tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post5284533701132469112..comments2023-09-27T07:44:19.769-04:00Comments on Sabine Hossenfelder: Backreaction: The scientific method is not a mythSabine Hossenfelderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151209308084588985noreply@blogger.comBlogger60125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-61304995840135631322015-12-06T18:13:09.910-05:002015-12-06T18:13:09.910-05:00Bee: Part of the reason why Matt Ridley didn't...Bee: Part of the reason why Matt Ridley didn't need grant funding to write his book is because he's actually "5th Viscount Ridley", a privileged member of the British aristocracy and Conservative member of Britain's House of Lords.<br /><br />Ridley made a career writing articles and books that appealed to right-wing politicians and people who have money. He wrote for The ErkDemon (Eric Baird)https://www.blogger.com/profile/00430413494529535159noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-46908582222385708342015-11-25T19:02:12.647-05:002015-11-25T19:02:12.647-05:00Hi, it seems no-one on this blog has the slightest...Hi, it seems no-one on this blog has the slightest idea why progress in fundamental physics stopped at some point in the 60s. <br /><br />Should we conclude that a species of warrior monkeys barely down from their tree has really understood nature in its foundations? Or should we envision that we just begin to understand what physics is?<br /><br />We know of three symmetries, a scalar field, akidbellehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12292741599925116131noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-77010334786882879852015-11-24T13:54:22.138-05:002015-11-24T13:54:22.138-05:00Perhaps paradigm changes take place eventually, be...Perhaps paradigm changes take place eventually, because people themselves are less rigid then the methods they apply. A different era, a different 'Seitgeist' ( excuse me for bad spelling), can allow an improved or even radically new interpretation of the same (experimental) observations. In my view, the best version of a theory is the one that originated from treating mathematics, Koenraad Van Spaendonckhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15090279727324831109noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-26695057046303270522015-11-23T11:18:35.091-05:002015-11-23T11:18:35.091-05:00If normal science is so rigid and if scientific co...<i>If normal science is so rigid and if scientific communities are so close-knit, how can a paradigm change take place? This chapter traces paradigm changes that result from discovery brought about by encounters with anomaly.</i>https://www.uky.edu/~eushe2/Pajares/Kuhn.html<br /><br />So the question I had was not frivolous even though there have been many good reasons why, it is of course PlatoHagelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00849253658526056393noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-39807272079592330642015-11-23T07:28:01.616-05:002015-11-23T07:28:01.616-05:00"agree completely with you on Kuhn and what f...<i>"agree completely with you on Kuhn and what followed after. I teach two courses in the history of 20th century physics (cosmology and particle physics) and time after time, I find the Kuhnian model a very poor fit to what actually happened."</i><br /><br />Nice to see that a professional agrees with me on this. :-)<br /><br />He probably took the Copernican Revolution (how many Phillip Helbighttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12067585245603436809noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-19480530654515635702015-11-23T07:02:14.896-05:002015-11-23T07:02:14.896-05:00"His work added substantial new knowledge&quo...<i>"His work added substantial new knowledge"</i><br /><br />Sure, but that's not enough. It has to be right.<br /><br />Kuhn actually claimed that the changes in physics a bit more than a hundred years ago were caused primarily by a "paradigm shift" and not by the accidental discovery of X-rays and radioactivity. Really.<br />Phillip Helbighttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12067585245603436809noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-69939376422870759082015-11-22T17:17:22.213-05:002015-11-22T17:17:22.213-05:00@Lucy M The demise of hard science discovery past...@Lucy M The demise of hard science discovery past the 1960s was twofold: <br /><br />"The R&D Function" <i>Harvard Business Review</i> <b>61</b>(6) 195 (1983) <br /> Research as an optimized business model is grotesque. "...Detroit eliminated 95% of its lock washer inventory by substituting a drop of Loctite, not by inventing more lock washers."<br /> <br />http://Uncle Alhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05056804084187606211noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-69198979286963112552015-11-22T13:09:31.750-05:002015-11-22T13:09:31.750-05:00Interesting philosophical position, because I say ...Interesting philosophical position, because I say so?:)<br /><br />Anomaly and emergence......maybe you would have to see it to believe it?PlatoHagelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00849253658526056393noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-54693013611427377792015-11-21T20:47:51.818-05:002015-11-21T20:47:51.818-05:00>coraifeartaigh said..
>Hi Bee,
>agree co...>coraifeartaigh said..<br />>Hi Bee,<br />>agree completely with you on Kuhn and what followed after. I teach two courses in >the history of 20th century physics (cosmology and particle physics) and time >after time, I find the Kuhnian model a very poor fit to what actually happened.<br />>Best, Corma<br /><br />Kuhn does not describe the 20th century developments past the, Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17852247942652368610noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-88677382595535717252015-11-21T19:32:06.262-05:002015-11-21T19:32:06.262-05:00Phillip - You're reading of Kuhn is correct, I...Phillip - You're reading of Kuhn is correct, I would say, up to the definitions of individual words, and then assembly of the words into sentences, which in isolation are not wrong. But the meaning - the inflexion or interpretation - that you place on those sentences is wrong and misleading. Or misled. <br /><br />His work added substantial new knowledge, not just in terms of the subject Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17852247942652368610noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-51685933367900146002015-11-20T16:25:30.251-05:002015-11-20T16:25:30.251-05:00"Do you think that maybe Thomas Kuhn's bo...<i>"Do you think that maybe Thomas Kuhn's book, The Structure of Scientiffic Revolutions, was in itself about the process of discovery?"</i><br /><br />Certainly not, since his whole point is that there is no discovery of science. Rather, what we tend to think of the truth is just a paradigm, no more significant than yesterday's fashion trends in Mongolia, which will be Phillip Helbighttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12067585245603436809noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-5817442799343477732015-11-20T16:20:23.669-05:002015-11-20T16:20:23.669-05:00thanks, you are now on my feed aggregator, this is...thanks, you are now on my feed aggregator, this is an ad hominem complimentmeikahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17410659353169461214noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-52891532984587739282015-11-20T13:13:57.482-05:002015-11-20T13:13:57.482-05:00Hi Bee,
agree completely with you on Kuhn and what...Hi Bee,<br />agree completely with you on Kuhn and what followed after. I teach two courses in the history of 20th century physics (cosmology and particle physics) and time after time, I find the Kuhnian model a very poor fit to what actually happened.<br />Best, CormacAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-29735094838121685692015-11-20T12:27:22.646-05:002015-11-20T12:27:22.646-05:00JimV - well look, this is a moment in history when...JimV - well look, this is a moment in history when the future of science is in significant doubt, due to complications that directly translate into questions pertaining to the Scientific Method. Why do you think everyone is talking about it these days? Everyone is talking but no one is offering viable solutions to the actual problems. Are you? Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17852247942652368610noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-46943069609240165722015-11-20T12:24:03.479-05:002015-11-20T12:24:03.479-05:00Uncle Al - you spend so much time on so many blogs...Uncle Al - you spend so much time on so many blogs feed pearls to swine when you obviously have potential energy for more. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17852247942652368610noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-3480807262034087562015-11-20T12:20:55.709-05:002015-11-20T12:20:55.709-05:00Bee - I read the article and I think the problem w...Bee - I read the article and I think the problem with your piece is that you didn't put the argument in the article to a strong form before then addressing it. It's almost as if you only read the title.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17852247942652368610noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-56128603997670444602015-11-20T05:37:45.122-05:002015-11-20T05:37:45.122-05:00Hi Bee,
Do you think that maybe Thomas Kuhn's...Hi Bee,<br /><br />Do you think that maybe Thomas Kuhn's book, The Structure of Scientiffic Revolutions, was in itself about the process of discovery?<br /><br />Best,PlatoHagelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00849253658526056393noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-84625338127407561672015-11-19T10:56:42.039-05:002015-11-19T10:56:42.039-05:00@David Lambert "understand the significance o...@David Lambert "<i>understand the significance of the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki</i>"<br /><br />Understand the significance of the cities of Kokura (Kokura's luck) and Kyoto (removed from the target list for its temples). General Curtis LeMay bombed then melted with napalm Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, Kawasaki, Yokohama, Yamato, Hamamatsu, Kure, Iwakuni, Ćshima, Toyama, Konan, Uncle Alhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05056804084187606211noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-87029982168762033802015-11-18T20:41:26.664-05:002015-11-18T20:41:26.664-05:00Being an American, I've observed that a lot of...Being an American, I've observed that a lot of people here do not understand how science is done. Science education in the United States is often pretty bad. Overall education quality is often pretty bad. It doesn't help that in some political and religious circles, it is "common knowledge" that scientists and other experts are idiots: all the evidence for evolution is wrong,Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16770012430138631081noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-61367543142787838422015-11-18T20:22:57.387-05:002015-11-18T20:22:57.387-05:00I had my own model (which I may have mentioned her...I had my own model (which I may have mentioned here previously, I tend to bring it up whenever there is a lull in conversation) of the evolutionary process (or process of adaptation):<br /><br />1) a source of changes (new ideas, mutations), which could be and often is random in nature, at least in the beginning.<br /><br />2) a criterion or set of criteria by which to judge the changes as JimVhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10198704789965278981noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-67301153913429154212015-11-18T18:42:35.252-05:002015-11-18T18:42:35.252-05:00One of the things i've always found really ann...One of the things i've always found really annoying with this business, is that it is incredibly obvious what science is... When you are actively pursuing science. It's only when you step back and try to analyze and define everything in some sort of philosophy setting where a tremendous amount of fog is generated. Then you end up with absurd recent situations where a bunch of outsiders Haelfixhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16980241518510365230noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-39764880450249180202015-11-18T12:14:29.654-05:002015-11-18T12:14:29.654-05:00Sure comments on the free market have something to...Sure comments on the free market have something to do with libertarianism. I just chose not to comment on this connection because, while I know some things about microeconomics, I don't know very much about libertarianism. <br /><br />Interestingly you first accuse me of commenting on something I didn't comment on and now you complain that I didn't comment on it. Maybe make up your Sabine Hossenfelderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06151209308084588985noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-65150982654272775722015-11-18T12:07:56.583-05:002015-11-18T12:07:56.583-05:00There was a lot of confused talk about how science...There was a lot of confused talk about how science supposedly works back during the famous science wars of the 90s. On the positive side, the confusions provoked some excellent writing in response. Susan Haack's book "Defending Science - within reason: between scientism and cynicism" is one of my favorite works to result from the 90s science wars.<br /><br />http://www.amazon.com/Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-37833150853443713002015-11-18T11:27:34.701-05:002015-11-18T11:27:34.701-05:00sabine:
so you don't think comments regarding ...sabine:<br />so you don't think comments regarding the free market have anything to do with libertarianism? not surprising since you appear not to know much about either one. but i think that you might want to see a doctor about those flying farts. they seem to be adversely affecting your mood - wow. talk about emotional overreaction. <br />richardnaivetheoristhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00425164894020381981noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-35553318306412038672015-11-18T10:53:47.401-05:002015-11-18T10:53:47.401-05:00"I'm not your property, I'm not your ..."<i>I'm not your property, I'm not your employee, and I do what the fuck I want</i>" Management enforces rules, counts things, and avoids risk (overpaying for opportunity). The scientific method generates deliverables intolerant of discovery contradicting what we know is true but really isn't. Violent dissent pours forth from those who are vested in reliable failure.<br /Uncle Alhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05056804084187606211noreply@blogger.com