I have been on a knowledge exploration - The Selfish Gene, The Extended Phenotype by Richard Dawkins (books suggested by John) and that opened all sorts of other vistas! Emotionally I feel like I do when I find myself on a bleak and lonely fell where the silence thunders and I feel supercharged with inspiration...
I have been reading the ideas of...
Robert Trivers
David Deutsch
Sir John Crebbs
Matt Riddley
Daniel Dennet
and others.....
But I have just listened to Richard Dawkins talk on TED and can only say
Wow!
If you have time to listen - you will feel good all day!
M
More:-Originally Posted by Allo Allo
If you have time to listen - you will feel good all day!
M
Daniel Dennett
Stephen Pinker
M
Yay!
Dawkins is very cool. I went to a talk he did when The God Delusion came out, he and his wife read excerpts and then answered questions. Very compelling man, I could listen to him all day.
Don't forget to read Sagan's The Demon-Haunted World. It's out of print in the UK but you can get it from amazon.com or ebay. Best book ever.
Ok - I'll source one - I find libraries useful! I thought Sagan was rather sneered at by his peers?
If ordinary people can be swayed by the glitz of the new age – psychics, gurus, promise and rituals and the showy rhetoric of religious fundamentalism, science needs to get scientists dusted off, looking good and OUT THERE. In UK Dawkins is one, I really enjoy him too! There must be other scientists with charisma enough to interest the fluffy minded?
I have found Robert Wright’s interviews to be stimulating. I have “met” some very great “thinkers” and scientists this way. Robert Wright himself is pretty interesting, a sardonic and amusing speaker - enjoy - here
Here are some of his interviews – with challenging questions….
John Maynard Smith
Arthur Peacocke
Edward O Wilson
Freeman Dyson
Robert Pollack
Francis Fukuyama
Owen Gingerich
Ursula Goodenough
John Haught
Andrew Newberg
Lorenzo Albacete
Kieth Ward
Omid Safi
John Polkinghome
Huston Smith (Man’s religions – difficult speaker – but worth watching)
Brian Swimme
Joseph Goldstein
Sharon Salzberg
Daniel Dennett (Short) (Included again even though I can’t “bond” with this man! The one “sensible” thing he says is that Ethics might be like Mathematics – it is “discovered” by us.) Here
M
Richard Dawkins is an excellent lecturer, I even recommended him to the two Jehovah's Witnesses that appeared at my door and asked questions about evolution for half an hour (not altogether unsuccessfully, I was able to educate them on a few important details even if their overall beliefs were not altered).
Idiots
I'm an idiot! My post was a lot of work! I've collected and listened to these talks over quite a time - but I have just discovered you can just click here and get the whole lot - and even little bits of whole interviews under topics of discussion on the right of the window!
That's life made easy....!
Araneus, in arguments with Jehovas Witnesses, you cannot really get anywhere I've found. That kind of religion closes minds. The best thing to get rid of them is to pretend you have Tourettes and make sure you yell out all sorts of shocking things like "quark!" or "gluon!" or "Darwin!" and possibly "gene!" or "meme!". "Dawkins!" sounds pretty good too if you just yelled it out so suddenly they stepped backwards in surprise and tumbled down your front steps!
M
I wasn't trying to get rid of them; I just mentioned I was a scientist when they offered me their magazine and they started asking about evolution, which I was quite happy to explain even though there was obviously no chance of influencing their beliefs.
I like Stephen Pinker and James Gleik for popular science writing.
For philosophy, I turn to the graphic novel writer Alan Moore :D
I'm REALLY MEAN with my time - if I think its going to be wasted I don't waste it!
M
These are new ideas on science? – or does everyone else know this except me? I thought it worth watching whether you like Wiki or not– but its long – and Kevin Kelly hasn’t got the pizzaz of Dawkins - its on the future of scientific method - Science
What do you think?
I am suprised no one has mentioned it yet - but I would recommend a good grounding in scientific theory and some recent challenges to it. I would suggest
Karl Popper
Thomas Kuhn
John Searle
then move on to look at
Kurt Danziger
Gerd Gigerenzer
and the philospohy of people like Focoult
That should keep you busy - make sure you read the primary sources and not net-based sources giving other peoples impressions.
Oh, Hello Dr B, Where have you been? Nice to see you back!make sure you read the primary sources and not net-based sources giving other peoples impressions.
So I take it you thought it pretty crummy hey? I thought “The next 50 Years of Science” video was interesting in focusing on what computers and the internet COULD do in a human “networked” laboratory – a superconciousness. And I do realise it’s only someone’s idea but he’s not a complete moron surely?
Well, yes thanks for these suggestions of source material – since I first appeared (eight months ago) on the Skeptics forum and fell under Skep-attack all round, I started dismantling my own ideas (encrustations from my life experiences, university in the dark ages – and the experiences of others, known as “anecdotal evidence”!), I have attended my OWN University every day. I think I work harder than any student in a university – well I KNOW I do!
So, because it’s a lonely trip – no professors or other students like me around for miles! my solution for light relief is to watch videos and “meet the people”. I remember struggling with Krishnamurti once on “Consciousness” (in written form) so I was delighted to find him on video. Problem is I have NO IDEA what he is talking about on video either! So I’m not wasting my time on THAT!
So what SHOULD I waste my time on?
I have been discussing with my husband whether I should do something with the Open University – mmm – but WHAT??? It would solve the problem of my having no focus. I have become a mental grasshopper. Also – it won’t be leading to a career – only knowledge... and nowadays, knowledge is changing so rapidly that anything we think we might “know” is already obsolete - real knowledge is impossible (pure scepticism)! So perhaps I shouldn’t be “bovvered”? I should just decline into old age and become like my mouse My Mouse?
I have posted some questions on this board like: - “What is the task of consciousness in evolution?” (I don’t mean “function”) I was hoping someone would point me in the right direction where I can find the answer. Or, even better, just give me the answer!
Thanks for your reading list – all help gratefully accepted!
M
Thanks Tracy for the Carl Sagan suggestion. I’ve always liked him.
That's a pretty cool mouse!
The OU is excellent.
I did my first stint about 12-15 years ago studying science (mostly Chemistry). I've taken my studies back up again this year doing Psychology (BSc hons).
You normally have to start with an introductory (level 1) course and you can choose to take whatever you want after that. I did the Science Foundation Course and found it to be excellent (I'm a science-head mind you).
If you're trying to look at things from a more scientific point of view then you could do far worse than start there.
Having said that, I've done a few OU courses and I've found them all to be very good indeed so it probably doesn't matter too much what you pick - I expect the standard of the course will be high.
Back in the early 90s the Science Foundation Course included a small selection from Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Earth Science.
I found myself measuring the diameter of the moon from my back garden, looking through a microscope at cells that were dividing, learning about plate tectonics and continental drift and working out the empirical formula of Tin Iodide in the kitchen!!
It was a great course and it really broadens your perspective on what's 'out there'.
Yes – thanks John – I see that they are bringing in a new course in January 2008 – or I could do the “old” one Discovering Science (S103 - 60 points) Sept 2007 in September. Would there be an advantage in waiting? (Like updated course material?)The OU is excellent.
In either event I could fill my time with
Fossils and the History of Life (S193) 10 points May 2007
or
Introducing Astronomy (S194) 10 points May 2007
or
Introducing Environment (Y161 10 points) June 2007
or
Starting with Maths (Y162 - 10 points) June 2007
Can’t see anything else that catches my eye.
I have a BA already - and unless I live to be a hundred, I’m unlikely to change that into anything higher – and to what purpose? I’m doing this for FUN. I was always useless at Math. Our son was an academic disaster (especially maths)– but suddenly, in his late twenties, put himself into university and his "brilliant!" top subject? Well, Math!
Maybe I could get a grasp now I’m older too! The idea intrigues me. I really am drawn to Science.....
This leads me to another thought. If I do this for “personal development”, I fill my mind with lovely yummy knowledge – and then I snuff it, it will be all gone (according to science). What a hell of a pity! It would prefer to think something of it (and my life experiences) would be contained somehow, somewhere, otherwise its just self indulgence.
Oh well, perhaps Philosophy would be better?
M
PS - I'm on the verge of registering for a short course - and they have "reserved a place" for September - I have to be pretty speedy to start anything in May...
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