Disenchantment and the anthropology of (re-)enchantment

I recently read an interesting essay by Egil Asprem entitled Dialectics of Darkness. Its original purpose was to serve as a review of The Myth of Disenchantment: Magic, Modernity, and the Birth of the Human Sciences by Jason Josephson-Storm. I have yet to read Josephson-Storm's book, so I shall have to reserve comment for another …

‘The unreasonable effectiveness of string theory in mathematics’: Emergence, synthesis, and beauty

As I noted the other day, there were a number of interesting talks at String Math 2020. I would really like to write about them all, but as I am short on time I want to spend a brief moment thinking about one talk in particular. Robbert Dijkgraaf's presentation, 'The Unreasonable Effectiveness of String Theory …

Thinking about philosophy and Carl Sagan’s “The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark”

I find philosophy to be an incredibly controversial subject, one that is difficult to get a handle on. There is a value to philosophy, though I often struggle to understand it or place it. Perhaps this is because I lack a satisfactory definition of philosophy - a term which can represent so many different bases …

Latour’s Revision: Objects and “Truth”

One may have noticed something distinct about the title of this essay, namely that I have enclosed the word "truth" in quotations.  The purpose is to bring focus to the question of its status, not because the concept itself is in doubt, but because after what seems like much neglect, whatever truth content may have …

Free Will, Determinism and Probabilities

The debate about which triumphs, free will or determinism, can on many occasions feel so unsatisfying. Over the years I've picked up or have come across quite a few pieces of literature on the subject, from historical and social studies to psychological research, neuro and cognitive science, and also various speculations within philosophy and physics. …

‘Thinking, Fast and Slow’: Epistemology, Feedback Loops and the Science of Bias and Human Irrationality

R.C. Smith If we take as a stated assumption, based off the growing body of science, that prejudice is pervasive - that human irrationality is, to put it philosophically, a central theme in the human struggle toward a rational society - I think one of the lessons is epistemological in form. Its basic reduction is …

Ethics: “Should We Stop Doing Science?”

It is not common for me to begin an essay this way. But the latest edition of New Scientist was released - "the ethics issue" - and it raised a few points of reflection, however informal and searching. New Scientist is generally known for its unique combination of science reporting and communication, critical thinking and …

Exponents, History, Civilization

I decided to make a video the other day on exponent properties. I like to think about mathematical concepts and to explore first principles. I spend a lot of my spare time working through proofs and also studying the history of mathematics and physics (as well as science in general). A natural extension of these …

Review: “The Gods in Whom They Trusted” – On Science, Knowledge and Ethics (Part 2)

R.C. Smith Ethics of Experience In think, ultimately,  what we read in The Gods in Whom They Trusted is a set of philosophical formulations that take the human tendency to formulate faith-based constructs, fundamental principles of “life direction”, “core or ultimate convictions”, or “visions of life” – very much in the philosophical sense of absolute first principles – as universal. …

Review: “The Gods in Whom They Trusted” – On Science, Knowledge and Ethics (Part 1)

R.C. Smith Introduction I recently read through and had time to consider Arnold De Graaff’s The Gods in Whom They Trusted: The Disintegrative Effects of Capitalism – A Foundation for Transitioning to a New Social World (2016). This book in particular is one, I think, that can best described as being part of the broader …