ToKers:

"Science" (as we know it) is a *revolutionary* process, that changes  
its demeanor based on the PARADIGM in which we are living -- which is  
to say, after Thomas Kuhn's 1962 "The Structure of Scientific  
Revolutions," it cannot adopt anything like a single "universal"  
attitude.

Aristotle's science was not the same as Newton's and that wasn't the  
same as Einstein's and so on.  As a result, one period's "science"  
will appear to be "anti-science" in another.  (Yes, as you might  
recall, my father was a historian of science and I'm trained as a  
molecular biologist, so I have spent some time thinking about this  
topic.)

Since the founding of the Royal Society of London in 1660 (but not  
institutionalized before that), "science" has presented itself as the  
rejection of "metaphysics" -- which, as the name implies, was a  
science that professed to be "meta" (an important topic for this list)  
the lower-level study of mere "physics."  Yes, I have read the  
archives and noted that Gregg and John have already said a few words  
about all this.

Of course, that rejection of "metaphysics" is just a posture, since it  
is impossible to actually eliminate what lies underneath/behind  
whatever science claims itself to be (in any particular paradigm).   
This fake effort to eliminate what can't be eliminated (termed the  
"disenchantment of the world" by Max Weber in his 1917 "Science as a  
Vocation" lecture) has resulted in the current collapse of what many  
take to be the foundation of "modern" (not to be confused with  
"postmodern") science -- physics.

Recently a fellow I know who writes a blog for Scientific American,  
John Horgan (who works at the Stevens Institute of Technology, in  
Hoboken, NJ, where he teaches "creative writing"), wrote a fascinating  
article titled "How Physics Lost Its Way" that I recommend.

https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__blogs.scientificamerican.com_cross-2Dcheck_how-2Dphysics-2Dlost-2Dits-2Dway_&d=DwIDaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=2_Z-WnBP9FFDe-vvHWZ7os7vDbHzDx_mSj8C3g3HDGw&s=tJovVyVXkFjHvksbLzLaupM_sEzy5Bl1ZnrDpw3Uado&e=

This, in turn, is based on Sabine Hossenfelder's brand-new "Lost in  
Math: How Beauty Leads Physics Astray," that I also recommend . . . <g>

https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.amazon.com_Lost-2DMath-2DBeauty-2DPhysics-2DAstray_dp_0465094252&d=DwIDaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=2_Z-WnBP9FFDe-vvHWZ7os7vDbHzDx_mSj8C3g3HDGw&s=Sy_8SfKNt-96VAH9g-bqUH43HeNrNdsL3qguXzur03I&e=

I will leave the topic of "why" we go through these series of  
*paradigms* -- each one revolutionizing "science" anew -- until Gregg  
returns from vacation but perhaps another important book will  
stimulate some thinking on the matter.  This is the crucial topic of  
*causality*, which, as it turns out, requires metaphysics.

Judea Pearl's "The Book of Why: The New Science of Cause and Effect"  
is an attempt by a leading Artificial Intelligence researcher (and the  
"inventor" of Bayesian networks) to put a band-aid on the longstanding  
problem of *causality* in the West, going back to the Royal Society  
and its "rejection" (which, btw, does not exist in the same way in the  
East).

https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.amazon.com_Book-2DWhy-2DScience-2DCause-2DEffect_dp_046509760X&d=DwIDaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=2_Z-WnBP9FFDe-vvHWZ7os7vDbHzDx_mSj8C3g3HDGw&s=JMLEyDn5rIPMcpQqTt3ee_KL7e0HBRXLSfTBSffXGsw&e=

Have fun on your 4th of July (btw, I'll be kayaking off Long Beach  
Island if anyone else is out that way) . . . !!

Mark

P.S. For those trying to get ahead-of-the-curve, you might have  
noticed that my Center bases much of its work on the insights of  
Marshall McLuhan.  His last book was published posthumously with the  
title "The Laws of Media: The New Science," although, for many years,  
that title and subtitle were reversed, echoing the title of  
Giambattista Vico's 1725 "Scienza Nuova."  Vico was writing in  
opposition to the "new science" of his day (i.e. Newton &al), making  
him, yet-another "anti-scientist" as things ultimately turned out.

https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__en.wikipedia.org_wiki_The-5FNew-5FScience&d=DwIDaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=2_Z-WnBP9FFDe-vvHWZ7os7vDbHzDx_mSj8C3g3HDGw&s=MrJZ8RVJF7yWFrLIr5fsFwVMctnk8igjtQsAX5PEezk&e=

Quoting JOHN TORDAY <[log in to unmask]>:

> Dear Waldemar and ToKers, thank you Waldemar for acknowledging the problem
> I have highlighted with respect to recognizing the difference between
> information and knowledge, a distinction which seems to be overlooked.
>
> What I had neglected to mention in this thread of ideas with regard to the
> distinction between information and knowledge is that the Informaticists
> think that if you haven't come up with the 'answer' to the problem, you
> only need more data! That may work in a finite set, like the parts of the
> Challenger, since Informatics was developed by NASA, but it is inadequate
> for biologically-related problems like psychology and medicine; we know
> that in biology the whole is not equal to the sum of its parts. As Jaron
> Lanier, a Silicon Valley guru tells us, "You are not a gadget". In order to
> understand the ever-increasing data in such fields of biology we need to
> 'know' how physiology actually works in order to effectively interpret and
> utilize information. Learning to think critically to solve problems is
> essential.
>
> On Mon, Jul 2, 2018 at 11:47 AM, [log in to unmask] <
> [log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> Dear Friends:
>>
>> I am very much "in tune" with John’s comment about conflating information
>> and knowledge.
>> John, your comments remind me very much of how, for instance, data is (or
>> may be) eventually “transformed” into information, knowledge, wisdom, or
>> vision:
>>
>> I am not aware of any computer program which is able to add the elements
>> apparently required for each transformation (with the caveat that the is a
>> LOT about computers and their programs of which I am not aware).
>> It appears that the following are uniquely provided by humans:
>>
>>    1. Processing & relationship discovery.
>>    2. Reasoning & the discovery of patterns.
>>    3. The application of principles, empathy, and beliefs.
>>    4. The application of values and desire.
>>    5. The application of commitment.
>>
>>
>> The first two and part of #3 suggest the application of cognitive
>> functions.
>> Items 2, 3, and 4 suggest the involvement of affective functions.
>> Item 5 suggests the use of conative functions.
>> Requiring cognitive, affective, and conative functions suggests the
>> application of multiple connectomes, likely in a recursive manner.
>>
>> While the first two part of the above list may be assisted by computers,
>> the latter three seem to be beyond the domain of computers.
>> Probably, most “normal” persons have the innate ability to do these tasks,
>> but John’s experience suggests that the ability to apply all of the above
>> requires considerable education and/or experience.
>> Hence, the apparently general failure to apprehend the significant
>> differences between D, I, K, W & V?
>>
>> Best regards,
>>
>> Waldemar
>>
>> *Waldemar A Schmidt, PhD, MD*
>> (Perseveret et Percipiunt)
>> 503.631.8044
>>
>> *Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.* (A Einstein)
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Jun 25, 2018, at 12:48 PM, JOHN TORDAY <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>
>> If you can tolerate a little more anecdotal experience from back in the
>> 20th Century, I was raised in a multilingual home (my first language is not
>> english) in a multiethnic community in New York City and suburbs beginning
>> in the 1950s. I was encouraged to think and be curious in order to
>> assimilate. Although that was not encouraged educationally until graduate
>> school, I was prepared for the education I received at McGill University in
>> Experimental Medicine, being taught by scientists who were actively engaged
>> in research, prime among them Hans Selye, the physiologist who coined the
>> term 'stress'. He and his colleagues on faculty, who had discovered a
>> number of hormones- cortisol, aldosterone, prolactin- taught us to problem
>> solve in the way they had experienced it first hand in the laboratory,
>> above all else, that failure meant you hadn't formulated the hypothesis
>> correctly. Those were life lessons that I have carried throughout my
>> research career. My son, a well-recognized American novelist does much the
>> same research, only without having to generate data. When we were looking
>> for schools for my son to attend back in 2000 the school representatives
>> were advocating for  a liberal education, given that in the future people
>> would have multiple jobs over the course of their careers, and that a
>> liberal education was good preparation for such a situation.......does that
>> no longer apply due to the escalation of tuition?
>>
>> On Mon, Jun 25, 2018 at 12:11 PM, Joseph Michalski <[log in to unmask]>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Thanks John. I fully agree with your assessment. No question that the
>>> narrative has shifted over time to reducing the value of higher education
>>> to the overarching metric of earnings/jobs. Certainly a few students still
>>> remain who are curiosity-driven, across the many sciences and humanities.
>>> But these are more the exceptions than the rule. And honestly, I cannot
>>> remember the last time I spoke with a parent who framed the issues in any
>>> other way apart from:  "What can my kid actually *do *with this degree?
>>> This is costing us a *lot* of money!" Finally, our government ministries
>>> consistently stress more instrumental learning outcomes, as well as the
>>> employment-related metrics. Most faculty members resist, but it has been
>>> increasingly difficult to stem the tide in recent years.
>>>
>>> Best, -joe
>>>
>>> Dr. Joseph H. Michalski
>>>
>>> Associate Academic Dean
>>>
>>> King’s University College at Western University
>>>
>>> 266 Epworth Avenue
>>> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__maps.google.com_-3Fq-3D266-2BEpworth-2BAvenue-2B-250D-250A-2BLondon-2C-2BOntario-2C-2BCanada-2B-2BN6A-2B2M3-26entry-3Dgmail-26source-3Dg&d=DwMFaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=do8qGY5L8wCPzg90ijJs7PYMEw91kO9D8dlnwmfrJWc&s=Ls55Fxb--I1xu0iIsAwe-CMIjt09lHFOmq32QE2xEac&e=>
>>>
>>> London, Ontario, Canada
>>> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__maps.google.com_-3Fq-3D266-2BEpworth-2BAvenue-2B-250D-250A-2BLondon-2C-2BOntario-2C-2BCanada-2B-2BN6A-2B2M3-26entry-3Dgmail-26source-3Dg&d=DwMFaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=do8qGY5L8wCPzg90ijJs7PYMEw91kO9D8dlnwmfrJWc&s=Ls55Fxb--I1xu0iIsAwe-CMIjt09lHFOmq32QE2xEac&e=>
>>>  N6A 2M3
>>> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__maps.google.com_-3Fq-3D266-2BEpworth-2BAvenue-2B-250D-250A-2BLondon-2C-2BOntario-2C-2BCanada-2B-2BN6A-2B2M3-26entry-3Dgmail-26source-3Dg&d=DwMFaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=do8qGY5L8wCPzg90ijJs7PYMEw91kO9D8dlnwmfrJWc&s=Ls55Fxb--I1xu0iIsAwe-CMIjt09lHFOmq32QE2xEac&e=>
>>>
>>> Tel: (519) 433-3491, ext. 4439
>>>
>>> Fax: (519) 433-0353
>>>
>>> Email: [log in to unmask]
>>>
>>> ______________________
>>>
>>> *ei*π + 1 = 0
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> ------------------------------
>>> *From:* tree of knowledge system discussion <
>>> [log in to unmask]> on behalf of JOHN TORDAY <
>>> [log in to unmask]>
>>> *Sent:* Monday, June 25, 2018 2:02 PM
>>> *To:* [log in to unmask]
>>> *Subject:* Re: The Science of Anti-Scientific Thinking
>>>
>>> OK, I have read the Scientific American article in the interim. I find
>>> the observations of interest, but as with my comment about the conflation
>>> of Information and Knowledge, the degradation of the educational mission is
>>> equally troublesome to me......for example, in the run-up to the 2016
>>> Presidential election Bernie Sanders was advocating for free higher
>>> education. The discussion of that issue revolved around equating education
>>> with earnings, without any mention of the quality of life for those with
>>> advanced educations. Like so many aspects of society, we are undermining
>>> the educational mission in the name of profit as yet another bottom line
>>> enterprise. Given that, why would society put value in the generation of
>>> scientific evidence, given that the process is misunderstood, if it is
>>> understood at all? Teaching to the test for the sake of expediency doesn't
>>> give the student an appreciation of the process so he/she can fully
>>> understand the significance of the content, or lack thereof. We are not
>>> teaching our students to think and problem solve, we are teaching them to
>>> pass exams. When social 'values' are only measured in $ and cents, this is
>>> the result.
>>>
>>> On Mon, Jun 25, 2018 at 8:42 AM, JOHN TORDAY <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>>
>>> Dear Joe and ToKers, your email and the SA article are great talking
>>> points for us to consider. However I think that there's an overriding
>>> problem due to the tendency to equate Information and Knowledge. This has
>>> resulted from both the "Question Authority" movement and the 'Arab Spring'
>>> of technology leveling institutions of society, including
>>> science.....discusss?
>>>
>>> On Mon, Jun 25, 2018 at 8:16 AM, Joseph Michalski <[log in to unmask]>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>> Dear Colleagues:
>>>
>>> Please see the attached article from my newly arrived July 2018  
>>> issue of *Scientific
>>> American*. The three main hurdles to clear scientific thinking they've
>>> identified are: 1) shortcuts to deal with cognitive overload; 2) the
>>> well-know issue of confirmation bias; and 3) social goals (or what we refer
>>> to as influence as part of Gregg's J-I-I argument). I share the article for
>>> a few reasons.
>>>
>>> First, it's great to see a broad swath of the academic community (at
>>> least the psychologists and the research cited) largely reaching similar
>>> conclusions about cognitive biases - and how the work aligns with much of
>>> Gregg's framing and what I've been reading of others on our list-serv.
>>> Gregg and I have attempted to joke, with some irony, that we hope we're not
>>> just creating our own "echo chambers" and exercising our own "confirmation
>>> biases" by agreeing too much. Every group needs the outliers to help keep
>>> us honest!
>>>
>>> Second, I've mentioned before (using my own siblings in part as
>>> exemplars) the problem of discussing issues and struggling to be
>>> fair-minded, 'objective,' and receptive to alternative viewpoints, new
>>> info, etc. And yet the academy itself has been increasingly under attack in
>>> recent years as "liberal re-education camps" and "close-minded" by not
>>> embracing alternative viewpoints or shutting down speakers, especially on
>>> the right-wing end of the political spectrum, who challenge "liberal
>>> orthodoxy" or may be skeptical of any claims-making from university
>>> professors -- scientific or otherwise. Nancy commented in part on this
>>> issue a couple of weeks ago in a quite insightful way. I'm thinking that
>>> the issue is actually much broader in the sense that these issues affect
>>> all of us, both inside and outside of academia. It's not simply a matter of
>>> any of us being "experts" in our fields or far more knowledgeable about the
>>> "facts" and "scientific evidence" in regard to our specialties. All
>>> knowledge has a relational component too, i.e., depends upon the social
>>> location of the actors relative to each other in combination with the
>>> cultural sources of justification systems invoked. This explains in large
>>> measure, in my view, the rise of the "alternative facts" and "fake news"
>>> critiques that have gained such popularity.
>>>
>>> Finally, note too the fact that our researches across the many fields
>>> within the academy -- but especially in the social sciences and humanities
>>> -- gradually have chipped away or at least provided insights about the
>>> standard forms of knowledge and justification systems that have helped
>>> certain groups to maintain their power and privilege for many generations
>>> (and across cultures). If I show you the lead article from the
>>> well-respected journal *Criminology* last month (which confirms
>>> something I've hypothesized about for years) showing the adverse effects of
>>> early childhood exposure to lead for healthy brain development and some
>>> adverse behavioral outcomes, then how does one "receive" and "interpret"
>>> that information? What are the implications for even something as basic as
>>> "equality of opportunity" for youngsters who grow up with high lead
>>> exposure in their environments, to say nothing of the many other factors
>>> that affect their "life chances" simply because they grow up in a certain
>>> neighborhood or attended woefully under-resourced schools or a thousand
>>> other factors beyond their control? Back to the article and the various
>>> mechanisms that we use to simplify the whole darn thing. I'm thinking a la
>>> Colonel Jessup's famous quote in *A Few Good Men*: "You can't handle the
>>> truth!" Can any of us? 😎  Best regards, -Joe
>>>
>>> Dr. Joseph H. Michalski
>>>
>>> Associate Academic Dean
>>>
>>> King’s University College at Western University
>>>
>>> 266 Epworth Avenue
>>> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__maps.google.com_-3Fq-3D266-2BEpworth-2BAvenue-2B-250D-250A-2BLondon-2C-2BOntario-2C-2BCanada-2B-2BN6A-2B2M3-26entry-3Dgmail-26source-3Dg&d=DwMFaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=do8qGY5L8wCPzg90ijJs7PYMEw91kO9D8dlnwmfrJWc&s=Ls55Fxb--I1xu0iIsAwe-CMIjt09lHFOmq32QE2xEac&e=>
>>>
>>> London, Ontario, Canada
>>> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__maps.google.com_-3Fq-3D266-2BEpworth-2BAvenue-2B-250D-250A-2BLondon-2C-2BOntario-2C-2BCanada-2B-2BN6A-2B2M3-26entry-3Dgmail-26source-3Dg&d=DwMFaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=do8qGY5L8wCPzg90ijJs7PYMEw91kO9D8dlnwmfrJWc&s=Ls55Fxb--I1xu0iIsAwe-CMIjt09lHFOmq32QE2xEac&e=>
>>>  N6A 2M3
>>> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__maps.google.com_-3Fq-3D266-2BEpworth-2BAvenue-2B-250D-250A-2BLondon-2C-2BOntario-2C-2BCanada-2B-2BN6A-2B2M3-26entry-3Dgmail-26source-3Dg&d=DwMFaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=do8qGY5L8wCPzg90ijJs7PYMEw91kO9D8dlnwmfrJWc&s=Ls55Fxb--I1xu0iIsAwe-CMIjt09lHFOmq32QE2xEac&e=>
>>>
>>> Tel: (519) 433-3491, ext. 4439
>>>
>>> Fax: (519) 433-0353
>>>
>>> Email: [log in to unmask]
>>>
>>> ______________________
>>>
>>> *ei*π + 1 = 0
>>>
>>>
>>> ############################
>>>
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>>
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