Evolution When do species begin? 11 Jun 200922 Jun 2018 Last night I attended a talk by Alexander Bird of Bristol on the metaphysics of natural kinds. I confess that a lot of it struck me as largely irrelevant to the actuality of the science as the level of metaphysics here, involving possible worlds and necessity, not to mention semantic… Continue Reading
Evolution Alien life in Phoenix 10 Jun 2009 I find Paul Davies, the physicist who gets quoted on everything, really annoying sometimes. This is one of those times. Davies appropriates another’s ideas (Carol Cleland’s), arguing that we should look for a “second kind of life” on earth. Then he appropriates yet another’s work (Philippa Uwin’s work on nanobes),… Continue Reading
Creationism and Intelligent Design Another ID knockdown, by Sarkar 8 Jun 200918 Sep 2017 Intelligent design (ID) is perhaps the most widely-discussed non-idea of all time. There seem to be three reasons why real scholars discuss it: 1. It is historically an idea that had influence on intellectual history, up to, say, 1860 2. It is an idea that needs to be discussed because… Continue Reading
Science Homeopathy is dereliction of a duty of care 5 Jun 2009 In a rather upsetting case in Australia, two Indian homepathic parents (I do not mean that they parented by diluting contact) have been convicted of failing to render a duty of care to their 9 month old daughter, who died from an infection caused by eczema. They treated their daughter… Continue Reading
History The Times purveys some science myths 4 Jun 2009 This is just bad reporting and scholarship. Probably done to fill some space in a hurry or something. Hannah Devlin is claiming that there are several cases of scientific plagiarism including, you guessed, Darwin from Wallace. They claim Copernicus stole from a Persian astronomer, al-Tusi, becuase the same diagrams were… Continue Reading
Evolution Quetelet and the origin of statistical and population thinking 4 Jun 2009 Adolphe Quetelet is a much overlooked figure in the history of scientific methodology: he marked that populations had distributed properties that were largely constant, even though individuals varied in ways that seemed indeterminate. He noted that hat sizes and belt sizes were constantly distributed in different samples. Will Thomas at… Continue Reading
Administrative What I have been doing lately, and why 30 May 2009 It seems like only yesterday that we moved to these new digs, when in actual fact it’s a few days before yesterday. But I have been busy in real life, which is an uncommon occurence (having a real life, I mean), so I have not blogged as well or deeply… Continue Reading
Media Plagiarism, citations, and fact checking 26 May 200922 Jun 2018 Some interesting things in the web lately. One is a new system that purports to find cases of plagiarism. Science reports on the new Dèjá Vu database [news summary here; both behind the Science paywall; check this and this if you don’t have access], which checks content of science papers… Continue Reading
Philosophy Burke on Definition 25 May 2009 I was discussing whether science or religion can be defined, when I was reminded of this: No lines can be laid down for civil or political wisdom. They are incapable of exact definition. But, though no man can draw a stroke between the confines of day and night, yet light… Continue Reading
Evolution No, it’s not an ancestor either (probably) 19 May 200918 Sep 2017 In addition to the “missing link” trope that is being dished out about the new primate fossil, is another one, more subtle and insidious: it’s the ancestor of all primates. How do they know that? Consider a biologically realistic scenario: at the time there were probably hundreds of species of… Continue Reading