I don't feel hijacked. Thanks for the summary of Horgan's book. Don't have much to add at this point.
On Tue, May 17, 2016 at 2:44 PM Robert Wall <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Russ, Steve, et al., > > I should tell you that I am reading John Horgan's *The End of Science: > Facing the Limits of Knowledge in the Twilight of the Scientific Age* > (2015 edition). Such an ominous title! I know. But here Horgan concludes > for many scientific endeavors the job is finished [link to a critique of > the book] > <http://www.nytimes.com/1996/06/30/books/the-job-is-finished.html?pagewanted=all> > for all practical purposes. > > Horgan thinks that we aren't likely to see any new Kuhnian paradigm shifts > like with quantum mechanics or general and special relativity anytime soon, > if ever. We will likely only see gap-filling activities, so to speak, like > with the Higgs particle in helping to complete the standard model of > particle physics. But this is all good too. It is just not *new *knowledge. > Eh? > > In the meantime, Horgan coins the term *ironic science* to classify what > we seem to be doing now in science like, for example, in physics and its > close cousin cosmology, where science is becoming untestable. *Beauty *[e.g., > mathematical elegance] seems to be the current standard for > verification--it begs the issue as to whether we are discovering or > inventing Reality. To falsify String Theory--the leading candidate for the > *Theory > of Everything*--we would need a super-conducting super collider the size > of the galaxy ... well, larger than we could practically make or even > afford at least--and that is becoming an issue as well. What we would be > looking for is something that is neither matter nor energy: a > multi-dimensional string that gives rise to properties found in our > universe depending on the frequency of the vibrations. So, is this a > reasonable priority when the returns are ever diminishing, as Horgan > contends? > > I read this very clever analogy for these strings. Imagine God as a > Cosmic Rocker playing his ten- or eleven-string guitar as the cosmos > unfolds from his Big Bang amplifier. Here's the compelling question: Is > God playing to a particular musical score? One that ultimately gives rise > to humans and substance for consciousness? Strong anthropic principle > anyone? > > There was a thought-provoking argument I read somewhere recently about the > federal grants given to scientific research. Given that science research > like with Super-String Theory is and has been arguably bleeding over into > metaphysics, philosophy, or even religion (e.g., Edward Witten), we may > need to amend the US Constitution to include a clause [or intention] for > the separation between science and state. This action would imply that any > and all scientific research would need to stand on its own. This might be > overkill, but the objective is kind of in the wheelhouse for the newly > emerging Center for Open Science <https://cos.io/>--an institution that > arose with the expose of bad science studies in medicine > <http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/11/lies-damned-lies-and-medical-science/308269/> > found in science journals and reported > <https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiM3e3rhuLMAhVX3mMKHZxNBE8QFgguMAI&url=http%3A%2F%2Fjournals.plos.org%2Fplosmedicine%2Farticle%3Fid%3D10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.0020124&usg=AFQjCNGnlrRZK18zALFoV13bVKFpywymjg&sig2=erIO_WZ6jK3DgZsqfdLu2w&bvm=bv.122129774,d.cGc> > by Dr. John Ioannidis last decade. > > I still like John Horgan as a skeptic and science writer and I appreciated > the link provided by Steve for the Science of Consciousness Conference that > I could not attend and which Horgan describes as not having come very far > since his first visit in 1994. Ironic science? It would seem so IMHO. > Oh. Here is SciAm's From Complexity to Perplexity > <http://www2.econ.iastate.edu/tesfatsi/hogan.complexperplex.htm> outside > the paywall. > > I hope I haven't hijacked this thread, which seems to be more about > consciousness and ... monism (?). But, in that context, I *have *long > been hoping that we could crank up the energy in the Large Hadron Collider > to find the *mind particle* and *prove *folks like the recently turned > panpsychistic and American neuroscientist Christof Koch correct. 😎 > > Cheers, > > Robert > > On Tue, May 17, 2016 at 12:42 PM, Russ Abbott <[email protected]> > wrote: > >> Steve, >> >> Thanks for the pointer to the John Horgan posts >> <http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/cross-check/dispatch-from-the-desert-of-consciousness-research-part-1/> >> about the Consciousness conference in Arizona. (I can't find your post to >> reply to. I thought it was in this thread.) >> >> I had dismissed Horgan after his posts saying something like science was >> dead. But this redeems him in my view. >> >> On Tue, May 17, 2016 at 8:19 AM glen ⛧ <[email protected]> wrote: >> >>> >>> On 05/16/2016 07:55 PM, Nick Thompson wrote: >>> > Pfft? >>> >>> Sorry. That's my attempt to write a raspberry ... I don't know the >>> emoticon... =P maybe ... :-r ? Of course, pfft is a "dry" raspberry. To >>> get the right effect, you have to stick your tongue out ... but you can't >>> do that in polite company. Plus, a dry raspberry is like throwing up your >>> hands or shrugging. "Pfft, I don't know where to go from here." A wet >>> raspberry is more playful, more context- and less content-driven. >>> >>> -- >>> ⛧ glen >>> >>> ============================================================ >>> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv >>> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College >>> to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com >> >> >> ============================================================ >> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv >> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College >> to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com >> > > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
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