tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11709375803142225872011-08-20T15:27:52.836+01:00Arguing For Arguments' SakeMarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.comBlogger1791100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-58690483508256116802008-10-06T13:44:00.002+01:002008-10-06T13:47:25.541+01:00

Just to let you all know that my new site, Small•Hadron•Collider, is finally up and running. I'm currently developing a few iPhone apps as well as a referencing app for the Mac. Also available for web and graphical design. As mentioned in the previous post, this is also the home of my new blog. Small•Hadron•Collider

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-74564717508545105022008-08-28T12:01:00.003+01:002008-08-28T12:05:06.382+01:00

In an attempt to unify all of my internet goings-on I will be moving my blog to my new Small•Hadron•Collider site (http://smallhadroncollider.com/blog/) in a few week's time. I will keep Neo-Sophistry up for prosperity's sake, but I will no longer be writing to it. The new blog will be very similar to this one, with a slight change of focus to reflect the fact that I won't be doing philosophy

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-16648811731401596252008-08-18T13:50:00.002+01:002008-08-18T13:53:49.367+01:00

Not done a post in about a month. So to keep anyone that's still reading entertained I thought I'd post a book I wrote when I was younger. So here it is: Pete - A Story (in Words). It's only about 50 pages. Takes about ten minutes to read. And, most importantly, it's all true.

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-62354059342759036872008-07-21T21:50:00.002+01:002008-07-21T21:52:15.188+01:00

I'll continue to blog after I leave the philosophical fold. It may get a bit more computery, but it'll still just be me waffling in my usual kind of way.

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-14762696688869915682008-07-21T21:25:00.002+01:002008-07-21T21:37:33.048+01:00

Hello. I've not written anything on here for a couple of weeks; I would like to say that I've been busy, but I've mostly been procrastinating (a word that's horribly overused by students – and only students). So, I've decided that I'll more than likely be giving up philosophy. At least for a while. I hope to go into the indie Mac software business – although I'll need to get a real job while

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-39227463383312574462008-07-07T01:08:00.001+01:002008-07-07T01:22:43.320+01:00

I'm a bit annoyed that Federer lost Wimbledon – I really wanted him to get the record for 6 times in a row for some reason. But I'm more annoyed about an e-mail I got this morning. Here's the backstory: I was having trouble with the Bibliography program I'm making – couldn't get the saving to work – so I joined the Cocoa-Dev mailing-list and sent an e-mail out explaining my problem. I got lots of

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-85166194597386682232008-07-03T09:50:00.002+01:002008-07-03T09:52:07.545+01:00

Prepare to be shocked: oil prices reach new record high!!

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-90282813755103458652008-06-30T11:20:00.001+01:002008-06-30T11:22:14.261+01:00

An interesting article featuring some of my favourite topics: Conservapedia, evolution, science, and funding.

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-71565045626600786222008-06-27T09:53:00.001+01:002008-06-27T09:53:56.372+01:00

Shocking news: the price of oil hits new record of $2 over the previous record from last week!

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-42191084224992831712008-06-22T19:05:00.001+01:002008-06-22T19:05:58.644+01:00

I decided that instead of spending my time doing, you know, work I would rather make a Mac program that converts BibTex files into nicely formatted bibliographies that I can use in Pages. Finished the 0.0.1(alpha) release today: you copy the BibTex text into a box and it produces a nice looking bibliography. Want to make it fully drag-and-drop though: you drag and BibTex file or text onto the

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-163359700556650382008-06-19T23:05:00.000+01:002008-06-19T23:07:11.040+01:00

Here's a few random links (most of which I found on the excellent Daring Fireball): Abridged Indiana Jones 4 (it's got spoilers, and you may not find it funny if you thought it was a good film – but it wasn't, so that shouldn't be a problem) YouTube Screening Room: Our Time Is Up (new YouTube site for short indie films; this one is good) Man Gets Windows Vista To Work With Printer (

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-56599124511003400482008-06-18T22:02:00.000+01:002008-06-18T22:03:21.015+01:00

You heard it here first.

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-62631123045273022322008-06-16T22:31:00.002+01:002008-06-16T22:40:35.104+01:00

That needs to be the headline on news websites instead of "Oil at new record high price". Of course if oil is at an all time record high and then goes up in price again it will set a new record. Do we really need to be told it is a new record every single time?

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-3971933382637952732008-06-11T19:01:00.000+01:002008-06-11T19:02:38.977+01:00

Full episodes of The Colbert Report are now available online the day after broadcast. If you have any interest in American politics and a sense of humour then you can't not enjoy this programme.

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-24274937002129488372008-06-10T23:26:00.000+01:002008-06-10T23:28:51.966+01:00

I'm just going to come straight out and say it: I really don't like the new Google logo. Sorry Google.

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-90025075117264944112008-06-10T11:58:00.000+01:002008-06-10T12:00:14.208+01:00

I was watching a documentary on Channel 4 the other day about the rise of the fundamentalist Christians in the UK. It was pretty worrying to be honest – I'm starting to agree a little more with Richard Dawkins (although he's still going about things the wrong way). But one of the things that really upset me about it was the way some House of Lords idiot gave an "argument" against gay adoption

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-64526018053406570572008-06-09T14:18:00.003+01:002008-06-09T15:17:53.665+01:00

I love this sound clip (although, to be fair, it makes a bit more sense in context):

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-41694339628565479412008-06-09T13:57:00.003+01:002008-12-10T13:05:54.895Z

At the end of exams we had a bonfire down on the beach. We decided it would be appropriate to burn the book we used for Research Methods as it caused all of us much pain. It's odd. Before it seemed like a good idea. But then, as it was burning, I started to feel like I'd done something quite wrong. And now it just feels like it was definitely the wrong thing to do. It's odd. We'll happily

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-28113471430467163112008-06-09T13:26:00.000+01:002008-06-09T13:48:43.547+01:00

I got an Xbox 360 a few weeks ago (just before exams in fact – surely the best time to buy one). Now people often accuse me of being anti-Microsoft, but this is simply not true. I'm anti-Windows (but then anyone who has used Windows is probably anti-Windows), I think that the Zune is ugly and hard to use, Steve Ballmer is a nut-case, and Internet Explorer and Office are both horrible programs.

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-43008931650386441782008-06-09T12:57:00.000+01:002008-06-09T12:56:58.426+01:00

So, Obama won the Democratic nomination finally; and Hillary Clinton has stepped down. I expected the former, but not the latter. This leaves plenty of time for McCain to make a complete mess of things (and hopefully convinced the Clinton supporters who said they'd vote for McCain if Obama won that they should still vote Democrat). I honestly think that this election is probably one of the most

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-66941565079860257542008-06-08T18:38:00.016+01:002008-06-09T14:09:59.560+01:00

I was watching Francis Ford Coppola's The Rainmaker today. It's not a great film – I've never been a huge fan of Coppola, but I didn't realise it was one of his when I started watching it. Check out this clip: Did you notice the guy walking into the shot on the left, realising he's on camera, and then backing off? For some reason I found that hugely entertaining. I'm pretty sure the use

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-25029897034426497442008-06-08T15:31:00.006+01:002008-06-08T15:45:42.861+01:00

I now seem to have two main ideas within my philosophy (and I think they're linked): Pragmatics: Usefulness should guide our philosophical theories. For example, I wish to formulate a pragmatic conception of knowledge. Neo-Sophistry: Philosophy does not get at the truth, so we should argue for any position that we can. I think that Rorty had similar ideas on some things. I'll be reading some

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-29708155498849747512008-06-08T14:29:00.005+01:002008-06-08T15:06:15.535+01:00

I'm not a fan of overly technical philosophy (I'm also not a fan of radishes, but I'll save that for another post). My problem is this: Science can be very technical, and thus hard for the layman to understand, but it makes up for it by being useful. The arts tend not to be technical as they are meant to provide some sort of enjoyment to Mr Normal Person. Technical philosophy fits into

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-54773364346262829712008-06-08T13:44:00.001+01:002008-06-08T13:46:01.928+01:00

This must have taken ages to do:

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-16852536012244540752008-05-26T07:48:00.007+01:002008-05-26T12:55:33.614+01:00

See here. It's an article about the Mars Phoenix probe landing on Mars yesterday. Which is excellent news. However, there's one line in it that made me confused: In 2003, Smith proposed a plan to re-engineer the Mars Surveyor and fly it on a mission to look for signatures of life in the ice and dirt of Mars far North. Mars Phoenix, literally and figuratively, rose from the ashes of Surveyor.

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-10266977428921776292008-05-23T15:03:00.007+01:002008-05-23T15:46:34.091+01:00

Mini-reviews: Iron Man: Awesome! In Bruges: Amazing film – best I've seen in a while. Deeply dark, deeply moving, deeply funny. Not one for the kids. Indiana Jones and the Overly Silly Plot: Kinda silly. Enjoyable in the same kind of way as Pirates of the Caribbean 3 was – lots of over the top action sequences, not a lot else. War Inc.: I had high hopes for this one; and while there are some

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-49702516961921858222008-05-16T18:41:00.004+01:002008-05-16T18:45:22.882+01:00

I used the Way Back Machine to look at one of my websites from the early noughties (BlueMind.co.uk). I think I was funnier back then, or at least weirder. Here's a snippet from the 'News' section (complete with bad grammar and random capitalisation &ndash I was only 17): Evil Monkey's Plan Stopped An Evil Monkey planning on taking over the world using mutant bananas was today arrested for being

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-80327367004094194822008-05-16T18:03:00.002+01:002008-05-16T18:07:27.750+01:00

Here's an interesting talk about how what we eat can effect the environment as well as our health. Brief summary: eat less junk food, eat less meat, eat more plants. It has to be said that I've been eating a lot less meat since in the last few years: largely because it's cheaper. I could still cut it down though.

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-55666169073350072612008-05-12T20:19:00.002+01:002008-05-12T20:22:57.187+01:00

So the plan this term was to get my act together and start my essays early on and to do all the reading for all the courses. Yet, in the end, I wrote all three of my essays in the last week and by the end of term I was skipping most of the reading. Oh, and I bought an Xbox 360, which should arrive tomorrow, just in time for revision week.

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-6360872385204175672008-05-07T22:22:00.004+01:002008-05-07T22:29:41.734+01:00

Yet again there is controversy over the teaching of evolution in America. It's not something I'll ever understand: evolution and religion do not contradict each other unless you take the bible totally literally. Which, of course, many people do. But then the majority of Americans cannot name the first book of the Bible or name the gospels. So statistically some of them have to be taking a book

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-84432277085553766602008-05-07T19:26:00.005+01:002008-12-10T13:05:55.362Z

I applaud the creator of this bit of spam (all done in text): It shows creative effort (or the ability to use an ASCII image generator, but still...).

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-32452131857807681572008-05-07T12:50:00.003+01:002008-05-07T12:55:28.127+01:00

Most people don't like word limits on essays. But I find that most people don't like them because they tend to go over the world limit and then have to cut it down. I seem to be the opposite though: I struggle to hit the word limit. In one of the essays I'm handing in on Friday the only reason I hit the 3,000 word minimum is because I include footnotes in the count. Does anyone else tend to go

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-50336344340163585402008-05-03T22:30:00.001+01:002008-05-03T22:32:34.634+01:00

See here. A man says that he gained an Australian accent after being raped by a wombat. Found guilty of wasting police time.

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-23233563965726848272008-05-03T18:20:00.010+01:002008-05-03T18:55:54.766+01:00

My recent interest in the 2008 Presidential Election combined with my new found obsession with Yahoo! Answers has brought with it some worrying revelations. Maybe it says something about the politically sheltered life that I have led, but I'm really quite shocked about the amount of people living in the US who seem to think that there's nothing wrong with their country (and before I get accused

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-15396623532228043822008-05-02T22:08:00.002+01:002008-05-02T22:09:26.987+01:00

Someone asked this on Yahoo! Answers: "If I have a multi-function printer, would copying papers be more ink-efficient than printing multiple copies?" Made me chuckle.

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-56254318557084818462008-05-01T10:54:00.006+01:002008-05-01T12:44:50.291+01:00

I'm not as addicted to Yahoo! Answers as I was a few weeks back. Which is a good thing considering all the work that needs to be done in the next week. I think one of the things that has put me off a bit is people asking question when they've already made up their minds: e.g. someone asking how evolution can get round their amazing counter-example that no-one could have possibly thought of before

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-5145943279140721762008-04-30T20:43:00.003+01:002008-04-30T20:50:43.904+01:00

Apparently a teenager in America who was accused of plotting to blow up his school wants to "go to heaven and kill Jesus". Let's be charitable to the guy and assume that heaven and such exist and that Jesus is indeed in heaven. There still seem to be some problems with his reasoning: Surely if he blows up his school he's not going to be getting into heaven. Even if he decided just to kill

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-73117963883953768662008-04-30T20:37:00.003+01:002008-04-30T20:42:41.467+01:00

There must be some move in the argument for Externalism in philosophy of language/mind that I'm missing, because to me it just doesn't seem at all convincing. The argument seems to be: Someone misunderstands the use of some word. Therefore everything you ever thought you knew about everything is wrong. Mwuhahahaa! Seems like a fair characterisation.

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-28232589026136709082008-04-30T19:51:00.001+01:002008-04-30T22:30:14.804+01:00

What am I busy writing my essay on? Good question. One of my essays is about the Lottery Paradox in epistemology. I'm looking at a paper by Dana K. Nelkin and arguing that she's wrong. Another of my essays is about the Special Composition Question in metaphysics. I'm looking at a paper by Ned Markosian (good name!) and arguing that he's wrong. For philosophy of mind I'm looking at the the

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-10315690957017783962008-04-23T22:37:00.004+01:002008-04-23T22:51:11.242+01:00

Sorry about the lack of posts in the last few weeks. I've been rather busy. I've got three essays to do (none of which are anywhere near completion). I'm also giving two papers: one tomorrow and one at the weekend (which hasn't been written yet). All in all not much time to do posts. Thoughts from the last week: I'm disappointed Obama lost in Pennsylvania – it would have been neat if he'd won.

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-30312538931201136802008-04-17T21:00:00.006+01:002008-04-17T22:09:20.724+01:00

They've now discovered what a Neanderthal would sound like using fossils. See the article here. The sound file is here. Sounds like Stephen Hawking to me. UPDATE: Keith's pointed out I was listening to the Modern Human sound. That'll teach me to skim read. The actual link is here. They sound way cooler. I would like to meet one.

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-19122800908927560992008-04-16T15:29:00.004+01:002008-04-16T15:40:09.000+01:00

One of my papers about Testimony has been published in the first issue of the online postgraduate journal Praxis. It can be found here. It's a paper I wrote a few years ago: many of my views have changed and I'm not sure I would defend much of what I said anymore. But feel free to leave comments anyway &mdash they also publish replies on the site if you want to send it to them.

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-24552306430339760402008-04-14T09:56:00.002+01:002008-04-14T09:58:26.523+01:00

Check out this article. “That's the same notion as the mind being separate from the body — and I don't think anyone really believes that.”

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-31301940027141178662008-04-13T20:49:00.004+01:002008-04-13T21:12:14.363+01:00

I've become somewhat addicted to Yahoo! Answers in the last few days; no doubt partly due to essays being due in soon. The idea is anyone can post a question and anyone can answer the question. After four days the person who posted the question gets to vote on which answer was best. Anyone can rate answers too. It's on a points based system so you have to answer questions to get to ask questions

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-80749702791322881772008-04-11T22:34:00.002+01:002008-04-11T22:36:18.966+01:00

I just watched a film called The King: it's probably the most understated messed-up film ever. I'm not normally one to swear, but this film is a proper mind-fuck. I highly recommend it.

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-62403137376156317602008-04-11T21:09:00.002+01:002008-04-11T21:14:38.802+01:00

Interesting fact: America still uses radar for its air-traffic control system. Mongolia, a country where about 70% of the population are either live in the capital city or are nomadic, has a more advanced system. it would cost America $15 billion dollars to updgrade their air-traffic control system. That's less than a month's worth of spending on Iraq [Source]

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-58845831113534208502008-04-11T14:42:00.012+01:002008-04-11T21:17:28.887+01:00

I know that a lot of people get stuck in their ways about voting over here: once a LibDem always a LibDem. There's often no thought involved, you just vote conservative or labour or lib-dem because it's what you've always done. I urge any Americans who would normally vote Republican not to do that this year. The reason: John McCain. You may not agree with what the democrats are saying (

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-64173815345760864272008-04-10T21:59:00.004+01:002008-04-10T22:01:39.991+01:00

This animation's got it right. That's why I do philosophy instead of working to become a lawyer.

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-28822879452909962222008-04-10T20:05:00.012+01:002008-04-10T22:46:19.365+01:00

So here's an idea. Maybe morality should be based around happiness. “It's been done before you hopeless pleb!” you shout from the stalls. But Utilitarianism is all about doing what's best to increase the overall happiness of everyone. I'm talking about increasing the overall happiness of an individual. “That's a pretty hedonistic sounding theory of morality!” you shout once more (there's really

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-19833737911972921842008-04-10T20:05:00.007+01:002008-04-10T22:13:31.471+01:00

Philosophy so often relies on the notion of a rational individual. If shopping is anything to go by, we should probably stop this. Whenever there's an offer like “Buy one for £1.50. Buy two for £2.50” people will always jump on it — even though it's often not something they were going to get and the saving is hardly phenomenal. But you never see people doing the same thing when things aren't on

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-9011173139690953482008-04-09T16:01:00.009+01:002008-04-09T16:32:13.198+01:00

It's my birthday in a week (16th of April). I'll be 24. That's about the age that when I was younger I'd think “That's an old person”. So before I get my inbox full of e-mails asking me what I want for my birthday, I'll just say on my Blog. For my birthday I would like: Donate some money to a charity that supports education in Africa (e.g. Oxfam Unwrapped) and then send me a postcard with a

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-23619454338633381062008-04-09T13:52:00.005+01:002008-04-09T14:32:45.522+01:00

See here (subscription required). Some psychologists have proven what I've suspected for a few years now: spending money on others makes you happy. In fact it's the only thing about money that makes you happy. There is no correlation between how much money you have and happiness. There is no correlation between how much money you spend and happiness. The only correlation is between how much

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-57741420854698201032008-04-06T17:05:00.002+01:002008-04-06T17:07:52.990+01:00

This guy's been my hero since I was about 16. This interview with him hopefully explains why. Well worth a watch: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7136440703094429927

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-40297993777788993872008-04-04T00:01:00.011+01:002008-04-04T00:25:18.408+01:00

Does anyone else think 'habit' should be spelt with two 'b's? Anyway. My annoying habit (and I'm sure it's not my only one) is that I like everyone to be right. Not in a "Everyone can just get along: you're all right" kind of way, but in a "Look it up and prove beyond doubt what the case actually is so that everyone in the room knows how things actually are". Obviously this is only possible some

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-14731345138061881782008-04-03T11:25:00.005+01:002008-04-03T11:31:06.718+01:00

Today in St Andrews we have perfect weather. Does anyone know of anywhere that stays like this all year round? Here are the stats from the MET Office: Cloud Cover: 1/8 Temp: 16°C Wind Speed: 15 mph Visibility: Very Good There have to be some clouds; otherwise the sky is boring to look at. But not enough to block out the sun. It can't be much warmer than 16°C because I'm not good with the

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-84791991227022789722008-04-03T10:37:00.003+01:002008-04-03T10:43:32.976+01:00

I've decided two things in the last couple of days: The difference between someone like Barack Obama and someone like John McCain is that McCain is acting like everything is ok in America while Obama is acting like everything is screwed. Obama is correct in this instance. There was no conspiracy in the JFK assassination. I've decided this after watching Oliver Stones' JFK and a documentary. So

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-73503363085764501912008-04-02T20:00:00.003+01:002008-04-02T20:02:07.909+01:00

This stuff is amazing: life-like moving creatures made out of electricity piping.

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-33384358092112782532008-03-30T22:52:00.004+01:002008-03-30T23:37:39.260+01:00

It's been a week since I last posted. No excuse really. So here's a round up of the news from the last week. John McCain is an idiot: see here. Hillary Clinton is a liar (or possibly just mental): see here. New York said “No” &mdash no one is shocked, except the guy who just fell on the pylon I really want to go to Australia or New Zealand now. It's always been a dream of mine. But I thought

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-16092771898155323352008-03-23T22:37:00.003Z2008-03-23T22:40:11.759Z

This is essential reading (and it's pretty short). An article from 1995: see here (from Digg).

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-74915105719981078902008-03-21T17:37:00.002Z2008-03-21T17:41:21.104Z

I do wonder who comes up with these adverts: see here. “I must say, it's got to be the best can-opener I've ever had.”

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-19918051163471447672008-03-18T23:56:00.003Z2008-03-18T23:58:47.934Z

The time has come. Here's my undergraduate dissertation in all its horribly unedited glory: Download PDF There is much I would change if I were to rewrite it. But then I couldn't write another similar-yet-somehow-different paper and claim it was new work.

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-84620088948450017182008-03-18T13:28:00.001Z2008-03-19T08:10:53.362Z

Very interesting video about oil and politics:

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-65292513826847467782008-03-17T13:04:00.005Z2008-03-18T12:15:00.472Z

I'm giving a talk, "Skeptic for a Week", to Dundee University Philosophy Society at 7pm on Thursday 20th March. It's in the Tower Building (Room T1) at the University. Feel free to come along. The slides I'll be using can be found here. Handout here.

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-52708385564494413542008-03-16T19:15:00.002Z2008-03-16T19:19:23.853Z

It occurred to me what an odd thing funding is today. You're basically asking a bunch of people you've never met to just give you between £30,000-£55,000 for three years (or up to $150,000 for five years in the States) based on nothing more than a 500 word research proposal and some letters from other people they've probably never met either. That's crazy.

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-88077956954101333952008-03-15T10:02:00.002Z2008-03-15T10:05:39.345Z

Well, I woke up to get a rejection from Rutgers this morning. Which is disappointing in many respects. It would be nice to know how close I was to getting in. I was perhaps no way near being considered, but you never know. I've pretty much resolved myself to the fact I won't be doing philosophy next year now. There's till NYU and Carnegie, but I think it's probably best to remain pessimistic on

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-33209385226168263862008-03-14T16:54:00.003Z2008-03-14T16:57:19.411Z

I've also had a no from MIT and a no from Arché. It's not been a great week — it ended with a doctor removing something from my eye with a needle. Rutgers was my first choice, and first choice it remains. I should hear back from them soon.

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-36984036289730550622008-03-09T01:32:00.002Z2008-03-09T01:33:00.964Z

Well, I've heard back about AHRC funding and also from Pittsburgh. Both in the negative unfortunately. Four still remain. Here's hoping!

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-60759404669700024042008-03-05T19:00:00.002Z2008-03-05T19:03:05.782Z

It's an online divorce website (complete with smiley faced guy in logo): http://www.123divorceme.com/

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-84176332626083083422008-03-05T08:35:00.000Z2008-03-05T08:36:15.082Z

Interesting article: here.

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-11713285442936496242008-03-04T21:27:00.003Z2008-03-04T21:47:51.029Z

Has anyone heard of the Blogger Code? You fill out a quick questionnaire and each of your answers assigns you a letter. When you're done you get a string of letters which is your Blogger Code; anyone can then post this on their blog and when you click on it you get shown what the letters stand for. It's a neat idea, but I don't find the questions very informative (it's stuff like "How long have

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-32818504738990849402008-03-04T21:15:00.000Z2008-03-04T21:58:39.391Z

I'm not really the moral-philosophy sort. But I do like the grizzly examples. You just don't get burning orphanages full of bone-cancer ridden paraplegics in epistemology. There's that nasty case involving the train: There is a train heading along a track which has a fork in it. You can control which way the train takes. If it goes down the left fork one person will get run over by the train.

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-23184648846445063952008-03-04T18:11:00.006Z2008-03-04T19:45:53.881Z

That's right: I've solved the lottery paradox. Or rather, I have a solution that makes me not a skeptic anymore. So the lottery paradox says that we cannot know that a lottery ticket is going to lose, no matter how high the odds are. But this seems to imply that we cannot know that next week, after the lottery, I won't have enough money to go on holiday (because if I did win I would). But we

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-80608534264498644052008-03-04T15:54:00.003Z2008-03-04T15:57:59.434Z

A good use of technology. Can't help but think it gives physicalism a bit of a boost too:

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-15029693871651569652008-03-04T13:58:00.001Z2008-03-04T13:59:48.094Z

An interesting talk on why we're not as compassionate as we could be and what might be done about it:

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-42914964630340583332008-03-03T10:38:00.000Z2008-03-03T10:39:07.547Z

See here. More later.

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-62594468724922759092008-03-02T12:07:00.009Z2008-03-02T15:00:49.075Z

I was reading a book on JavaScript when all of a sudden out of the blue it solved all of metaphysics: An object is nothing more than a collection of properties. So there you go; metaphysics has been solved. It has to be said it got a little too cryptic after that: Properties whose values are functions [...] are called methods. The mind boggles.

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-74394457444701355932008-02-29T20:03:00.009Z2008-02-29T20:11:13.420Z

I've just been working on a Philosopher Profile for John Dewy. Apparently John Dewey thought that: "...successful inquiry provides all the evidence there can be for knowledge; moreover, the outcome of successful inquiry is all that knowledge has to be." (Source: Great Thinkers of the Western World) That's pretty much what my idea of non-factive knowledge was (except I spelled 'inquiry' with

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-24796990912826583562008-02-29T19:57:00.002Z2008-02-29T20:12:48.139Z

See here. If that doesn't make you want to recycle everything I don't know what will.

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-33298941715454341212008-02-29T10:45:00.003Z2008-02-29T10:49:05.230Z

If my first PhD idea is no good then I've thought of a second idea:If someone came up with a system of philosophy that was entirely coherent but went against some strong intuitions, would we have reason to accept it?I would like to think that we should accept it: after all, most philosophical systems are all over the place. One that actually fits together nicely would be a huge bonus. Thoughts

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-23444652346019568282008-02-28T22:38:00.002Z2008-02-28T22:40:05.375Z

It's the 100th post! (By far the most pointless of any post so far)

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-14472183265181417532008-02-28T22:32:00.001Z2008-02-29T15:10:36.401Z

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-5765322872900552372008-02-28T22:08:00.005Z2008-03-01T22:21:02.628Z

Thomas just (well, 6 hours ago now) gave us a nice presentation on the phrase “I am here now”. Apparently there is some discussion as to whether it is an analytic truth (true by meaning alone). Thomas gave various arguments as to why it's not. Now, during the presentation I suddenly thought: what if we're brains in vats, surely the claim “I am here now&rdquo would be false in that case (in which

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-20956611954746098642008-02-28T09:44:00.002Z2008-02-28T09:47:55.009Z

It should be made clear I am only a Lottery Paradox (LP) Skeptic and not a Brain in a Vat (BiV) Skeptic. I think I've got pretty good reasons to think I can know, even if I'm a BiV.

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-27876399300850090062008-02-28T08:37:00.003Z2008-02-28T08:47:33.179Z

When you're a skeptic you start doubting everything: you'd be a pretty lame skeptic if you didn't. Last night, while making pizza dough, I suddenly realised how odd bread is: it's made of flour, which is crushed up corn, yeast, which is some kind of alien life-form that just loves to rise, and water. That's pretty basic ingredients-wise. But that means that someone came along one day and

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-34572867282812179782008-02-27T11:18:00.004Z2008-02-28T09:50:14.736Z

I may be a skeptic, but I've yet to decide what type of skeptic I am (us skeptics find it very hard to make decisions). Am I a radical skeptic? Or maybe a slightly less strong form of skepticism? Here's some things I definitely don't know (thanks to the lottery paradox): That the sun will rise tomorrow That if I drop a mug it will fall to the ground That if I leave a room the furniture will

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-41687641609732540302008-02-27T09:46:00.004Z2008-02-27T11:07:51.968Z

Someone on Leiter asks:Are we as a discipline prone to epicycles -- to introducing complications rather than getting rid of a theory and starting afresh?I think the answer to this must be yes. In fact I'd go as far as saying that 99% of philosophical problems are caused by philosophers. The Gettier cases are a good example of this: counterexample followed by counterexample followed by

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-33418738957588426602008-02-26T21:26:00.007Z2008-02-26T22:07:51.605Z

In the world of web-design there is a (growing) minority of developers who understand the importance of using what are known as web-standards. These are the recommended ways of writing the code for web-sites. The advantages are many: it's easier to write the code, it's easier to maintain the code, the sizes of files are dramatically decreased (meaning that they load quicker and servers are

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-5391796821846691382008-02-26T13:48:00.009Z2008-02-26T14:32:00.998Z

Here are a few tricks that every philosopher should have under his/her belt: Such and such a theory is ad hoc: This is a good one to pull out if you're stuck for why your theory is right — just accuse the other theories of being ad hoc. No one will question it. Such and such a theory is counter-intuitive: This is another good technique — claim that the opposition's theory is counter-intuitive.

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-25400414065012135892008-02-26T13:19:00.011Z2008-12-10T13:05:56.656Z

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-50141208326596025882008-02-26T12:41:00.008Z2008-02-27T11:25:49.617Z

I'm sure someone has suggested this before (in fact Philip Ebert told me that that someone has, but I'm a skeptic, so what do I know?), but maybe a way around the lottery paradox is to say that knowledge comes in degrees: you can know something (1K) or not at all know something (0K) or maybe know something a bit (0.5K) and anything else in between. Perhaps Descartes' "Cogito, ergo sum" is an

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-72753684274136692372008-02-26T12:23:00.006Z2008-02-27T11:26:02.438Z

I think I just became a skeptic. It's the lottery paradox's fault. We just did a seminar on it. The lottery paradox, for those that don't know is:If you buy a lottery ticket (with a very high probability of losing) do you know that the ticket will lose?The initial reaction most people have is to say that you do not know that you will lose. But this is problematic because it seems that almost all

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-61342212628774703532008-02-25T21:28:00.004Z2008-02-26T13:33:23.937Z

I've added a Twitter bar at the side. Now you can know exactly what I'm doing all the time! Yes, I'm not really sure what the point is either. But it's kinda neat. So we shall see.

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-63230330148548652202008-02-24T20:32:00.009Z2008-02-27T09:23:34.962Z

On the way to the bus-station today I was accosted by a homeless person on two separate occasions. I hope that means that I have the "Kind and generous" look. Anyway, to the point. The first homeless person I met was a middle-aged woman with a pram with two kids in it (who were much too old to be in a pram). She used the "Have you got any change so I can feed my children" tactic. The second

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-83020487304408449872008-02-24T20:30:00.001Z2008-02-26T13:34:33.338Z

Impressive and funny:

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-37574076472809473532008-02-23T09:38:00.005Z2008-02-26T13:34:53.573Z

Leiter tells me that Jay Rosenberg died yesterday. I imagine that not many of you will have heard of him. However, he was, as far as I'm aware, the first person to propose a non-factive account of knowledge (in the final chapter of his book Thinking About Knowing). Maybe, when non-factive account finally catch on (and they will!), he'll be considered an epistemological pioneer.

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-69065281874655281142008-02-21T16:31:00.002Z2008-02-23T09:44:49.025Z

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-51650702711904076952008-02-20T22:00:00.005Z2008-12-10T13:05:58.010Z

(For more on David Lewis see here. For more on Mountain Goats see here.)

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-3912419940837001182008-02-20T19:09:00.005Z2008-02-26T13:35:50.661Z

I figure it's about time I wrote another post of some philosophical value (though perhaps not much). So let's get back to Williamson. His (arguably) non-reductive approach to the question “What is knowledge?” might have some people worried because it has no mention of justification (or reliability or warrant or what-have-you). But I'm not quite so sure why this is a problem for people. I can

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-34069157161603312912008-02-18T13:10:00.004Z2008-02-26T13:36:30.790Z

This has little to do with philosophy, but it's worth looking at anyway (particularly for the bit about 4:30 in). It's the camouflage techniques used by sea-creatures. It's stunning.

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170937580314222587.post-54804842073342556062008-02-17T20:52:00.006Z2008-12-10T13:05:58.211Z

I feel like I should highlight something: I'm just saying... (For more on John Stuart Mill see here. For more on Sam the Eagle see here.)

Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144214007190175739noreply@blogger.com0