Evolution Quotes: Twain on inference about the past 3 Apr 20123 Apr 2012 Now, if I wanted to be one of those ponderous scientific people, and “let on” to prove what had occurred in the remote past by what had occurred in a given time in the recent past, or what will occur in the far future by what has occurred in late years, what an opportunity is here! Geology never had such a chance, nor such exact data to argue from! Nor “development of species,” either! Glacial epochs are great things, but they are vague—vague. Please observe:— In the space of one hundred and seventy-six years the Lower Mississippi has shortened itself two hundred and forty-two miles. That is an average of a trifle over one mile and a third per year. Therefore, any calm person, who is not blind or idiotic, can see that in the old Oölitic Silurian period, just a million years ago next November, the Lower Mississippi River was upwards of one million three hundred thousand miles long, and stuck out over the Gulf of Mexico like a fishing rod. And by the same token any person can see that seven hundred and forty-two years from now the Lower Mississippi will be only a mile and three quarters long, and Cairo and New Orleans will have joined their sidewalks and be plodding comfortably along under a single mayor and a mutual board of aldermen. There is something fascinating about science. One gets such wholesale returns of conjecture out of such a trifling investment of fact. [Mark Twain, Life on the Mississippi, chapter 17, p208, Boston: James R. Osgood & Co., 1883] Epistemology History Philosophy Quotes Science
Evolution Are species life forms? 19 Jun 201719 Jun 2017 This is a section of my forthcoming revision to Species, presented here for comments that I can steal – umm, I mean for peer commentary. The philosophical ideas and terms of Wittgenstein have played an interesting and underappreciated role in the species debate: we saw Beckner appeal to family resemblance… Read More
Epistemology Classification and the DSM 24 Dec 201227 Jan 2013 More from my forthcoming book with Malte Ebach. Last post for the year, folks. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders This text, known by its acronym the DSM (-I, -II-, III or -IV, and -V due in 2013), is the main standard classification of mental illness and disorders… Read More
Evolution A good German site 4 Apr 2008 Evilunderthesun is a German language blog that recently did two things: totally demolished the “Nazism was caused by Darwin” trope, with generous quoting of mich, and educated me that the word for April fool in German is Aprilschmerz, which I really like. Tometheus (Prometheus’ and Epimetheus’ little brother, responsible for… Read More
Was this from the same book were he said, “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics”?
If we’re going for paleontology, I prefer this one: “Man has been here 32,000 years. That it took a hundred million years to prepare the world for him is proof that that is what it was done for. I suppose it is, I dunno. If the Eiffel Tower were now representing the world’s age, the skin of paint on the pinnacle-knob at its summit would represent man’s share of that age; and anybody would perceive that the skin was what the tower was built for. I reckon they would, I dunno.”
I used to have this quote as an exam question in a course I taught on experimental design. The students were instructed to identify the logical fallacy. You might be surprised at how many struggled with it. Then again, you might not!