Popping Conjectures

Now reading: Conjectures and Refutations (C&R) by Karl Popper

p. 5 "For [Russell] says that epistemological relativism, or the idea that there is no such thing as objective truth, and epistemological pragmatism, or the idea that truth is the same as usefulness, are closely linked with authoritarian and totalitarian ideas."

To avoid a lengthy epistemological discussion, I will first refer to instrumentalism or pragmatism, in the sense that usefulness indicates knowledge (but not that all knowledge must be useful).

"But I think that ideas are dangerous and powerful things, and that even philosophers have sometimes produced ideas."

:D

"the belief in the rule of law... can easily survive the recognition that judges are not omniscient... but cannot well survive the acceptance of an epistemology which teaches there are no objective facts"

p. 8

"Erroneous beliefs may have an astonishing power to survive, for thousands of years, in defiance of experience, and without the aid of any conspiracy."

Given DD's explanation in terms of meme propagation, 'survive' indeed...

p. 11

"Thus we find in Plato the first transition between an optimistic and pessimistic epistemology. Each of them forms the basis of one of the two diametrically opposed philosophies of the state and society."

Plato goes from the doctrine of anamnesis: that your immortal soul knows all but forgets at birth, and my re-cognize the truth again when it sees it, to the cave: seeing the truth (anything but the shadows) is immensely difficult, and will only ever be available to few, and not believed by others.

p. 13

"Socrates' maieutic is not an art that aims at teaching any belief, but one that aims at purgiing or cleansing ... the soul of its false beliefs."

See; Russell, The Problems of Philosophy. What we know comes from science, philosophy is for teaching you what you don't know. Which may be even more important...

TBoI I: The Reach Of Explanations

Back to the Beginning of David Deutch's 'The Beginning of Infinity' (TBoF) (page #'s are hardcover.. I don't know if there is another edition yet)

p. 3

"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 theories are explanations: assertions about what is out there and how it behaves."

I think we can improve on this definition of explanation. I often find the clarity lacking a bit. Even where he supplies end of chapter definitions, they are often vague (and the 'Meanings of TBOF...' sections can be downright silly). One my of critiques of the book in general is it doesn't seem to know who its audience is... it tries to be part formal philosophical treatise and part pop-sci.

p 6.

"Scientific explanations are about reality, most of which does not consist of anyone's experiences."

p. 7

"Discovering a new explanation is inherently an act of creativity."

p. 8

"...the real key to science is that our explanatory  theories ... can be improved, through conjecture, criticism, and testing."

Directly from Popper, and pretty hard to refute (ahem).

p. 10

"All observations arre, as Popper put it, theory-laden"

The remainder of the paragraph rather stretches what we would call 'theory' to include even basic sensory processing and modeling... but it's a valid point nonetheless.

p. 13

"What was needed for the sustained, rapid growth of knowledge was a tradition of criticism."

p. 22

"If an explanation could easily explain anything... than it actually explains nothing."

"In general, when theories are easily variable... experimental testing is almost useless for correcting these errors. I call such theories bad explanations."

"The quest for good explanations is... the basic regulating principle not only for science, but of the Enlightenment... and it implies all those other conditions for scientific progress."

p. 25

"We do not test every testable theory, but only the few we find are good explanations."

Well, he puts forward his idea of a good explanation, a key part of which is that it is difficult to vary, as more important than the concept of testability or falsifiability, but being hard to vary is exactly the property that makes a theory falsifiable, so it amounts to the same thing.

It seems his use of explanation is largely interchangeable with the scientific use of the word theory (sometimes he uses the term explanatory theories), but he is probably smart to prefer the former for greater specificity.

Edit: just came across the same phrase in Popper: "Assume that we have deliberately made it our task to line in this unknown world... and to explain it... with the help of laws and explanatory theories."

p. 26

"The best explanations are the ones that are most constrained by existing knowledge... including other good explanations"

p. 28

"The reach of explanations is... the ability to solve problems beyond those that they were created to solve... it it determined by the content of the explanation itself"

p. 30

"if you find an explanation anywhere in the universe, you know that there must have been an intelligent being."

I don't find much to debate in this chapter; he introduces some lingo and sets the stage. I can't argue with the Popperian epistemology. One thing I noted from the start is DD doesn't quite seem to know who is audience is. It seems part formal treatise on the philosophy of science, part pop-sci. He includes end of chapter definitions, but they are often pretty vague, which kind of defeats the purpose of a definition. And the 'Meanings of...' sections are usually pretty silly.

I can't wait 'til we get to Hilbert's Hotel :D But, I am finding a re-read valuable;

TBP

Now reading: Sean Carroll, The Big Picture

p. 10

"The truth is that the ground has disappeared beneath us, and we are just beginning to work up the courage to look down."

p. 15, chapter 2:

Good lord, straight to Star Trek transporter malfunctions.

Always

"I suspect that somebody somewhere is always playing "Tiger Rag" or "Basin Streen Blues."

"Jazz has always been more capable of digesting new musical ingrediants than other genres."

"I recently heard of an eleven-year-old who played Giant Steps like it was Chopsticks."

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Wow, I didn't know my keyboard could do that.

Unity

FDtD p. 466

"...if one asks why in the face of such divisions, one speaks of unity at all, the answer for all periods is that the ultimate unifying force of an age is its predicaments: the urgent demands, the obstacles to social peace or progress, the need for new art that Stendhal pointed out--things that alert minds cannot ignore: every living thinker or artist works to fulfil these calls or deny them in some way."

Perhaps the best sentence I've ever read with two colons, not to mention a --.