the practice and essence of mathematics apart from all other fields of inquiry. Mathematicians often use this ‘axiom’ to remind other academics of their superiority. Many people mention … Continue reading

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Role of examples in social debate and research

Cartoon Warfare (Ann Applebaum, WP) In recent years “the personal is political,” a phrase whose origins are lost deep in the history of the women’s movement, has among other things come to mean that just about anyone is allowed to … Continue reading

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Determinism and evidentiary value of belief based on personal experience

BBC – Five Live – Mark Kermode film reviews included this and last week an interesting exchange. First, the reviewer claimed that watching the film The March of the Penguin makes it possible to assume some level of intelligent design … Continue reading

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Reliability of common wisdom – models and power

TPM Online Article So: whom to believe? There seems to be no doubt, as these authors and recent research suggest, that there’s a genetic component to obesity. Nor is there any doubt that obesity, like alcoholism before it, seems to … Continue reading

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Posted in Feminism, Science, Social Science | Leave a comment