Politics Competition for public funds 26 May 201126 May 2011 Ever wondered why education, research, health care and public infrastructure is being wound back across the western world? This chart, from here, on the American debt, suggests why: In the competition between various calls on the public purse, it looks like the military and the plutocracy have won out. We… Continue Reading
Australian stuff Australian scientists resign from Murray-Darling Water commission due to a lack of heed 21 May 2011 I don’t usually post these announcements, but GetUp are reliable and on target. Today it was revealed that key scientists have walked away from the government’s Murray Darling Basin Authority process in protest. Right now the Murray Darling Basin Authority is in the final stages of recommending how to deal… Continue Reading
Administrative A new comment policy? 6 May 2011 From Barry Ritholz’s blog Please use the comments to demonstrate your own ignorance, unfamiliarity with empirical data, ability to repeat discredited memes, and lack of respect for scientific knowledge. Also, be sure to create straw men and argue against things I have neither said nor even implied. Any irrelevancies you… Continue Reading
Academe Time to re-evaluate higher education 2 May 201122 Jun 2018 When my grandfather was a boy of 14, he started a career as a fireman that led to him being the chief of the Melbourne Metropolitan Fire Brigade in the 1930s. While he did this he gained an engineer’s certificate, but he was working, earning and building a career. He… Continue Reading
Academe Us, them and the real issue 21 Apr 2011 I think I need to clear the air a bit. In the Synthese posts I have been defending the authors of the special issue to which I contributed. Some may think this has to do with my agreeing with them. I happen to, in the main, but I do not… Continue Reading
Academe Did Synthese bow to Intelligent Design pressure? 14 Apr 20114 Oct 2017 A while back I published a paper in a special edition of Synthese on “Evolution and its rivals”. My paper was titled “Are Creationists Rational?” in which I argued that yes, in a bounded sense they are. I was very pleased to be invited to publish in this front rank… Continue Reading
Australian stuff On the Greens, Israel, and the fallacy of composition 4 Apr 20114 Apr 2011 This is likely to upset some people. I apologise in advance. It is also about Australian politics. In Australia recently, the Greens have been making up a lot of ground, becoming in some electorates the second most popular party after the conservative Liberal Party. Consequently the two “major” (one now… Continue Reading
Politics Secular atheist radical Islamists 30 Mar 2011 So, the man responsible for Republican obstructionism, and confirmed adulterer, Newt Gingrich, has declared that “if we do not decisively win the struggle over the nature of America, by the time [my grandchildren are] my age they will be in a secular atheist country, potentially one dominated by radical Islamists… Continue Reading
History Turtles all the way down 28 Mar 201122 Jun 2018 There is a story, often told about the philosopher William James: One day when the philosopher William James, who had a liking for scientific popularization, had just finished explaining in a small American town how the earth revolved around the sun, he saw, according to the anecdote, an elderly lady… Continue Reading
Censorship Statism and Wikileaks 20 Dec 2010 So, I have not said much about Wikileaks because it is as discussed a topic as can be, but I’m feeling curmudgeonly, so here goes. Regular programming will resume after this rant. Dogs gotta howl, cats gotta kill small things, and states gotta act like secretive bastards. And woe betide… Continue Reading