Hi Peter,
Ok, no problem. Have a safe flight and talk to you
next time!
Thank you,
--Ray
On Wed, 31 Aug 2011, Peter Fisher wrote:
> Ray,
>
> Owing to hurricane Irene, I will be in the air at the time of this week's meeting. Please go ahead without me.
>
> Peter
>
> On Aug 30, 2011, at 7:57 PM, Ray F. Cowan wrote:
>
> > Hi Gentlemen,
> >
> > This week we'll hold our LQS meeting on Thursday, September 1, at 2:00 PM
> > Eastern. We'll take round-table reports and discuss Chapter 1 of the book
> > Peter mentioned last week: David Deutsch, "The Beginning of Infinity."
> >
> > Here are some quotes from Chapter 1 that I found interesting (there were
> > many more):
> >
> > "How do we know? One of the most remarkable things about science is the
> > contrast between the enormous reach and power of our best theories and
> > the precarious, local means by which we create them."
> >
> > "Scientific explanations are about reality, most of which does not consist
> > of anyone\u2019s experiences."
> >
> > "Discovering a new explanation is inherently an act of creativity."
> >
> > "Such ideas do not create themselves, nor can they be mechanically derived
> > from anything: they have to be guessed \u2013 after which they can be
> > criticized and tested."
> >
> > "But the real key to science is that our explanatory theories -- which
> > include those interpretations -- can be improved, through conjecture,
> > criticism and testing."
> >
> > "To this day, most courses in the philosophy of knowledge teach that
> > knowledge is some form of justified, true belief, where 'justified'
> > means designated as true (or at least 'probable') by reference to some
> > authoritative source or touchstone of knowledge."
> >
> > "The opposing position -- namely the recognition that there are no
> > authoritative sources of knowledge, nor any reliable means of justifying
> > ideas as being true or probable -- is called fallibilism."
> >
> > "Fallibilists expect even their best and most fundamental explanations to
> > contain misconceptions in addition to truth, and so they are predisposed
> > to try to change them for the better."
> >
> > "The quest for authority led empiricists to downplay and even stigmatize
> > conjecture, the real source of all our theories."
> >
> > "Thus, although scientific theories are not derived from experience, they
> > can be tested by experience -- by observation or experiment."
> >
> > "Instrumentalism is one of many ways of denying realism, the commonsense,
> > and true, doctrine that the physical world really exists, and is accessible
> > to rational inquiry."
> >
> > "Just as conflicting predictions are the occasion for experiment and
> > observation, so conflicting ideas in a broader sense are the occasion for
> > all rational thought and inquiry."
> >
> > "Good explanations are often strikingly simple or elegant."
> >
> > "The best explanations are the ones that are most constrained by existing
> > knowledge -- including other good explanations as well as other knowledge
> > of the phenomena to be explained."
> >
> > "Now we shall see how this explanation-based conception of science answers
> > the question that I asked above: how do we know so much about unfamiliar
> > aspects of reality?"
> >
> > "The theory [axis-tilt of the Earth] reaches out, as it were, from its finite
> > origins inside one brain that has been affected only by scraps of patchy
> > evidence from a small part of one hemisphere of one planet -- to infinity.
> > This reach of explanations is another meaning of 'the beginning of infinity'.
> > It is the ability of some of them to solve problems beyond those that they
> > were created to solve."
> >
> > "Realism The idea that the physical world exists in reality, and that
> > knowledge of it can exist too."
> >
> > "The real source of our theories is conjecture, and the real source of our
> > knowledge is conjecture alternating with criticism. We create theories by
> > rearranging, combining, altering and adding to existing ideas with the
> > intention of improving upon them."
> >
> > "Feeling insignificant because the universe is large has exactly the same
> > logic as feeling inadequate for not being a cow. Or a herd of cows. The
> > universe is not there to overwhelm us; it is our home, and our resource.
> > The bigger the better."
> >
> > "But they certainly do not experience such reflections as a result. I
> > mention this because I often hear scientific research described in rather
> > a bleak way, suggesting that it is mostly mindless toil."
> >
> > "After all, computers play chess mindlessly -- by exhaustively searching the
> > consequences of all possible moves -- but humans achieve a similar-looking
> > functionality in a completely different way, by creative and enjoyable
> > thought."
> >
> > As usual, our call-in number the local ReadyTalk access number for your
> > country (US: 866-740-1260, or check www.readytalk.com). Access code
> > is 3144955.
> >
> > Thank you,
> >
> > --Ray
> >
>
>
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