2.1: The Path to Good Beliefs Runs Over Nothing

If people’s beliefs strengthen in the face of argument, then how do you reassess beliefs to arrive at the good ones?  Epistemic Nihilism. Destroy everything in your head, attacking from all angles with all other beliefs.  Throw beliefs at each other, they your soldiers and you their general.  Marshal them to war and pit them [...]

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Errol Morris: Incommensurability

Go Here and Read. (H/T Reddit)

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Steve Waldman Writes About Stuff And Then I Write About That

Steve Waldman of interfluidity writes stuff in response to Tyler Cowen writing stuff.  I can recommend reading interfluidity without reservation.  Go, do so.  Come back in a few days.  I might even have a new post (in line with my current schedule of “a day or so after Lum posts). One bit I wanted to [...]

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Evolutionary Impetus

This article from the BBC discusses a study which correlates increased living space with increased evolution.  More particularly, the ability of a mutation to thrive is directly correlated to the ease with which it can enter an evolutionary niche.  The article ends with a critical quote from another evolutionary biologist: And in general, what is [...]

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Roger Ebert Maintains: Video Games Cannot Be Art

So sayeth the guy who talks about movies a lot: never can video games aspire to have, amidst their mighty pantheon of wondrous achievements, a single, solitary instance of a “Work of Art”. I disagree, and I think it comes down to definitions here.  Apparently, I have a broader definition of art than Ebert…or perhaps [...]

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Kotaku Inadvertently Provides Insight Into How Gamers View Religion

How people view and relate to the concept “religion” fascinates me, as was probably obvious from that discussion I had about Science as Religion with Jormundgard back in December.  Kotaku is apparently taking this week to discuss religion and video games, and has kicked it off with an article by Owen Good on religious depictions [...]

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An Interview with James Lovelock

I still remember the spirited debate I had here with Jormundgard about Science as Religion.  I’ve been rifling around for ways to properly restart that conversation, but my mental inertia fizzled, the train of my thought changing to different tracks.  Despite that, I still peer out the windows, longingly gazing upon the mountains of that [...]

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A Bit More Conversation on the Church of Reason

Jormundgard replied to my (rather long) post about Conformity and Social Decision Making with a good point: I was a bit vague in my usage of certain terms, and that led to a lack of clarity as to what I was getting at with this whole “Church of Reason” bit.  I’d like to repost his [...]

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Conformity and Social Decision Making

One of the interesting things about conspiracy theories is that they posit malevolent intent.  On the whole, malevolence doesn’t exist.  Most people really do think they’re doing the thing they need to be doing, getting along as best they can.  Sticking one’s neck out is heroic, sure…it’s also a fantastic way to be headless.  Headless [...]

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A bit more on Twixt: Ayn Rand’s Response

The events of Myers/Twixt have caused quite a stir across the MMORPG blogosphere.  Leaving aside his particular work or the subject matter of his paper, Myers’ actions have rekindled the ever-smoldering argument over “griefing” in games and areas of games which permit non-consensual pvp.  Given that Gevlon provided his thoughts on the matter, I thought [...]

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