More thoughts from Kevin Williamson.
[Friday-afternoon update]
Another piece at New Scientist. It’s a terrible idea.
[Bumped]
8 thoughts on “Rationalia”
Comments are closed.
More thoughts from Kevin Williamson.
[Friday-afternoon update]
Another piece at New Scientist. It’s a terrible idea.
[Bumped]
Comments are closed.
What I can’t stand about this issue is that people use it as an excuse to abandon… hope isn’t the right word? People should understand the butterfly effect and it’s importance and impact on planning… but not to abandon planning (or responsibility) or forgive irrationality as if we have no choices.
If butterfly wings have an impact, so do human actions. While consequences are unknowable in the details or magnified end results, we can have a reasonable understanding of short term results as well as a generally good idea of long term results.
Otherwise we’d have to agree that good results from bad choices allows us to justify bad choices.
A government based on “weight of evidence” … Would be loved by the usual suspects who habitually selectively filter, manipulate, and make up evidence from whole cloth. Some limit not so subject to the whims of humans is needed on government.
Step 3 is “The rational, logical, scientific thing to do is give all your money to Hillary Clinton.”
‘Dreams of my father’ is the first time I came across the idea that 100% tax was proposed as workable with the govt. ‘giving’ you what you ‘need.’
One of my least favorite things about Neal Stephenson’s uneven novel Seveneves is that the character that is obviously based on NdGT isn’t a total fuckup like the real NdGT.
Society is like a plant.
There’s no right way, just lots of variations on a theme.
Will they feature creepy Temples of Reason like in the old days?
*What* human beings want isn’t always rational. i.e sailing out of sight of land in a small boat, flying, spaceflight, bungy jumping etc. However the “means and methods” used to achieve human goals should be rational.
The social “scientist” in the New Scientist article seems to have no idea about what science really is. I’m forever grateful to my first high school physics teacher for driving home the point that it is a way of thinking for discovering the nature of the real world, by observation, theorizing and experiment to lend weight to or disprove hypotheses.