Archive for February, 2008
Wednesday, February 27th, 2008
Quick Hits
On Pinker’s “The Moral Instinct”
In addition to John’s criticism, I have some of my own. First, I reject the claim that aversion to rape and murder is universal. Sure, you can poll people from around the world, but you’re delusional if you think that in this day and age, when politics and impressions carry so much weight, that people will openly admit to enjoying torturing, raping, and killing. And emphasizing the fact that the polls span across religious divides is misleading when you realize that the Judeo-Christian religions have had a huge impact worldwide, even in places where they are not the dominant religion. One example would be Japan’s current prudish attitude toward sex. Japan was much more liberal about sex during the Edo Period, right before contact with the West (and exposure to Christianity). The situation is similar in places that are still predominantly Hindu and/or Buddhist.
3 Comments » - Posted in The Scientific Curmudgeon by Suhas Sreedhar
Wednesday, February 27th, 2008
X-Phi (Experimental Philosophy), Cont.
In my recent Bloggingheads.tv conversation with Joshua Knobe, a leader in the field of “experimental philosophy,” he presents cases that illustrate the quirks of our assignment of intentionality—and hence credit or blame—to others. In one case, a CEO adopts a plan solely on the basis of whether it will be profitable, and he insists that [...]
2 Comments » - Posted in The Scientific Curmudgeon by John Horgan
Tuesday, February 19th, 2008
A Critique of Pinker’s “Moral Instinct”
I mentioned in a recent post that my colleagues in the Stevens College of Arts & Letters have been mulling over what is, or should be, the relationship between the humanities and the sciences. A few weeks ago, we focused on a book that Jim McClellan, a historian at Stevens, is writing about the morally ambiguous role of science in pre-revolutionary France.
This week, we’re looking at “The Moral Instinct,” Steven Pinker’s recent article in the New York Times Magazine. I suggested examining Pinker’s piece as an example of science’s increasingly aggressive forays into humanities turf. How should we humanities folks react to these incursions? Should we welcome them, resist them, ignore them, or what? I can’t attend the CAL meeting, so I’m jotting down a few responses to Pinker’s essay here.
11 Comments » - Posted in The Scientific Curmudgeon by John Horgan
Monday, February 18th, 2008
X-phi on Bloggingheads.tv
In my latest appearance on Bloggingheads.tv I talk to Joshua Knobe (rhymes with Ode) about experimental philosophy, or X-phi, a movement he’s helping advance. This YouTube video of a burning armchair captures X-phi’s spirit. Josh and I also get into intentionality, morality, the asymmetry between doing good and doing bad, what distinguishes philosophy from science, [...]
4 Comments » - Posted in The Scientific Curmudgeon by John Horgan
Saturday, February 16th, 2008
Gary Taubes Video Up!
Our web-wizard Suhas Sreedhar has just posted video of Gary’s Taubes’s February 6 talk at Stevens, “Big Fat Lies,” which is based on his new book Good Calories, Bad Calories. We’re using Google video, which works pretty well. If you know of a better free system, please let us know. Also please pass the link [...]
9 Comments » - Posted in The Scientific Curmudgeon by John Horgan
Friday, February 15th, 2008
Big Fat Lies with Gary Taubes – 6 February 2008
Gary Taubes, an award-winning writer for Science, the New York Times Magazine and other publications, came to Stevens to discuss his controversial new bestseller, Good Calories, Bad Calories which argues that much of what we have been told about the relationship between body weight, diet and exercise is wrong.
No Comments » - Posted in Events, Multimedia by Rand HOPPE
Tuesday, February 12th, 2008
The Scientific Establishment as a Complex Disaster
For me, Gary Taubes’ talk last week revealed just how much bad science practices have become entrenched in the scientific establishment, and I wonder if it will ever be possible to extirpate such behavior without tearing down the entire system. Much like Taubes’ view of obesity being the cause, not the effect of overeating, I feel that scientific ineptitude and malfeasance (like this) aren’t the progenitors of a corrupt scientific establishment, but instead are the symptoms.
9 Comments » - Posted in The Scientific Curmudgeon by Suhas Sreedhar
Friday, February 8th, 2008
Gary Taubes, Continued
Yesterday the N.Y. Times ran a page-1 story by Gina Kolata headlined “Diabetes Study Partially Halted After Deaths.” “For decades,” Kolata writes, “researchers believed that if people with diabetes lowered their blood sugar to normal levels, they would no longer be at high risk of dying from heart disease. But a major federal study of [...]
3 Comments » - Posted in The Scientific Curmudgeon by John Horgan
Thursday, February 7th, 2008
Weighing Gary Taubes
Gary Taubes is one of the smartest, toughest, most fearless science writers in the business. Most science journalists are content merely to celebrate and explain the accomplishments of scientists. That’s not Gary’s style. He questions scientists’ claims and subjects them to rigorous scrutiny. If the claims seem dubious to him, he says so, no matter [...]
7 Comments » - Posted in The Scientific Curmudgeon by John Horgan
Tuesday, February 5th, 2008
Celebrating Versus Criticizing Science
What is, or should be, the attitude of scholars in the humanities toward science? Celebratory, critical or something in between? My colleagues in CAL, the College of Arts & Letters here at Stevens, have been mulling over this question in weekly bull sessions led by CAL’s dean, James C. McClellan III, a historian of science.
Last [...]
3 Comments » - Posted in The Scientific Curmudgeon by John Horgan
Friday, February 1st, 2008
Voting for Inflation
A final note on inflation, provoked by an email to me from Peter “”Not Even Wrong” Woit. Peter points out that in an essay in Nature Physics the bigshot cosmologist Michael Turner writes:
In a highly unscientific poll (taken during my summary talk) the audience was asked, is inflation essentially correct with some details to be [...]
8 Comments » - Posted in The Scientific Curmudgeon by John Horgan
Friday, February 1st, 2008
Inflation Clarification
In my last post I reported that the eminent physicist Paul Steinhardt has backed away from inflation and string theory, two theories which I categorize as “ironic” or–in the case of those who cling to them with extra tenacity–”pathological science.” Paul just sent me this response:
Hi, John, I had not imagined our discussion would inspire [...]