Lectures done! 22 Oct 2007 Today was the final lecture in my Introduction to Cognitive Science course. Thank the fates it is over. I started this having no real idea of the topic, never having taught what Americans are pleased to call “freshmen” and we call “first-years”, and with the first two lectures occurring in my absence as I was at a conference in the UK. So it has been a bit like surfing a wave of magma. Anyway, I dropped my hindbrain (17″ MacPowerBook G4) on Friday and shattered the LCD. This has made it hard to (i) prepare the lecture, (ii) give the lecture, and (iii) post blog entries. Now that I have time, and it is being repaired, I am to fix this. Administrative
Administrative Interesting past few days 9 Feb 20094 Oct 2017 Well, on Thursday night I was incredulous at a lecture by Steve Jones. On Friday night I met the fascinating Richard Grant from Our Competitor Blog Network, Nature Network. On Saturday I had a lovely lunch with my new colleagues at Sydney, and then proceeded to nearly drown while skin… Read More
Administrative Me-mail 21 May 2011 I hate moving, so the Universe has kindly arranged that I must do it around once per year. Despite having pared my possessions down to a begging bowl, loin cloth, and several thousand books, it is still a royal pain. But the worst aspect of it is that you have… Read More
Administrative Wilkins back in Portuguese 14 Aug 2008 Thanks to the editor of Trends in Ecology and Evolution, and the permissions department of Elsevier, my scientific blogging article is up again in Portuguese. At no cost! Thanks folks. João Carlos at Chi vó, non pó, translated it and hosts it. And it’s all legal and above board. Read More
I used to think it was a terrible thing that life was so unfair. Then I thought, ‘what if life *were* fair, and all of the terrible things that happen to us came because we really deserved them?’ Now I take great comfort in the general unfairness and hostility of the universe. Marcus Cole Babylon 5: A Late Delivery from Avalon (#3.13) (1996)
You don’t know the convenience of a laptop until you are without it, for whatever reason. Craig Venter has done some terrific work on DNA, and artificial life is getting closer. How will Philosophy handle that side of science?