The Amazing Things & Ideas - Beliefs have no bearing on knowledge
Scientific theories are impersonal. A theory is not scientific because the scientist believes in it. One can do science without ever believing in a theory for the knowledge in a theory never depends on the scientist believing in it. That knowledge component is objective—independent of what a person believes in or feels to be certain. Indeed, science is a process of criticizing theories. Not proving them. A scientific theory is guessed and then criticized. If the theory fails to survive the criticism, we discard it. If the theory survives the criticism, we do not dogmatically accept it to be the final word. That theory is considered our current best explanation which science aims constantly to refute. Thus, the concept of belief exists entirely outside the domain of knowledge. As Sir Peter Medawar said,
Unfortunately, perhaps due to this, some think of science as an inhuman act—a cold way of dealing with the “facts of reality”. This view is false but will have to be dealt with in another newsletter. The Amazing Things & Ideas List1. Biography I’m readingSteve Jobs by Walter Isaacson I think I’m in the Steve Jobs phase right now. And wow is it not awesome to be in it. Steve was truly a genius. His Walter Isaacson biography is brilliant. 2. Tesla’s master planI’ve been reading Elon Musk’s “The Secret Tesla Motors Master Plan” written back in 2006. Their business model and approach to market are interesting to look into and give insight into the natural progression of the public adopting new technologies.
3. Fascinating video… humans are amazingFor most of human history, none of this ever existed. Only with the Enlightenment and the scientific revolution did we start building such extraordinary technology. Fascinating what human knowledge can do. This is a really cool video that compares the fastest man made objects. 4. On the conjectural nature of knowledge
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Key phrases
Older messages
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Ideas: a force of nature
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From relativist to fallibilist
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At one point doesn't everything seem relative? What even is truth if not that which is true relative to the person?
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