Comments for The Modest Proposal Blog

Comment on The Depressing Roads of Gene Land by James

James — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 21:45:22 +0000

Just a few hours ago I was reading Michio Kaku’s “Physics of the Impossible.” In the epilogue he tells the story of August Comte, the French philosopher who wrote in 1825 that it was impossbile for science to determine what the stars were made of. Of course, a few years later spectroscopy took off, and he was proven spectacularly wrong. Comte also claimed that mathematics could never be used to explain chemistry or biology - hilarious. I’m not in the field, of course, but from my understanding practically the entire Modern Synthesis is based around Fisher, Wright, and Haldane’s work in applying mathematics to population genetics.

Comment on Flatland by Kevin

Kevin — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 05:04:55 +0000

I do like the contradictions in that book. It works on the level of social moral–as do CANDIDE, ALICE IN WONDERLAND, and GULLIVER’S TRAVELS–for their respective places and times, but manages to put forth a wholly unique way of looking at the world.

No surprise that Mr. Duke would recommend it. It is the perfect hybrid for the math-and-humanities-minded.

Comment on In Which the Author Post Links and Pretends it is Writing… by Staff

Staff — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 15:56:46 +0000

I mentioned the UK surveillance situation a few months ago:

http://mpjournal.com/blog/2008/05/control-societies-from-fiction-to-fact/

But now it appears to be worse. The most noticeable thing was the almost total scope of visual surveillance in the way of mounted cameras, designed to increase public safety. In some cases, they did make certain sections of London seem more safe and inviting to the tourist in me. At other times, I had the creepy feeling that I was being spied on as I wandered around, in my most vulnerable moments.

It is funny, though: many people have written about the split dichotomy between defensive/police forces and their access to high technology and terrorist organizations and their lack of access. Here, the UK tries to drive another wedge into, potentially denying even cell phone access to the hardened criminal! The solution seems clear. Rather than buy their own phones, thugs and murderers will simply have to steal one–Grand Theft Auto style–before communicating their crimes.

Comment on Some initial impressions on Descent of Man by Sexual and Social Selection

Sexual and Social Selection — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 03:05:20 +0000

[…] sexual selection. A litte background. Sexual selection was originally proposed by Darwin (in this book, I believe) to explain exxagerated ornaments (e.g. the Peacock’s tail) that seemed inconsistent with his […]

Comment on Folk Wisdom, plus an aside about beer by Frank DiTraglia

Frank DiTraglia — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 03:50:09 +0000

In a (mild) defense of folk wisdom, here’s another logical fallacy: “It has always been the case that X holds, therefore it will continue to be the case that X holds.”

Post hoc ergo propter hoc, though itself a fallacy, has lead to an awful lot of important scientific discoveries, I’ll wager. Bad reasoning is easy to spot, but tricky to define.

Comment on Folk Wisdom, plus an aside about beer by James

James — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 04:54:30 +0000

This is a few decades old, and a bit lengthy, but here’s Carl Sagan talking about the consequences of irrationality and anti-scientific thinking.

Comment on The First Presidential Debate by Staff

Staff — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 21:27:53 +0000

One or two comments that were meant to have been approved were accidentally deleted, owing to my unfamiliarity with the functionality of the comments system. If you posted, feel free to post again and I promise that it will be visible.

Comment on What we need more of is SCIENCE! by Computer problems (plus some reflections on speciation)

Computer problems (plus some reflections on speciation) — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 11:26:14 +0000

[…] when compared to, say, the mature state of particle physics, where they are about to subject the Standard Model to yet another rigorous and precise empirical examination. Oh well, I guess that is why so much of the research money now is headed to life sciences where […]

Comment on What we need more of is SCIENCE! by Computer problems (plus some reflections on speciation)

Computer problems (plus some reflections on speciation) — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 11:26:14 +0000

Comment on What we need more of is SCIENCE! by James

James — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 11:51:37 +0000

Those are excellent arguments, especially the last one about the ease of swaying a centralized decision-making panel. Maybe this problem could be alleviated by allowing the president to nominate the members, but requiring a confirmation in Congress? Or maybe some sort of bipartisan nominating panel (similar to the FEC). It’s not perfect, obviously, but neither is electing people who aren’t necessarily qualified to local school boards, especially when the general public often has no clue who they are.

I’m all for choice in education, but for too many people it’s non-existent. Many people don’t have the luxury of choosing their school district - they have to live where they can find work, or where they can afford housing.