On December 5, I’ll be in Mexico to speak at La Cuidad de Las Ideas. “La Ciudad de las Ideas is an International Festival of Brilliant Minds, a celebration of creativity and curiosity. With the participation of over 60 speakers, from scientists to opinion leaders, the festival takes place from the 4th to the 6th […]
Idea Festival 2020: Cuidad de las Ideas (Mexico) Read More »
A strong claim from historian of science Thomas Kuhn’s The Structure of Scientific Revolutions: “Every civilization of which we have records has possessed a technology, an art, a religion, a political system, laws, and so on. In many cases those facets of civilization have been as developed as our own. But only the civilizations that
Science’s dependence on philosophy — Kuhn, Toulmin, Heidegger, and the pomo Read More »
Episode 37 in my Open College with Dr. Stephen Hicks podcast series. Why is Thomas Kuhn so frequently cited by postmodernists and other skeptics? Kuhn was professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and author of The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, a classic in the history and philosophy of science. Still relevant to our philosophical and
Thomas Kuhn’s De-Structuring Science [Open College podcast] Read More »
I understand: (1) Climate is not weather, except when it is. (2) Global warming means milder winters but also harsher winters. Far from expert on the issue, but can USA Today please up its science-journalism game? The video accompanying this article promises to explain why “Climate change is making winters colder despite rising temperatures and
Science journalism for non-experts on the climate change issue Read More »
Sparked by some recent conversation, here again is a striking quotation from Thomas Kuhn’s The Structure of Scientific Revolutions: “Every civilization of which we have records has possessed a technology, an art, a religion, a political system, laws, and so on. In many cases those facets of civilization have been as developed as our own.
Kuhn on the Greeks’ unique creation of scientific culture Read More »
Hager’s The Alchemy of Air (Broadway, 2009) is a gripping read. You might think a story about chemistry and chemical engineering — fixed nitrogen, hydrogen, and ammonia — would be a snooze, but you might be wrong. Subtitle: A Jewish Genius, a Doomed Tycoon, and the Scientific Discovery that Fed the World and Fueled the
Thomas Hager’s *The Alchemy of Air* Read More »
A new generation of sex robots is upon us, and the joking has begun. I don’t need one, says a wife, since my husband is already robotic in bed. Ha ha. Sure, a husband replies, but you should see my wife in inaction. (No thanks, I think to myself.) The next generation of sex robots promises
Sex with Robots? The Ethics [Good Life series] Read More »