Archive for October, 2006
Monday, October 23rd, 2006
A Student’s Take on The End of Science?
Suhas Sreedhar wrote the following in response to our event last Wednesday, “The End of Science?”. The remarks are addressed to John Horgan.
Your opening and statement/rebuttal of objections I thought were very good, not only because I tend to agree with your point of view for the most part, but also because in answering those 9 objections, you really made clear what you mean by the end of
No Comments » - Posted in The Scientific Curmudgeon by admin
Wednesday, October 11th, 2006
Schrodinger’s Maul
A week ago Sunday (October 1), Bryan Curtis’ review of Schrodinger’s Ball, by Adam Felber, appeared in The New York Times Book Review. Curtis takes an informal, almost comic tone, presumably following Felber’s, and so forgives Felber’s “cheerful negligence” with a wave of the hand. “Anyone who ever napped through Physics 101,” Curtis writes, “will be grateful for [Felber’s] nonchalance.” Maybe. More likely, Felber is grateful
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Friday, October 6th, 2006
Our Peter Woit Interview or, Jim’s Stab at String Theory
I posted John’s interview with Peter Woit, of Not Even Wrong fame, last week, and I’ve been struggling to write something by way of introduction ever since. So, take a look at the video. Woit’s thoughts on the publication process and his peer review and his advice for young physicists are particularly worthwhile. But as for the argument(s) against string theory? I think
17 Comments » - Posted in The Scientific Curmudgeon by admin
Tuesday, October 3rd, 2006
The New CSW Blog!
The Center for Science Writings has a new blogging project, which we hope will reflect a broader spectrum of the thoughts and opinions of the faculty and staff here at the CSW. John Horgan’s blog, the Scientific Curmudgeon is now inactive (John will continue blogging on his own at Horganism, a blog hosted by Discover Magazine); the new blog will be a joint project between me, John, Professor Lisa Dolling, Margaret Maghan, and others. Hopefully this project will serve as a sounding board for a variety of ideas and criticism, from many several perspective. Feedback is much appreciated.
6 Comments » - Posted in Housekeeping by admin