This excellent TED talk by Naomi Oreskes covers many of the same topics we've discussed before, concerning the limitations of scientific expertise, why scientists trust experts in other fields, and why lay people should trust scientific consensuses. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxyQNEVOElU via Naomi Oreskes: Why we should trust scientists | Talk Video | TED.com. Of course, trusting science is … Continue reading Naomi Oreskes: Why we should trust scientists
Tag: Philosophy of science
“The Universe Should Not Have Lasted for More than a Second”: The limitations of scientific theories
Stan Hummel called my attention to, and asked for my thoughts on this article: Big Bang Theory Challenged --"The Universe Should Not Have Lasted for More than a Second". British cosmologists are puzzled: they predict that the universe should not have lasted for more than a second. This startling conclusion is the result of combining the … Continue reading “The Universe Should Not Have Lasted for More than a Second”: The limitations of scientific theories
A debate on quantum mechanics interpretations
"Anyone who is not shocked by quantum theory has not understood it." --Niels Bohr "If you think you understand quantum mechanics, you don't understand quantum mechanics." --Richard Feynman Quantum mechanics are utterly bizarre. Quantum particles behave like spread out waves, until their position is measured, when they suddenly behave like a particle with definite position. The … Continue reading A debate on quantum mechanics interpretations
Why philosophical conclusions are not reliable knowledge
Following Neil deGrasse Tyson's wholesale dismissal of philosophy, there has been a lot of discussion on the value of philosophy. As I've said repeatedly, I think philosophy has a great deal of value, but some of its defenders are tending to overstate what it can do. I've already written a post on what I see as the … Continue reading Why philosophical conclusions are not reliable knowledge
What Scientific Arrogance Really Looks Like — Starts With A Bang! — Medium
Ethan Siegel weighs in on the Tyson / philosophy controversy. Siegel is a theoretical physicist, notably a cosmologist which I believe is Tyson's own specialty. But Siegel's views on philosophy appear to be much more informed. Now, philosophy doesn’t have the answers, but it does teach ways to consider the limits of our knowledge. And … Continue reading What Scientific Arrogance Really Looks Like — Starts With A Bang! — Medium
Neil deGrasse Tyson is wrong to dismiss all of philosophy, but he may have a point on some of it
So, I reblogged Massimo Pigliucci's post responding to Tyson's remarks about philosophy, which appears to have generated some heated discussion. After reading some of it, I realized that I have a few thoughts on this. First, I suspect Tyson's blanket dismissal of philosophy is simply the result of insularity. I've noticed that philosophy's critics tend to be those … Continue reading Neil deGrasse Tyson is wrong to dismiss all of philosophy, but he may have a point on some of it
Is Philosophy Obsolete? – The Chronicle Review
Rebecca Goldstein appears to be on a campaign to defend philosophy. In this essay, she defends its ability to make progress, and questions whether it should be lumped in with the humanities. (I wonder what the humanities folks will think of that.) Philosophy was the first academic field; the founder of the Academy was Plato. … Continue reading Is Philosophy Obsolete? – The Chronicle Review
Searching for empirical anomalies
Ars Technica has an article about the most accurate measurement yet of the mass of the electron. It was an interesting article, particularly in describing how the scientists went about making the measurement. But I was struck by something said at the end: Physicist know that the Standard Model—great for explaining the world of the … Continue reading Searching for empirical anomalies
Are we nearing the end of science? – The Washington Post
Are we nearing the end of science? That is, are we running out of answerable questions, leaving us with only some mop-up duty, working around the edges of the great scientific achievements of Darwin, Einstein, Copernicus, et al.? via Are we nearing the end of science? - The Washington Post. This seems tangentially related to … Continue reading Are we nearing the end of science? – The Washington Post
Will the age of science end?
A while back, I became interested in the history of science, particularly the early history, including people like Copernicus, Galileo, Newton, Johanne Kepler, Andreas Vesalius, and many others. In reading about them, one of the things I was struck by was how small scale science was back then. In its beginnings, modern science was mostly … Continue reading Will the age of science end?
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