Yes, “the belief that the best ideas will always succeed is rather like the faith that unregulated financial markets will always produce the best economic outcomes. … But in the marketplace of ideas, zombies can actually be useful. Or if not, they can at least make us feel better. That, paradoxically, is what I think the flat-Earthers of today are really offering – comfort.”
Category: ideas
There Is No Such Thing As A Distinct Scientific Method
James Blachowicz argues that what we think of as the scientific method is basically the same as the process by which one edits a poem or hones a philosophical argument.
Rise Of The Cyborgs, Or The People Who Have Cameras Permanently Implanted In Their Heads That Allow Them To Hear Colors As Sounds
“In more recent years she has been fitted with a chip implant in her elbow that wirelessly attaches to seismographs around the world, vibrating with varied intensity based on Richter scale readings. From such movements she choreographs dance concerts she calls Waiting for Earthquakes.”
For ‘Second-Class Europeans,’ Brexit Is Personal
“As we drove deeper into Western Europe, the sense of longing grew. Surely we’d meet someone, somewhere, who would not be able to tell that we were only Czechs? Of course, we were used to feeling second class. This was built into our upbringing and culture.”
Are Emojis Killing English? (It’s A Seriously Idiotic Question)
“This statement isn’t just hyperbole, it’s got a truly spectacular number of incorrect assumptions packed into its seven words. In fact, it’s got so many levels of wrongness that it’s actually a fantastic opportunity to explore what language is, what language isn’t, and how emoji fit into this whole thing.”
Why Is Spring Happening Earlier In Cities?
City lights. And that’s bad. “When plants bloom earlier than usual, it can spell disaster for ecological systems—in which timing is key.”
The UK Saw 1500 ‘Ghost Tommies’ Commemorating The Battle Of The Somme
“Each carried a card with the name of the soldier they represented and his age – if known – when he died.”
Sorry, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Basing A Country’s Governance Solely On ‘The Weight Of Evidence’ Could Not Work
On Wednesday, America’s star astrophysicist sent out this tweet: “Earth needs a virtual country: #Rationalia, with a one-line Constitution: All policy shall be based on the weight of evidence.” Jesse Singal explains that “it is, in fact, a pretty dumb tweet – uncharacteristically so, given how smart the author is – but one which usefully sums up a common misconception held by folks who bang the drum loudest for science and reason.”
MIT Algorithm Predicts Future By Watching TV Clips
“After the AI devoured all that video to train itself, the researchers fed the algorithm a single frame from a video it had not seen and tasked it with predicting what would happen next. The algorithm got it right about 43 percent of the time.”
What You Know Versus What You Say – It’s Complicated
“I am surrounded by colleagues who study members of our species by presenting them with questionnaires. They trust the answers they receive and have ways, they assure me, of checking their veracity. But who says that what people say about themselves reveals actual emotions and motivations?”