Biology Counterintuition: Bdelloid Rotifers 1 Oct 2009 A while back, it was noticed that there was an “ancient asexual scandal” (Judson 1996): Bdelloid Rotifers. These are cool little animals that live in ponds and streams, but which go against the received wisdom that sex is a hedge against environmental challenges that asexual organisms cannot have without some… Continue Reading
Epistemology Tautology 7: Conclusions 6 Sep 2009 So to finish, I will repeat the conclusion, and then make some comments on Fodor’s attack on “Darwinism”. Here is the complete series: The tautology problem Tautology 1a: corrections Tautology 1b: Butler Tautology 2: The problem arises Tautology 3: The problem spreads Tautology 4: What is a tautology? Tautology 5a:… Continue Reading
Epistemology Definitions of atheism 24 Jun 200919 Apr 2013 I have religious friends, and atheist friends, and they both disagree with me on one point: my claim that I am not an atheist. My religious friends note that I lack a belief in God, and therefore I am not with them. My atheist friends note the same thing and… Continue Reading
Education Science Communication and the Business Model 22 Mar 2009 There are a lot of folk who think they have a handle on how to communicate science to the general public, and a lot of folk, mostly scientists, who think nobody else does. But I was reading Carl Zimmer’s twittering today, about Rebecca Skoot getting a column gig for a… Continue Reading
Politics On civil disagreement 21 Mar 2009 I am rather old fashioned, which is unsurprising since most of what I read dates from before the invention of the transistor. But I think that one can disagree with someone else without needing to call him an idiot: This is exactly why idiots like Matthew Nisbet, who continually call… Continue Reading
Truisms Truisms 6 13 Feb 2009 Truism 6: Apart from physical kinds like basic particles, everything is in flux Scholia: If we know things, we know them as temporary objects. An “object” is thus something within which change doesn’t trigger a change of equivalence class. We know changing things by knowing the rate of change, and… Continue Reading
Social evolution Truisms 5 18 Jan 200918 Sep 2017 Truism 5: One is only required (by our language games) to justify moral claims one or two levels Scholium*: Justifying moral claims is a language game in Wittgenstein’s sense, but only in a philosophical language game do we justify the justifications. That is why many people prefer to make God… Continue Reading
Social evolution Truisms 3 5 Jan 2009 Truism 3: Humans are moral because that is the nature of the species – moral is what humans do Corollary: Morality is not based on commands from on high Subcorollary: If God is dead, how could everything be permitted? We are still social apes. Corollary: The 95:95 Rule – 95%… Continue Reading
trashcan categorial A poem: Aubade by Philip Larkin 4 Jan 2009 This was brought to my attention by a reader on the alt.fan.pratchett group in response to an evangeliser there. Below the fold, it really asserts how I think of death (and identifies me thus as an Epicurean). Continue Reading
Truisms Truisms 2 31 Dec 2008 Truism 2: Nobody does anything they don’t want to, on balance Corollary: Everything we want to do has a neurological foundation Discuss Continue Reading