Topic: Science and Culture
The relation between science and culture generally is a matter of concern to both scientists and nonscientists. This forum is open to everyone for discussion of thoughts arising from and extending materials in Serendip's
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- Current Postings - 2000/2001 - 1998/1999 - 1997 - 1996
Name: jackie
Username: alice@islandnet.com
Subject: two cultures?
Date: Sun Jan 5 21:00:27 EST 1997
Comments:
I feel sad at the death of Carl Sagan who was one of the great "bridge builders" for the general public but also respected by scientists. Fortunately in Canada we still have David Suzuki. More such individuals would certainly contribute to lessening the gap between the two cultures.
Name: m malakoff
Username: lwvp.aol.com
Subject: sokal/s fuller
Date: Mon Jan 27 05:10:00 EST 1997
Comments:
i am interested in what people should know to make up their mind.
i read some of sokal, weingerg, and s fuller. they seem to all be right
in some ways but misrepresent each other. its a war of rhetoric.
sokal doesn't address the issue of how science is used (he quotes
aronowitz, that solid state is the main field of employment, but
leaves it at that. has he written a hoax for a solid state physics,
about how their work will improve the world? (or maybe thats
nanotechnology).) i gather sokal has been teaching in nicaragua.
that is admirable. but that doesn't mean he is an authority on the left
and what it needs, or societies need for rationality. i worry about
whether his students at NYU go make profits for multinationals. did he
think of writing a hoax on that? how about writing reccemendations
for his students who are incompetent at producing profit? who think that
pi is a complex variable whose value depends on the mass it produces
in NYU students who eat it? yeah, Bhopal's hoax. why pomos can't make
gizmos.
fuller doesn't deal with how much science can predict, and what it cannot.
this is relevant to the problem of objectivity. he says psychologists
have written the best work on scientific methodology. (he jokes about
the glass bead game, but another german, weyl, i think is the best survey
of science ) and the catholic church on morals too no dought.
what can psychologists preidct? SATs? need for prozac?
in serendip there is talk of complexity, but it seems biology is the
main 'literacy'. i would vote for complexity, including its math.
weinberg said in NYRB that quantum theory has nothing to do with
society. this gets to the basic issue of science studies.
to decide whether this is true, read weidleich and haag's quantitative
sociology. this uses feynman path integrals (developed for quantum
theory). or, try k pribram's recent books (here, D Bohm's quantum theory
is applied to memory). so, is quantum theory relevant to society?
to mind? it seems one has to read quantum theory and study mind and
society. few people do at least enough.
i would also add that while sokal and fuller both might say they
are highly concerned that people learn about science, neither would
suggest that anybody study the above topics with their support or even
nearby (it would be unsettling).
i don't believe either of them are interested in the culture more
than the war. its war that gets press.
just the war. m malakoff
Name: Mike
Username: mrink@dwarf.
Subject: Democracy
Date: Tue Feb 25 21:51:50 EST 1997
Comments:
It occurs to me that democracy has reached it's absolut limits in the American experiment, that it may not be the best form of government that people can develop, and that the U.S. congress, through their continued debate of the balanced budget amandment, continue to demonstrate the inherent weakness in the system.
Name: anonymous
Username:
Subject:
Date: Thu May 15 15:50:55 EDT 1997
Comments:
Name: Tania Jacob
Username: jacob@net1.nw.com.au
Subject: the meaning of life
Date: Mon Jun 2 01:16:25 EDT 1997
Comments:
Do you guys ever wonder about what the meaning of life is? A reason for livivg?
Well...I just thought of a reasonable answer but theres no knowing what would happen after we found the meaning of life if the meaning of life was to find the meaning of life. teheheh...like the paradox? I made it up myself.
Name: anonymous
Username:
Subject:
Date: Tue Jun 3 07:21:42 EDT 1997
Comments:
heheheh...good one!
Name: Thomas McGurrin PhD
Username: mcgurrin@cwv.net
Subject: consciousness as co-extensive with being
Date: Tue Sep 30 14:55:38 EDT 1997
Comments:
Being new to the Net, I am liable to commit some faux pas, but I am interested in connecting with others who may be interested in research in the area of consciousness studies, especially those which may relate to the theme of consciousness as co-extensive with being. My own researdh has led me through the byways of quantum physics, superstring theory, and cosmology as well as more traditional and mystical fields as metaphysics, Chinese philosophy, Zen Buddhism, etc.
I am currently preparing a paper for presentation in Brazil next spring, and would like to engage in dialogue with others who may have something to add on topics such as the exponential expansion of knowledge anticipated for the next millennium. implications of mathematical/physics research dealing with problems in the tenth and twenty-sixth dimensions, transpersonal and/or transhumanist concerns with the further evolution of humanity, and similar futurist interests in general.
Presently, my paper is entitled Multidimensional Cosmology: Emergent Hope for Terminal Belief Systems. A draft of the 1500 word introduction is completed and available via e-mail for those interested. I hope to complete the paper by the end of the year and submit it for publication early in 1998, so that it mihgt be published in advance of the presentation in Brazil. This would also facilitate its being translated into Portugese, which would faciliate my prsentation, since I am not conversant in that language.
The thrust of the paper, as I now see it, will be to present five areas of current research as a groundwork for the development of an optimistic perspective, (or paradigm, if you will), for projecting further cogent considerations of possible expectations for humity in the future. In part, my position is a rection to the dismal eschatological angst that emerges as the turn of the millennim approaches. As I continue my research into the topic, however, I am finding a wealth of truly fascinating potential.
Those who are interested may respond to me at mcgurrin@cwv.net.
Bon chance.
Thomas McGurrin PhD
30 September 1997
Name: Thomas McGurrin PhD
Username: mcgurrin@cwv.net
Subject: consciousness as co-extensive with being
Date: Tue Sep 30 16:05:52 EDT 1997
Comments:
Being new to the Net, I am liable to commit some faux pas, but I am interested in connecting with others who may be interested in research in the area of consciousness studies, especially those which may relate to the theme of consciousness as co-extensive with being. My own researdh has led me through the byways of quantum physics, superstring theory, and cosmology as well as more traditional and mystical fields as metaphysics, Chinese philosophy, Zen Buddhism, etc.
I am currently preparing a paper for presentation in Brazil next spring, and would like to engage in dialogue with others who may have something to add on topics such as the exponential expansion of knowledge anticipated for the next millennium. implications of mathematical/physics research dealing with problems in the tenth and twenty-sixth dimensions, transpersonal and/or transhumanist concerns with the further evolution of humanity, and similar futurist interests in general.
Presently, my paper is entitled Multidimensional Cosmology: Emergent Hope for Terminal Belief Systems. A draft of the 1500 word introduction is completed and available via e-mail for those interested. I hope to complete the paper by the end of the year and submit it for publication early in 1998, so that it mihgt be published in advance of the presentation in Brazil. This would also facilitate its being translated into Portugese, which would faciliate my prsentation, since I am not conversant in that language.
The thrust of the paper, as I now see it, will be to present five areas of current research as a groundwork for the development of an optimistic perspective, (or paradigm, if you will), for projecting further cogent considerations of possible expectations for humity in the future. In part, my position is a rection to the dismal eschatological angst that emerges as the turn of the millennim approaches. As I continue my research into the topic, however, I am finding a wealth of truly fascinating potential.
Those who are interested may respond to me at mcgurrin@cwv.net.
Bon chance.
Thomas McGurrin PhD
30 September 1997
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