Philosophy & Ethics

The Voynich Manuscript: An Enigma, Part #3

The Voynich Manuscript: An Enigma, Part #3 The Voynich manuscript, Beinebecke Library's MS 408 is a handwritten parchment codex of about 240 pages measuring 225 x 160 mm.   The manuscript is in an unreadable script.  Most of its pages are illustrated ...

Article - Patrick Lockerby - Jul 23 2009 - 2:13pm

The Tap Dance Kid, and other thoughts

Allow me, if you will, to stray from my usual posts about computers, Internet technology, and mathematics. In the mid-1980s I saw a musical on Broadway called The Tap Dance Kid. I enjoyed it a lot — I liked the story, the characters, the songs, and the da ...

Blog Post - Barry Leiba - Jul 22 2009 - 9:31am

What Does A Real Scientific Controversy Look Like?

The main stream media (“MSM”)[1] frequently treat us to dramatic stories of “scientific controversies” supposedly playing themselves out before our eyes. However, while such stories might make for exciting reading, they are seldom especially informative as ...

Article - Gary Herstein - Jul 24 2009 - 1:01am

The Say of the Week

"Non ho mai chiesto di occuparmi di mafia. Ci sono entrato per caso. E poi ci sono rimasto per un problema morale. La gente mi moriva attorno" (I never asked to work on mafia. I got to do it by chance. And then I continued because of a moral iss ...

Blog Post - Tommaso Dorigo - Jul 28 2009 - 7:16am

No Ontology without Epistemology: Of God and Mathematicians

On the Big Ideas Blog there is a post about the different types of reasoning, Analytic vs. Synthetic, and their relevance to the existence or non-existence of God.  But, my favorite passage was one concerning we mathematicians: ...

Blog Post - Nicholas Horton - Jul 28 2009 - 3:41pm

A Perspective On Individualism

Individualism is the political philosophy or ideology that emphasizes independence and self-reliance. Individualists advance the idea of realizing one's goals and desires, while opposing most external interference upon those objectives, by society, o ...

Article - Gerhard Adam - Jul 30 2009 - 12:54am

What is Mind? Does it matter? What is matter? Never mind!

Bertrand Russell was frequently abused as a child by his parents and elders with the titling piece of snark to this blog entry. While not a particular Russell fan (though he was a spectacularly clear writer) I find myself of late returning to the above sno ...

Blog Post - Gary Herstein - Aug 3 2009 - 7:12pm

Moral Inquiry 2: Tools Of The Trade

Inquiry is fundamentally different from stated conclusions, even when those conclusions can be legitimately qualified as knowledge (which is to say, as the products of valid inquiry). One can ennunciate a profound truth without ever even remotely approachi ...

Article - Gary Herstein - Aug 12 2009 - 10:19am

When It Comes To Ending Life Support, Do You Want To Know What A Doctor Thinks?

If you're the family member of a critical care patient, you prefer doctors to keep their opinions on life support decisions to themselves, according to new research that challenges a long-held belief in the critical care community that caregivers want ...

Article - News Staff - Aug 11 2009 - 5:37pm

A Double-Edged Sword: The Banana Dilemma

What do you do if you're stuck between a banana and a hard place? The slippery slope of paying extortionists tripped up Chiquita in the late 1990s and early 2000s, much like Donald below... But two years after the company agreed to pay a $25 million f ...

Article - Becky Jungbauer - Aug 12 2009 - 10:13am