Aware is finished. Now for something different 14 May 202414 May 2024 So I finished presenting the book Aware on my substack, which will now ferment in my bottom drawer (metaphorically) until it ripens. While that is happening I am preparing to edit some nineteenth century sources for discussions of classification, taxonomy, species, higher and lower taxa, and many other subjects. Does anyone have any requests for hard-to-find sources they would like to use in teaching? Mostly Anglophone, and reaching from the 1770s or so to the beginning of the Great War. Answer in comments or direct in email. Biology Epistemology History Natural Classification Philosophy Science Species and systematics Species concept Systematics
Creationism and Intelligent Design The problem of foreknowledge 28 Jun 2010 So, following on from my previous post on theism and science, let’s consider another aspect of the problem: foreknowledge. How could God know what would occur if the universe is fundamentally, by which we mean at the quantum mechanical level, indeterminate? We know from chaos theory (and chaos is determinate,… Read More
Ecology and Biodiversity When entropy and ecology collide… 9 Nov 2008 …the albino silverback blinks once or twice, says knowingly “Yes, yes”, and sends those who do understand math to these two posts at The n-Category Café: “Entropy, Diversity and Cardinality” post 1, post 2. If I read it aright, it means that diversity is measured as the entropy of some… Read More
Metaphysics On the need for grownups [Thoughts from Kansas] 6 Mar 2010 Josh Rosenau has a sermon on the perils of attacking those who think science and religion can coexist at On the need for grownups [at Thoughts from Kansas]. It’s a pretty damned good sermon. He points out that the claim that science and religion are incompatible is itself an untested,… Read More