Perhaps so, but for the most part I think of scientists as
intellectually honest, as doing as good a job as they know how to do,
and as willing to change their minds in the face of contrary evidence.
-- Russ
On Tue, Oct 7, 2008 at 11:35 AM, Phil Henshaw <[EMAIL PROTECTED]
<mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>> wrote:
Russ,
Oh, just that scientists appear to be one of the main violators of
your self-awareness principle. Scientists tend to describe the
physical world as if they are unaware that science constructs
descriptive models of things far too complex to model, that might
behave differently from any kind of model we know how to invent.
That has us spending a disproportionate amount of time looking
into our theories for the behavior of the world around us (under
the streetlight for the keys lost in the alley) and letting our
skills in watching physical systems atrophy.
Do you see the connection? Is it partly accurate?
Phil Henshaw
*From:* Russ Abbott [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
<mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>]
*Sent:* Monday, October 06, 2008 4:04 PM
*To:* [EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
*Cc:* The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group
*Subject:* Re: [FRIAM] Self-awareness
I'm sorry, Phil, I'm missing your point. How does your comment
relate to my argument that self-awareness is a primary good and a
possible way around the difficulty most people have with critical
thinking?
-- Russ
On Mon, Oct 6, 2008 at 12:53 PM, Phil Henshaw <[EMAIL PROTECTED]
<mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>> wrote:
Well Russ, what if a group of scientists were to acknowledge that
science actually just seems to be descriptive after all..., and
looking through the holes one seems able to actually see signs of
a physical world after all! Than sort of 'emperor's new
clothes' moment might be enough to turn everyone's attention to
value of self-critical thinking wouldn't it?! ;-)
Phil
*From:* [EMAIL PROTECTED]
<mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
<mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>] *On Behalf Of *Russ Abbott
*Sent:* Sunday, October 05, 2008 10:06 PM
*To:* The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group
*Subject:* Re: [FRIAM] Willfull Ignorance - Satisfies NickCriteria E
On Sun, Oct 5, 2008 at 12:39 PM, glen e. p. ropella
<[EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>> wrote:
So the first step is for each individual to accept their
responsibility
to think/speak critically at every opportunity. The next step
is to
package such critical thinking inside an infectious wrapper so
that
it spreads across all humanity.
Yes, if it worked it would be wonderful. I'm cynical enough to
doubt that it would succeed. (1) I doubt that we can find a
wrapper infectious enough and (2) even if we did, I doubt that the
population as a whole is capable of the level of critical thinking
that we need. (That's elitism, isn't it.)
Demagoguery almost always seems to succeed. Can anything be done
about that? More discouraging is that advertising is cleaned up
demagoguery. And advertising will always be with us.
Just to be sure I knew what I was talking about (critical
thinking?) I just looked up "demagoguery": "impassioned appeals to
the prejudices and emotions of the populace."
Prejudice and emotion will always be with us -- even the least
prejudiced and least a prisoner of their emotions. Besides,
without emotion, we can't even make decisions. (That's clearly
another discussion, but it's worth noting.)
So can we really complain about superficial prejudice and emotion
when we are all subject to it at some level?
Perhaps the need is for self-awareness -- and even more for having
a high regard for self-awareness -- so that one can learn about
one's prejudices and emotions and stand back from them when
appropriate. Can we teach that? (It helps to have good role
models. Obviously we have had exactly the opposite in our current
president.)
Actually, though, a high regard for self-awareness might be easier
to teach than critical thinking. So perhaps there is hope. But the
danger there is to fall prey to melodrama. It's not easy. I'll
nominate Glen as a good role model, though. How can we make your
persona more widely visible?
-- Russ
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