jrosenhouse | October 23, 2006As an amusing follow-up to Friday's post, have a look at this lengthy op-ed from McGill University physicist Jim Cline, in The Ottawa Citizen. Here's an excerpt:
Why is it that string theory has become such a favoured paradigm? Have theoretical physicists deluded themselves? Have they been pressured by social forces to blind themselves to other possible theories? Is there a behind-the-scenes string-theory conspiracy that is propping up a pseudoscientific house of cards?
We could ask a similar question about cars. Let's suppose, for the sake of argument, that Hondas have been the most…
jrosenhouse | October 20, 2006As several other SB'ers have already noted, physicist Brian Greene offers this defense of string theory in today's New York Times. He concludes:
I have worked on string theory for more than 20 years because I believe it provides the most powerful framework for constructing the long-sought unified theory. Nonetheless, should an inconsistency be found, or should future studies reveal an insuperable barrier to making contact with experimental data, or should new discoveries reveal a superior approach, I'd change my research focus, and I have little doubt that most string theorists would too.…
jrosenhouse | October 19, 2006On October 2, Nature published this news brief about a claim of a solution to the Navier-Stokes equations:
A buzz is building that one of mathematics' greatest unsolved problems may have fallen.
Blogs and online discussion groups are spreading news of a paper posted to an online preprint server on 26 September. This paper, authored by Penny Smith of Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, purports to contain an “immortal smooth solution of the three-space-dimensional Navier-Stokes system”.
If the paper proves correct, Smith can lay claim to $1 million in prize money from the Clay…
jrosenhouse | October 19, 2006An amusing item from CNN:
Kids who are turned off by math often say they don't enjoy it, they aren't good at it and they see little point in it. Who knew that could be a formula for success?
The nations with the best scores have the least happy, least confident math students, says a study by the Brookings Institution's Brown Center on Education Policy.
Countries reporting higher levels of enjoyment and confidence among math students don't do as well in the subject, the study suggests. The results for the United States hover around the middle of the pack, both in terms of enjoyment and in…
jrosenhouse | October 18, 2006Check out this photograph. It's Bush meeting with a truly odious collection of sycophants and lickspittles: Sean Hannity, Michael Medved, Neal Boortz, Laura Ingraham, and Michael Gallagher. Gallagher is the only one of the bunch with whom I'm unfamiliar, but his inclusion in this photograph tells me everything I need to know about him. It's amazing who has the ear of the President these days.
jrosenhouse | October 18, 2006David Kuo, author of the new book Tempting Faith: An Inside Story of Political Seduction, appeared on the MSNBC show Hardball last night. It was a strange interview.
I've not yet read Kuo's book, but his main point seems to be that the Bush administration simply uses evangelical voters as a ready source of votes, but does not really care about their issues. In public he professes great fondness for evangelical leaders, but in private his staff refers to them as nuts and goofy. It's pretty damning stuff considering the extent to which Bush relies on evangelical voters.
At the start of…
jrosenhouse | October 18, 2006Just move the little horsey to all of the unpainted squares. But don't be too impressed if you clear the early levels with little difficulty. It gets hard in a hurry. So far I haven't managed to get past level 11. My wrist is too sore right now to try again!
jrosenhouse | October 17, 2006It's a been a while since I checked in with Dembski and Co. over at Uncommon Descent. But this entry caught my eye.
In it, Dembski reproduces eight criteria indicative of groupthink. He writes, “Read the following and ask yourself which side in the ID vs. Darwinism debate exhibits the groupthink syndrome:”
So what the heck! Let's take the challenge. For the purposes of this post I'll even accept his ID vs. Darwinism characterization. For ease of reading, I've placed the eight criteria in boldface type:
1. an illusion of invulnerability, shared by most or all the members, which creates…
jrosenhouse | October 16, 2006We continue now with our discussion of Brian Boyd's article, “Getting it All Wrong,” from the Autumn 2006 issue of The American Scholar. Click here for Part One.
We have already seen Boyd's characterization of modern literary criticism as resting on two pillars: Anti-foundationalism and difference. The former refers to the lack of a secure foundation for knowledge, while the latter refers to the lack of universals in human culture.
In discussing anti-founationalism, Boyd provides the following excellent summary fo the merits of science:
Human minds are as they are because they evolved…
jrosenhouse | October 13, 2006Vladimir Kramnik won the four game, rapid chess, tie-break match this morning. It was a real nail-biter of an event! Game one was a blunder-filled draw. Kramnik won game two in his usual style, grinding Topalov down in a difficult, technical endgame. Topalov struck back with a win in game three, trapping Kramnik's king in the center and then annihilating him with a whirlwind attack. But Kramnik won game four in yet another technical endgame. Let us record the final moments for posterity:
Kramnik, playing white, is a pawn up in what is surely a winning endgame. But there are still…
jrosenhouse | October 12, 2006Well, regulation play has run out in the big chess match. Game Twelve was another interesting affair, but it ultimately petered out to a draw. Officially the score is tied at six points each. In chess matches of this sort, the custom is that in the case of a tie the players split the prize money evenly, but the champion keeps his title. But that doesn't apply here. After all, Topalov is the official FIDE champion, while Kramnik is the champion by having defeated the previous champion, Gary Kasparov, in a match. This was the match that was supposed to unify the title once again.
So it…
jrosenhouse | October 12, 2006From the time George W. Bush first appeared on the national scene there has been one big question: Does he actually believe all the Evangelical Christian rhetoric he uses, or is he just playing religious voters for fools. As reported last night by Keith Olbermann, it's the latter:
OLBERMANN: When President Bush touched on Iraq at his news conference this morning, he may have been revealing more than he knew.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The stakes couldn't be any higher, as I said earlier, in the world in which we live. There are there are--there…
jrosenhouse | October 11, 2006The Autumn 2006 issue of The American Scholar features a lengthy article entitled, “Getting it All Wrong: Biolculture Critiques Cultural Critique. It's author is Brian Boyd, a professor of English at The University of Auckland in New Zealand.
The premise of the article is that English professors have rendered themselves irrelevant and even a bit silly by refusing to acknowledge the role of biology, especially evolution, in shaping human culture and knowledge. In particular that branch of study known as literary theory comes off looking foolish because it makes pronouncements completely…
jrosenhouse | October 10, 2006Skeptic Magazine publisher Michael Shermer will be in Oakton, Virginia this Thursday, October 12, to discuss his new book Why Darwin Matters: The Case Against Intelligent Design. The talk is being cohosted by The Alliance for Science and the National Capitol Area Skeptics. Regrettably, I will be unable to attend. Having heard Shermer speak several times previously, I can say with some confidence that will be an interesting and informative talk. If you're anywhere near Oakton, I strongly encourage you to attend.
The talk will be from 7:30-9:30, but Shermer will be signing copies of his…
jrosenhouse | October 10, 2006Game Eleven of the big chess match ended in a draw after a long, difficult endgame. Kramnik, playing black, stuck to his beloved Slav Defense despite the catastrophe in game nine. Topalov again tried a new idea, but Kramnik defended well and entered an endgame where he had only a very slight disadvantage. After some inaccuracies by Topalov, Kramnik managed to gain the upper hand and even won a pawn. But it was not enough to win and eventually a draw was agreed.
The twelfth and final game is on Thursday. All tied up, including the forfeit by Kramnik in game five. Both players have a lot…
jrosenhouse | October 10, 2006Benjamin over at The World's Fair and Chad over at Uncertain Principles have already blogged this, but neither acheves the proper level of indignation in my opinion.
In this post from September 15, I discussed an astonishingly poor discussion of string theory, written by Gregg Easterbrook and published in Slate. Now, in an apparent effort to cement its reputation for unreliable commentary on science, they have run this silly essay. The subject is a recent experiment by sociologist Henry Collins. He posed seven questions about gravitational waves to a professional physicist. Both Collins…
jrosenhouse | October 8, 2006And to think that just a few days ago it seemed like this match would end abruptly because of an insane dispute over visits to the bathroom.
Topalov scored back-to-back victories in games eight and nine to take a one point lead in the match. Kramnik was back on ihs heels, and some among the cognoscenti were talking seriously about a complete psychological collapse on his part. Add to that the fact that both of Topalov's wins were impressive and convincing, whereas Karmnik's earlier wins had more to do with luck, and it was not looking good for the champ.
But as he has done so often in the…
jrosenhouse | October 7, 2006A dramatic turn of events in the big chess match. Topalov won game nine in convincing fashion, his second win in a row. Topalov now has a one point lead in the match (including the point he got when Kramnik forfeited game five). Three games remain, and Kramnik will have white in two of them.
Topalov came up with a novelty against Kramnik's beloved Salv Defense. He played in his usual, risky, enterprising manner and quickly established an opening advantage. The middlegame was tense throughout. As one of the commentators on the Internet Chess Club pointed out, it was a battle of the world…
jrosenhouse | October 6, 2006From Tuesday's New York Times:
They are eerie sensations, more common than one might think: A man describes feeling a shadowy figure standing behind him, then turning around to find no one there. A woman feels herself leaving her body and floating in space, looking down on her corporeal self.
Such experiences are often attributed by those who have them to paranormal forces.
But according to recent work by neuroscientists, they can be induced by delivering mild electric current to specific spots in the brain. In one woman, for example, a zap to a brain region called the angular gyrus…