Not related -directly- but here is a link to something I hadn't seen before. Perhaps you have? Adapted from the Caltech commencement address given in 1974 - Cargo Cult Science.
Nice article John; I'd go further and say that it doesn't just apply to science.
I used to teach English -- the most dreaded/hated class in the curriculum. I love English; I loved to teach writing and critical analysis of text -- my subject has been destroyed by New Age thinking. One of the reasons it has been destroyed is, imhao, when it renounced the ethics/morality of just exactly what this article expressed -- the honest writer/reader tries their best to come to grips with inevitable bias and subjectivity and looks for the truth; it will be imperfect, but it is the best a person can do. PW
Ann Romney, her horses, and the mystical connection...
My family (both genders) were/are heavily involved in horses and dogs for a very long time (mostly through the military but also as a family business) -- no freaking "mystical connection"! In fact, that's usually one way you can determine the con artists from the actual folks -- the con artists almost always bring up some mystical, secret, gobbledygook! And it winds up making life miserable for horses, dogs, and people (and then the ones left cleaning up the mess and trying to make some sense of it all after the damage is done). It's grossly unfair too -- unfair to people who put their trust in this junk that's getting sold to them, unfair to others when they have to deal with the problems that arise from the believing, and really, truly unfair to the poor, dumb beasts who wind up on the receiving end of it.
No words, no freaking words...people need to stop buying into this crap. PW
EBL -- I know who Feynman was. I can't read your site because I'm picking up some sort of malware indication everytime I click on a link (this happened a few months back as well), so didn't see the post.
maybe we need to get to know our nominees a bit better (and by the by: how much air is getting sucked out of the Congressional races thanks to the ol' Mittster? those are the very, very important ones, imhao) PW
Just do it with style...
ReplyDeleteNot related -directly- but here is a link to something I hadn't seen before. Perhaps you have? Adapted from the Caltech commencement address given in 1974 - Cargo Cult Science.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.lhup.edu/%7EDSIMANEK/cargocul.htm
John, that is very good. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteNice article John; I'd go further and say that it doesn't just apply to science.
ReplyDeleteI used to teach English -- the most dreaded/hated class in the curriculum. I love English; I loved to teach writing and critical analysis of text -- my subject has been destroyed by New Age thinking.
One of the reasons it has been destroyed is, imhao, when it renounced the ethics/morality of just exactly what this article expressed -- the honest writer/reader tries their best to come to grips with inevitable bias and subjectivity and looks for the truth; it will be imperfect, but it is the best a person can do.
PW
That was Richard Feynman's commencement.
ReplyDeleteI did a post on it...
ReplyDeleteOff topic, but I think I'm going to scream:
ReplyDeleteAnn Romney, her horses, and the mystical connection...
My family (both genders) were/are heavily involved in horses and dogs for a very long time (mostly through the military but also as a family business) -- no freaking "mystical connection"! In fact, that's usually one way you can determine the con artists from the actual folks -- the con artists almost always bring up some mystical, secret, gobbledygook!
And it winds up making life miserable for horses, dogs, and people (and then the ones left cleaning up the mess and trying to make some sense of it all after the damage is done).
It's grossly unfair too -- unfair to people who put their trust in this junk that's getting sold to them, unfair to others when they have to deal with the problems that arise from the believing, and really, truly unfair to the poor, dumb beasts who wind up on the receiving end of it.
No words, no freaking words...people need to stop buying into this crap.
PW
EBL -- I know who Feynman was. I can't read your site because I'm picking up some sort of malware indication everytime I click on a link (this happened a few months back as well), so didn't see the post.
ReplyDeleteEhem, by the way:
http://wwaspsurvivors.com/mitt-romneys-special-interest/
maybe we need to get to know our nominees a bit better (and by the by: how much air is getting sucked out of the Congressional races thanks to the ol' Mittster? those are the very, very important ones, imhao)
PW