Archive for September, 2007
Posted in Atheism, Extended, literature
September 27, 2007 at 8:00 am
Sorry for the lack of updates, folks. I was across the country for a wedding and this entire month has gotten away from me.
Last night I went to see Terry Pratchett talk and sign his new book, Making Money. When someone asked him about his writing process, he said “never have the entire book figured out before you’re done writing it. I used to say ‘Leave room for acts of god’ but someone hit me over the head with a Richard Dawkins book, so now I say ‘Leave room for emergent behavior’.”
Posted in Atheism, Blurb, Democracy
September 17, 2007 at 5:22 pm
State Senator Ernie Chambers is suing God. [...] Chambers lawsuit, which was filed on Friday in Douglas County Court, seeks a permanent injunction ordering God to cease certain harmful activities and the making of terroristic threats. [...] In the lawsuit Chambers says he’s tried to contact God numerous times, “Plaintiff, despite reasonable efforts to effectuate personal service upon Defendant (“Come out, come out, wherever you are”) has been unable to do so.” Link to article.
Posted in Academic Life, Blurb, Philosophy
September 16, 2007 at 9:02 pm
“In philosophy, one can reasonably claim that there has been no meaningful progress since Plato. For a physicist to say the same thing about Newton would be absurd.”… link to Why are We Here? in the Boston Globe
Posted in Books, Media
September 16, 2007 at 7:19 pm
“If Manuel is really gone, his departure will strain friendships, destroy others. Some lovers may part. And all those acquaintances, all the people who are just becoming friends, who are just beginning to exchange phone numbers, meet for meals on weekdays, swap books, slip notes and photos under each other’s doors, learn about the sticky stuff that stayed on your hand for three days when you were five, share the good drugs they’ve been keeping for special occasionas, talk about comic books starring people from Jupiter, have dinner on weekends, sleep together, move to the Gulf Coast and have beautiful children… all those people who are so close to this, their toes right on the edge, those chances will be taken away from them, just like that. It’s a terrible thing when someone goes.” … Brian Francis Slattery (includes a link to chapter one online)… at Powells.com
Posted in Evolution, Extended, Philosophy, Science
September 11, 2007 at 6:46 pm
Sad news:
He knew his colors and shapes, he learned more than 100 English words, and with his own brand of one-liners he established himself in television shows, scientific reports and news articles as perhaps the world’s most famous talking bird.
But last week Alex, an African gray parrot, died, apparently of natural causes, said Dr. Irene Pepperberg, a comparative psychologist at Brandeis University and Harvard who studied and worked with the parrot for most of his life and published reports of his progress in scientific journals. The parrot was 31.
I first learned about Alex as an undergraduate in a cognitive ethology class. The controversial nature of his abilities has never been settled, as far as I know, but he remains an important anomaly in the field of cognitive science. I have no idea if this parrot was capable of generating human language or not, but damn is it exciting to ponder the question.
Link to NY Times obituary for Alex
Posted in Books, Evolution, Media, Science
September 11, 2007 at 6:37 pm
“When most people think of torturers, stalkers, robbers, rapists, and murderers, they imagine crazed, drooling monsters, with maniacal Charles Manson-like eyes. The calm, normal-looking image staring back at you from the bathroom mirror reflects a truer representation. My dangerous idea is that all of us contain, within our large brains, adaptations whose functions are to commit despicable atrocities against our fellow humans – atrocities that most would label evil.” David Buss in John Brockman (ed)… at Powells.com
Posted in Books, Media, Philosophy, Science
September 11, 2007 at 6:25 pm
“I believe, but cannot prove, that babies and young children are actually more conscious, more vividly aware of their external world and internal life, than adults are.” – Alison Gopnik in John Brockman (ed)… at Powells.com
Posted in Evolution, Extended, Philosophy, Science
September 9, 2007 at 7:18 pm
A ridiculously over-simplified article over at Time recently made the following claim:
The question of exactly what it is that makes humans special, in short, may be on the way to being solved.
The claim was based on this:
Chimps are smart, but humans are a lot smarter. Until now, there have been two competing ideas to explain why. The general-intelligence theory says that our bigger and more complex brains give us an overall edge. The cultural-intelligence hypothesis, by contrast, says that humans have specific areas of intelligence where we excel; our brains are not just bigger, but also better than those of our nearest evolutionary relatives.A new study, published Thursday in Science, makes a strong case that the second theory is the right one.
[. . .]
But when it came to “social learning” tasks — such as understanding how to solve a problem by watching someone else do it, figuring out someone else’s state of mind from their actions, or using nonverbal communication to explain or understand how to find something — the kids made monkeys of the apes.
Well, problem solved!
I actually found a nice book that does a fantastic job reviewing the literature that covers all of these sorts of studies, called “Apes, Monkeys, Children, and the Growth of Mind,” by Juan Carlos Gomez. Here’s a link to a review, and my own review of it should be available any day on the website of the journal Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences (no idea if it will be available freely or only with subscription). Regardless of my criticisms, the book is a wonderful review of the literature. And I strongly encourage people to read it rather than Time’s ridiculous optimism.
Posted in Books, Media
September 7, 2007 at 12:18 pm
“That evening the Chevalier Tialys, the Gallivespian spy, made his way through the lanes and alleys of Geneva to meet his colleague, the Lady Salmakia. It was a dangerous journey for both of them: dangerous for anyone or anything that challenged them, too, but certainly full of peril for the small Gallivespians. More than one prowling cat had met its death at their spurs, but only the week before, the Chevalier had nearly lost an arm to the teeth of a mangy dog; only the Lady’s swift action had saved him.” … Phillip Pullman… at Powells.com
Posted in Extended, Site Admin, mastheads
September 7, 2007 at 11:22 am
A few days late with the change of scenery. I apologize! This month’s masthead comes from this un-retouched photograph I took in May at the Municipal Rose Garden in Eugene, Oregon. I need to start photographing something other than flowers around here. Maybe next month.. robots!