Thursday, November 29, 2007
 

(3089/898) Faith in science

1903) We are hearing these days, more and more, the claim that science is no less an act of faith than is religion, and that far too many of us are using science today much as the church was used in the Middle Ages, as a repository, albeit a latter-day one, of all truth, hope, and knowledge. Science, or rather scientism, is the new god.

It's a message we're going to hear a lot more of. [...] It is an important and necessary cautionary tale, dangerous as it doubtless is when employed by those who fear science because they fear reason itself.

[...] The necessity of being on guard to not allow science and its findings to become our new faith and scientists our new high priests is one almost all scientists would fervently endorse. In fact, they would plead with us to do so. For those who faith in science is founded on a high respect for reason, and not a high respect for one's own particular reasons, the need for drastic and continual assessment is vital. Science cannot become a religion if it remains scientific. Science can never be certain. It must doubt everything: itself most of all. Religions, transcendent or earthbound, can't do that.
Paul Estling
"Faith in Science" in
Skeptical Inquirer (July/August 1996)

1904) Science was never neutral. It cannot be neutral. Anything that forces us to think cannot be neutral. Reason, rationality, are never neutral.
Paul Estling
"Faith in Science" in
Skeptical Inquirer (July/August 1996)

1905) [P]hilosophy is to science what pornography is to sex: it is cheaper, easier, and some people seem, baffingly, to prefer it.
Steve Jones
"The Set Within The Skull"
New York Review of Books (11/6/1997)
quoted (in part) by Paul Estling
"Faith in Science" in
Skeptical Inquirer (July/August 1996)
[Note: This remark appears to be one that Jones has made or referred to on a number of occasions. The earliest citation I've found is in "Can Science Save Its Soul?" by Mary Midgley in the August 1, 1992 issue of The New Scientist, from Scientifically Speaking: A Dictionary of Quotations (2000), edited by Carl C. Gaither and Alma E. Cavazos-Gaither]
Note: "3089/898" is the designation I've given to the project of posting all my collected quotes, excerpts and ideas (3089 of them) in the remaining days of the Bush administration (of which there were 898 left when I began).

As of today, there are 417 days remaining in the administration of the worst American President ever.

Ed Fitzgerald | 11/29/2007 01:41:00 AM | | | del.icio.us | GO: TOP OF HOME PAGE


Tuesday, November 27, 2007
 

(3089/898) Skeptical frissons

1902) FRSNs (frissons)

Who/what are FRSNs? Shorthand for critical thinking tools: tests and rules.
  • F - FiLCHeRS - an acronym coined by James Lett (1990). The capital letters stand for Falsifiability, Logic, Comprehensiveness, Honesty, Replicability, Sufficiency.


  • R - Rules by Milton A. Rothman (1990):

    1. Don't believe everything you read or hear.

    2. Cast a cold eye on studies and experiments from which different works elicit different answers.

    3. If a claim is made for a phenomenon that violates one or more of the laws of nature, be doubly cautious.

    4. Be skeptical of the opinions of experts outside their areas of expertise.

    5. Be wary of scientists (and economists and theologians) who fall madly in love with their own theories.

  • S - Professor Dorothy U. Seyler's "logical fallacies" from Read, Reason, Write (1984); Generalization tests include causes of illogic: egos, prejudices, resistance to change, a need for answers. Fallacies resulting from oversimplifying encompass:

    • errors in generalizing

    • the forced hypothesis

    • non sequitur

    • slippery slope

    • false dilemma

    • false analogy

    • post hoc fallacy

    • begging the question

    • circular reasoning

    • red herring

    • straw man

    • ad hominem

    • appeal to authority

    • common practice / bandwagon

  • N - Professor Paul Nickel's rules - drawn from life:

    Admit ignorance and reserve judgment; irreverence is the beginning of learning and provides good perspective for models. If everyone believes it, it's probably wrong. Ask for evidence and test it. Evaluate tradeoffs - there must be tradeoffs. Look for counterintuitive evidence. Find the appropriate expert for testing evidence - scientists versus magicians to test paranormal claims? (Definitions, words, symbols, and evidence tests are all that stand between us and burning witches.)
Paul Nickel with Nancy Shelton
"Wait! I've Changed My Mind" in
Skeptical Inquirer (July/August 1996)
[citing James Lett "A field guide to critical
thinking
" in Skeptical Inquirer (Fall 1990);
Milton A. Rothman "Cold fusion: A case history in
'wishful science"?" in Skeptical Inquirer (Winter 1990)
and Read, Reason, Write (1984) by Dorothy U. Seyler
[Note: See #2037 Sagan]

Note: "3089/898" is the designation I've given to the project of posting all my collected quotes, excerpts and ideas (3089 of them) in the remaining days of the Bush administration (of which there were 898 left when I began).

As of today, there are 419 days remaining in the administration of the worst American President ever.

Ed Fitzgerald | 11/27/2007 10:14:00 PM | | | del.icio.us | GO: TOP OF HOME PAGE

 

(3089/898) From Kurtz

Paul Kurtz
1899) Perhaps we ought not to assume that the scientific enlightenment will continue indefinitely; for all we know, like the Hellenic civilization, it may be overwhelmed by irrationalism, subjectivism, and obscurantism. Perhaps antiscientific and pseudoscientific irrationalism is only a passing fashion; yet one of the best ways to deal with it is for the scientific and educational community to respond - in a responsible manner - to its alarming growth.
Paul Kurtz
statement, signed by "many distinguished
scientists, scholars and skeptics",
announcing the formation of the Committee
to Scientifically Investigate Paranormal
and Other Phenomenon (later changed to
the Committee for the Scientific Investigation
of Claims of the Paranormal [CSICOP]) (April 30, 1976)
quoted by Paul Kurtz in
"From The Chairman: CSICOP at Twenty" in
Skeptical Inquirer (July/August 1996)

1900) In no small measure, the epidemic of paranormal beliefs is due to the rapid emergence of the mass media on a global scale. These media have virtually replaced the schools, colleges,and universities as the chief conveyers of information. The days of the lone scientist conducting research in the lab or of the isolated scholar writing a paper or a book for a limited audience have been bypassed. Today new ideas are popularized - whether half- or fully baked - and they are broadcast far and wide even if they have not been sufficiently tested. Apparently the chief interests of most media conglomerates are entertainment rather than truth, selling products rather than contributing to the sum of human knowledge. Accordingly, paranormal ideas are pandered to a gullible public and the line between fiction and reality is blurred.
Paul Kurtz
"From The Chairman: CSICOP at Twenty" in
Skeptical Inquirer (July/August 1996)

1901) Belief in the paranormal is the poetic equivalent of religion. We live in a culture where any criticism of the uncorroborated claims of religion are generally considered to be ill-advised or in bad taste. [...] The popularity of the paranormal worldview, I submit, is a manifestation of what I call the transcendental temptation, the tendency of human beings to wish to penetrate the hidden depths of an alleged transcendental reality that cannot be known by using the methods of scientific inquiry. In my view this is a reversion to primitive forms of magical thinking. That is why it is often so difficult to cope with paranormal beliefs, for we are dealing with faith and conviction, not testable theories or hypotheses. This perhaps explains why there is often so much animosity toward science in large sectors of the population, and why antiscientific irrationalism at times overwhelms the dispassionate standards of scientific inquiry. Too many people find the scientific attitude too demanding and rigorous; they want something easier to ingest.
Paul Kurtz
"From The Chairman: CSICOP at Twenty" in
Skeptical Inquirer (July/August 1996)

Note: "3089/898" is the designation I've given to the project of posting all my collected quotes, excerpts and ideas (3089 of them) in the remaining days of the Bush administration (of which there were 898 left when I began).

As of today, there are 419 days remaining in the administration of the worst American President ever.

Ed Fitzgerald | 11/27/2007 09:53:00 PM | | | del.icio.us | GO: TOP OF HOME PAGE

 

(3089/898) Always with us

1898) In America, at least, we can probably get away with inverting the Bible verse - one way or another, "the rich are always with us."
Tom Dillingham
posted on [PKD] (8/9/1996)
Sources

[PKD] - Internet Philip K. Dick mailing list



Note: "3089/898" is the designation I've given to the project of posting all my collected quotes, excerpts and ideas (3089 of them) in the remaining days of the Bush administration (of which there were 898 left when I began).

As of today, there are 419 days remaining in the administration of the worst American President ever.

Ed Fitzgerald | 11/27/2007 01:16:00 AM | | | del.icio.us | GO: TOP OF HOME PAGE

 

(3089/898) Vidpoint

1896) I feel compelled to suggest a new word for the lexicon of the 90's. The word (which I wish I could take credit for coining) is "vidpoint." Definition: The point at which one has the same number of unwatched hours recorded on videotape as one has left to live.
Celia Bressack
letter to the editor in
Sunday New York Times Art & Leisure Section (7/21/1996)

1897) HOW TO ARGUE EFFECTIVELY. Simply follow these rules:
  • Drink liquor. ...

  • Make things up. ... NOTE: Always make up exact figures. ...

  • Use meaningless but weighty-sounding words and phrases. ...

  • Use snappy and irrelevant comebacks. ...

  • Compare your opponent to Adolf Hitler. ...
So that's it. You now know how to out-argue anybody. Do not try to pull any of this on people who generally carry weapons.
Stuart J. Williams
"How To Argue Effectively"
Thomasina Ring, personal e-mail (8/2/1996)

Note: "3089/898" is the designation I've given to the project of posting all my collected quotes, excerpts and ideas (3089 of them) in the remaining days of the Bush administration (of which there were 898 left when I began).

As of today, there are 419 days remaining in the administration of the worst American President ever.

Ed Fitzgerald | 11/27/2007 12:56:00 AM | | | del.icio.us | GO: TOP OF HOME PAGE


Monday, November 26, 2007
 

(3089/898) Three artistic judgments

The Clash
1893) [P]unk was so new that its formal ideas remain fruitful to this day. It distilled from the heedless drive and abrasive electric guitars of the "just rock-and-roll" of the 50's and 60's a bravely imagined popular response - angry hilarious, incisive, any two, all three, and more - to post-industrial desperation. That desperation was enough to drive some of its creators to self-destruction. Others merely bulled or romped or joked or muddled or suffered through. But every one was possessed by a musical intuition. And the product of that intuition was and remains an antidote to desperation for all of us with ears to hear it.
Robert Christgau
"All The Young Punks" in
New York Times Book Review (7/28/1996)
[review of Please Kill Me (1996) by
Legs McNeill and Gilliam McCain]

1894) I felt negatively about what seemed to me to be the political implications [of a performance of Glenn Branca's piece for 9 heavily amplified guitars and drums, ["Indeterminate Activity of Resultant Masses"]. I wouldn't want to live in a society like that, in which someone would be requiring other people to do such an intense thing together. [...] I don't think that the image of that power and intention and determination would make a society that I would want to continue living in. [...] If it was something political, it would resemble fascism. [...] I much prefer the thinking of Thoreau, of anarchy, of freedom from such intention.
John Cage
quoted by Cole Gagne in
Sonic Transports - New Frontiers in Our Music (1990)
posted by David Beardsley [AMB] (8/4/1996)
[Note: An interesting comment from Cage, if rather misguided. The Branca piece is, after all, a musical composition intended as a sonic experience and not a blueprint for a new society, and the musicians participating in it are no more compelled to perform it than any other musician hired to play their instruments. Cage might as well complain that if Branca's composition was a food it would be steak and potatoes, and he doesn't like steak and potatoes. See also #1672 Cage.]
1895) The worlds through which Philip Dick's characters move are subject to cancellation or revision without notice. Reality is approximately as dependable as a politician's promise.
Roger Zelazny
in Philip Dick: Electric Shepherd (1975)
Bruce Gillespie, ed.
"sig" (signature) Andrew R Toft [PKD] (7/28/1996)

Sources

[AMB] - Internet Ambient Music mailing list
[PKD] - Internet Philip K. Dick mailing list



Note: "3089/898" is the designation I've given to the project of posting all my collected quotes, excerpts and ideas (3089 of them) in the remaining days of the Bush administration (of which there were 898 left when I began).

As of today, there are 420 days remaining in the administration of the worst American President ever.

Ed Fitzgerald | 11/26/2007 11:55:00 PM | | | del.icio.us | GO: TOP OF HOME PAGE


Sunday, November 25, 2007
 

Friday Photography: Greek Church Silhouette


click to enlarge
Daryl Samuel

Location: Paros, Greece

Previous: Photos posted in 2006 / 2007: Pagoda / Ferry / Sand Tracks / General Store / Taverna Tables / Finger Piano / Bridge at Sunset / Snowfall in Cambridge / Boats / Grandma in Motion / Museum Silhouette / Brooklyn Bridge / Seascape / City Hall / Santa Fe Hotel / Lunch Break / Low Rider / Giant Crab Invades Boston! / East Meets West / Building Reflections / Flatiron Spring / Hands With Glasses / Fishing Net / Steps / Oil and Vinegar / Gas Station / Brooklyn Bridge in Sepia / Windmill on the Paralia / Santa Fe Art / Island Time / Battleship Rock / Copper Mine / Slide! / Playing Piano / Underground Cistern / Broken Windmill / Forked River / Manhattan Bridge / Hot Air Balloon / Island Engine / Park Reflections / Sultan Ahmed Mosque / Clasped Hands / Washing the Boat / Central Park Bridge / Lake Reflections

Note: The original scan of this photographs had many flaws in it that were artifacts of the scanner used, and it took quite a bit of manipulation on my part to make an version of it which was acceptable for posting. On January 21, 2008 when a new and better scan became available, I substituted for the version made from the older scan this current version, which more accurately reflects the photographer's intent and the existing print. - Ed Fitzgerald

Ed Fitzgerald | 11/25/2007 09:44:00 PM | | | del.icio.us | GO: TOP OF HOME PAGE







by

Ed Fitzgerald

Clowns to the left of me,
Jokers to the right,
Here I am...
site feed
2008 rules of thumb
Progressive populism!
Economic insecurity is key
Restore the balance
Cast the candidate
Persona is important
Calm,calming,assured,reassuring
Iraq, not "national security"
Prefer governors over senators
recent posts
bush countdown
oblique strategies
recent comments
some links
baseball
storm watch
(click for larger image,
refresh page to update)


topics
a progressive slogan
Fairness, progress and prosperity, because we're all in this together.

"I had my own blog for a while, but I decided to go back to just pointless, incessant barking."
(Alex Gregory - The New Yorker)
new york city
another progressive slogan
The greatest good for the greatest number, with dignity for all.
reference & fact check
iraq
write me
reciprocity
evolution v. creationism
humanism, skepticism
& progressive religiosity
more links
election prediction
HOUSE
Democrats 230 (+27) - Republicans 205

Actual:
Democrats 233 (+30) - Republicans 201 - TBD 1 [FL-13]

SENATE
Democrats 50 (+5) - Republicans 50

Actual:
Democrats 51 (+6) - Republicans 49

ELECTION PROJECTIONS SURVEY
netroots candidates
unfutz
awards and nominations
Never a bridesmaid...

...and never a bride, either!!

what I've been reading
Martin van Creveld - The Transformation of War

Jay Feldman - When the Mississippi Ran Backwards

Martin van Creveld - The Rise and Decline of the State

Alfred W. Crosby - America's Forgotten Pandemic (1989)
bush & company are...
absolutist
aggresive
anti-Constitutional
anti-intellectual
arrogant
authoritarian
blame-placers
blameworthy
blinkered
buckpassers
calculating
class warriors
clueless
compassionless
con artists
conniving
conscienceless
conspiratorial
corrupt
craven
criminal
crooked
culpable
damaging
dangerous
deadly
debased
deceitful
delusional
despotic
destructive
devious
disconnected
dishonorable
dishonest
disingenuous
disrespectful
dogmatic
doomed
fanatical
fantasists
felonious
hateful
heinous
hostile to science
hypocritical
ideologues
ignorant
immoral
incompetent
indifferent
inflexible
insensitive
insincere
irrational
isolated
kleptocratic
lacking in empathy
lacking in public spirit
liars
mendacious
misleading
mistrustful
non-rational
not candid
not "reality-based"
not trustworthy
oblivious
oligarchic
opportunistic
out of control
pernicious
perverse
philistine
plutocratic
prevaricating
propagandists
rapacious
relentless
reprehensible
rigid
scandalous
schemers
selfish
secretive
shameless
sleazy
tricky
unAmerican
uncaring
uncivil
uncompromising
unconstitutional
undemocratic
unethical
unpopular
unprincipled
unrealistic
unreliable
unrepresentative
unscientific
unscrupulous
unsympathetic
venal
vile
virtueless
warmongers
wicked
without integrity
wrong-headed

Thanks to: Breeze, Chuck, Ivan Raikov, Kaiju, Kathy, Roger, Shirley, S.M. Dixon
recently seen
Island in the Sky (1952)

Robot Chicken

The Family Guy

House M.D. (2004-7)
i've got a little list...
Elliott Abrams
Steven Abrams (Kansas BofE)
David Addington
Howard Fieldstead Ahmanson
Roger Ailes (FNC)
John Ashcroft
Bob Bennett
William Bennett
Joe Biden
John Bolton
Alan Bonsell (Dover BofE)
Pat Buchanan
Bill Buckingham (Dover BofE)
George W. Bush
Saxby Chambliss
Bruce Chapman (DI)
Dick Cheney
Lynne Cheney
Richard Cohen
The Coors Family
Ann Coulter
Michael Crichton
Lanny Davis
Tom DeLay
William A. Dembski
James Dobson
Leonard Downie (WaPo)
Dinesh D’Souza
Gregg Easterbrook
Jerry Falwell
Douglas Feith
Arthur Finkelstein
Bill Frist
George Gilder
Newt Gingrich
John Gibson (FNC)
Alberto Gonzalez
Rudolph Giuliani
Sean Hannity
Katherine Harris
Fred Hiatt (WaPo)
Christopher Hitchens
David Horowitz
Don Imus
James F. Inhofe
Jesse Jackson
Philip E. Johnson
Daryn Kagan
Joe Klein
Phil Kline
Ron Klink
William Kristol
Ken Lay
Joe Lieberman
Rush Limbaugh
Trent Lott
Frank Luntz


"American Fundamentalists"
by Joel Pelletier
(click on image for more info)


Chris Matthews
Mitch McConnell
Stephen C. Meyer (DI)
Judith Miller (ex-NYT)
Zell Miller
Tom Monaghan
Sun Myung Moon
Roy Moore
Dick Morris
Rupert Murdoch
Ralph Nader
John Negroponte
Grover Norquist
Robert Novak
Ted Olson
Elspeth Reeve (TNR)
Bill O'Reilly
Martin Peretz (TNR)
Richard Perle
Ramesh Ponnuru
Ralph Reed
Pat Robertson
Karl Rove
Tim Russert
Rick Santorum
Richard Mellon Scaife
Antonin Scalia
Joe Scarborough
Susan Schmidt (WaPo)
Bill Schneider
Al Sharpton
Ron Silver
John Solomon (WaPo)
Margaret Spellings
Kenneth Starr
Randall Terry
Clarence Thomas
Richard Thompson (TMLC)
Donald Trump
Richard Viguere
Donald Wildmon
Paul Wolfowitz
Bob Woodward (WaPo)
John Yoo
guest-blogging
All the fine sites I've
guest-blogged for:




Be sure to visit them all!!
recent listening
Smash Mouth - Summer Girl

Poulenc - Piano Music

Pop Ambient 2007
influences
John Adams
Laurie Anderson
Aphex Twin
Isaac Asimov
Fred Astaire
J.G. Ballard
The Beatles
Busby Berkeley
John Cage
"Catch-22"
Raymond Chandler
Arthur C. Clarke
Elvis Costello
Richard Dawkins
Daniel C. Dennett
Philip K. Dick
Kevin Drum
Brian Eno
Fela
Firesign Theatre
Eliot Gelwan
William Gibson
Philip Glass
David Gordon
Stephen Jay Gould
Dashiell Hammett
"The Harder They Come"
Robert Heinlein
Joseph Heller
Frank Herbert
Douglas Hofstadter
Bill James
Gene Kelly
Stanley Kubrick
Jefferson Airplane
Ursula K. LeGuin
The Marx Brothers
John McPhee
Harry Partch
Michael C. Penta
Monty Python
Orbital
Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger
"The Prisoner"
"The Red Shoes"
Steve Reich
Terry Riley
Oliver Sacks
Erik Satie
"Singin' in the Rain"
Stephen Sondheim
The Specials
Morton Subotnick
Talking Heads/David Byrne
Tangerine Dream
Hunter S. Thompson
J.R.R. Tolkien
"2001: A Space Odyssey"
Kurt Vonnegut
Yes
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Bullshit, trolling, unthinking knee-jerk dogmatism and the drivel of idiots will be ruthlessly deleted and the posters banned.

Entertaining, interesting, intelligent, informed and informative comments will always be welcome, even when I disagree with them.

I am the sole judge of which of these qualities pertains.


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I correct typos and other simple errors of grammar, syntax, style and presentation in my posts after the fact without necessarily posting notification of the change.

Substantive textual changes, especially reversals or major corrections, will be noted in an "Update" or a footnote.

Also, illustrations may be added to entries after their initial publication.
the story so far
unfutz: toiling in almost complete obscurity for almost 1500 days
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If you read unfutz at least once a week, without fail, your teeth will be whiter and your love life more satisfying.

If you read it daily, I will come to your house, kiss you on the forehead, bathe your feet, and cook pancakes for you, with yummy syrup and everything.

(You might want to keep a watch on me, though, just to avoid the syrup ending up on your feet and the pancakes on your forehead.)

Finally, on a more mundane level, since I don't believe that anyone actually reads this stuff, I make this offer: I'll give five bucks to the first person who contacts me and asks for it -- and, believe me, right now five bucks might as well be five hundred, so this is no trivial offer.

original content
© 2003-2008
Ed Fitzgerald

=o=

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but credit all you take.



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