The Velvet Underground of… 8 Oct 2010 Recently there have been a couple of “Velvet Underground” posts, of the kind that the VU were a very unknown but amazingly influential group. As Chad Orzel says, “only of order a thousand people bought the first Velvet Underground record, but every one of them went on to start a band.” He identifies the VU of physics as Sadi Carnot. Larry Moran identifies Max Delbrück as the VU of molecular genetics (and a great choice it is too). But this is a meme! We can uselessly pass this on! Who are the VUs of other disciplines and topics? I’m going to identify Otto Neurath as the VU of the philosophy of science. Do you have a VU? Biology General Science History Humor Philosophy Science HistoryPhilosophy
Humor On seeing Storm 17 Oct 2010 I do not often envy my good friend PZ NamebeginningwithM. Sure, he has the associate professorship, the Trophy Wife™, the millions of readers and most of all the Minions. But I am above all that. I am humble, and devoid of unwarranted certainties. And money. I can even forgive him… Read More
Biology New SEP article on innateness 7 Aug 2009 Speaking of Paul Griffiths, who were were just a little while back, he has a new essay up at the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: The Distinction between Innate and Acquired Characteristics. This is a crucial issue in biology, psychology, and even the law and social science. So this is a… Read More
Humor Teh LOLCat Bible 4 Oct 2007 LOLCats are one of those things you either hate or hate really really a lot. But the idea of translating the entire Bible into LOLCatese? Priceless. Someone has way too much spare time (and will we see battles fought over the Auterised Bibel translation versus the VulgarCat version? I hope… Read More
What’s the difference between being aVU of x and being an xer’s xer? I want to see some serious conceptual analysis here.
I just wanted to say that Max Delbrück seems like a character from either a Mel Brooks or Steve Martin movie.