Leftists who falsely call themselves liberal believe it’s a dirty word. Because people who are allowed to make a profit aren’t dependent on them.
Category Archives: Philosophy
The Space Show
Bill Simon and I are going to be on tomorrow, at noon Pacific, to discuss our ceremony to commemorate the first moon landing, on the 45th anniversary. Boy does that make me feel old.
Freeman Dyson
Scientists And Philosophers
Why they need to talk to each other:
Most of climate science is in ‘shut up and calculate’ mode. This is a very dangerous place to be given the substantial uncertainties, ignorance and areas of disagreement, not to mention the problems/failures of climate models. Climate science needs reflection on the fundamental assumptions, re-interpretations, and deeper thinking. How to reason about the complex climate system, and its uncertainties, is not at all straightforward. And then of course there are the ethical issues, including understanding how the climate debate has gone so badly wrong.
Yes.
“Post-Empirical Science”
Yes, yes it is.
Libertarianism
What it isn’t:
…journalists cover complex things they don’t know about all the time, and this is usually okay because they research and talk to people who do know about it.
Unless, of course, they’re writing about libertarians.
Not only do you not have to know the first thing about libertarianism to cover it for major news outlets, it is perfectly fine to a) decline to ask anybody who does know, b) make up your own version of what it is, and then c) lament the terribleness of this terrible philosophy or people you have just created. Cases in point: approximately every 10th article published by Salon, this piece by Damon Linker at The Week.
A lot of people seem to have difficulty with the concept of liberty.
The Missing Light
It’s a mystery:
As one participating scientist points out, to miss the mark by so much means what we understand about the universe is fundamentally wrong. The universe continues to be exciting, a little scary, but mostly—a mystery.
And yet some have the hubris to tell us they can predict the temperature of the planet and level of the seas decades from now.
A True Dystopia
The new Planet of the Apes movie appears to be quite disturbing. [Warning: Spoilers]
Daniel Hannan And The American Revolution
How he gets it wrong.
Don’t Learn To Code
Always good advice, in any field of endeavor. Sadly, it doesn’t happen that much in education these days.