goanet-digest Tuesday, May 21 2002 Volume 01 : Number 3999
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In this issue:
[Goanet] Induction and Confirmation
[Goanet] NEWS: Congress asks for President's rule in Goa, campaign hits
[Goanet] 22 MAY: GOACOM NEWS CLIPPINGS
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Date: Wed, 22 May 2002 00:12:46 -0000
From: "santoshhelekar" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Goanet] Induction and Confirmation
Joel has repeatedly stated in this forum that good Science proceeds
by refutation rather than by induction. This statement is as false as
many of his other statements. The idea of falsification in Science
was made popular by Sir Karl Popper, an eccentric British philosopher
of Science. Most scientists and philosophers now believe that this
idea was fundamentally a flawed and eccentric idea. It is widely
accepted that the greatest advances in Science have come from
induction and confirmation. The theory of gravitation, evolution,
genetics, special and general relativity, quantum Physics and
structure of DNA have all been great inductive insights from limited
initial observations, whose validity has grown stronger with each new
confirming instance.
Martin Gardner, a brilliant science writer had recently written a
beautiful article about the demise of Popper's falsification fantasy
in the journal "Skeptical Inquirer". He concluded this article by
saying:
"Popper's great and tireless efforts to expunge the word induction
from scientific and philosophical discourse has utterly failed.
Except for a small but noisy group of British Popperians, induction
is just too firmly embedded in the way philosophers of science and
even ordinary people talk and think.
Confirming instances underlie our beliefs that the Sun will rise
tomorrow, that dropped objects will fall, that water will freeze and
boil, and a million other events. It is hard to think of another
philosophical battle so decisively lost."
I give below a few other excerpts from this article:
"A SKEPTICAL LOOK AT KARL POPPER
by
Martin Gardner
Sir Karl Popper, who died in 1994, was widely regarded as England's
greatest philosopher of science since Bertrand Russell. Indeed a
philosopher of worldwide eminence. Today his followers among
philosophers of science are a diminishing minority, convinced that
Popper's vast reputation is enormously inflated. I agree. I believe
that Popper's reputation was based mainly on this persistent but
misguided efforts to restate common-sense views in a novel language
that is rapidly becoming out of fashion."
"Popper recognized =97 but dismissed as unimportant =97 that every
falsification of a conjecture is simultaneously a confirmation of an
opposite conjecture, and every conforming instance of a conjecture is
a falsification of an opposite conjecture.
To scientists and philosophers outside the Popperian fold, science
operates mainly by induction (confirmation), and also and less often
by disconfirmation (falsification). Its language is almost always one
of induction. If Popper bet on a certain horse to win a race, and the
horse won, you would not expect him to shout, "Great! My horse failed
to lose!"
"Ernest Nagel, Columbia University's famous philosopher of science,
in his Teleology Revisited and Other Essays in the Philosophy and
History of Science (1979), summed it up this way: "[Popper's]
conception of the role of falsification . . . is an
oversimplification that is close to being a caricature of scientific
procedures.""
"It's not so much that Popper disagreed with Carnap and other
inductivists as that he restated their views in a bizarre and
cumbersome terminology.
When Popper wrote "Logik der Forschung," he was barely thirty.
Despite its flawed center, it was full of good ideas, from perhaps
the most brilliant of the bright young philosophers associated with
the Vienna Circle. But where the others continued to learn, develop
and in time exert a lasting influence on the philosophical tradition,
Popper knew better. He refused to revise his falsificationism, and so
condemned himself to a lifetime in the service of a bad idea."
Cheers,
Santosh
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Date: Tue, 21 May 2002 21:32:58 -0600 (MDT)
From: Vicki <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Goanet] NEWS: Congress asks for President's rule in Goa, campaign hits
sour note
Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Precedence: bulk
DECCAN HERALD=20
Monday, May 20, 2002 =20
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
Cong asks for President's rule in Goa
>From Devika Sequeira
DH News Service
PANAJI, May 19
Electioneering in Goa hit a sour note after BJP Chief Minister Manohar Parr=
ikar reeling from a string of defections by his Cabinet colleagues to the r=
ival camp, adopted a negative campaign against the Congress here.
Senior Congress leaders from Delhi, out on the campaign trail here, were fu=
ming last night after Mr Parrikar released a statement alleging that the Co=
ngress planned to incite communal violence in Goa after AICC president Soni=
a Gandhi's visit scheduled for May 23.
"I have asked the police to enquire into reports that some Congress leaders=
are planning to incite communal tension in Aldona, Valpoi, Sanguem, Margao=
and Bicholim by (their) attempts to damage a mosque or a church in some co=
nstituencies," Mr Parrikar claimed on Saturday, and said that as home minis=
ter he would go in for preventive arrests if need be.
The statement which caused a stir here for its sheer audacity, was complete=
ley blacked out by the state's leading English daily. Pointing to Mr Parrik=
ar's RSS-cadre background, Congress leaders said they were not in the least=
bit surprised by his unprecendented and aggressive approach to fighting th=
e election.
"I don't know what his intention is in making such a statement, unless he i=
ntends to provoke the violence himself," Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dixit =
said to this newspaper. Ms Dixit who left here today after a day's flurry o=
f campaign meetings said Mr Parrikar's statement reflected the "desperation=
of a man on his way out".
That sentiment was echoed by former chief minister and Congress campaign ch=
airman Pratapsingh Rane at a press briefing today. It was unbecoming of the=
chief minister to go to this level, said Mr Rane, adding that Mr Parrikar =
"appears to have pressed the panic button in desperation".
"The statement is like Adolf Hitler burning the Reischstag, the German parl=
iament, and blaming the communists for the crime. It is not the Congress th=
at has been projected in the national and international media as communal",=
Mr Rane said.
He said the Congress had ruled Goa for 18 years without any incident. "Will=
the honourable chief minister tell us what happenend to the people who bur=
nt the mosque at Provorim during the BJP's 16 months?"
The party also accused the BJP government of violating the norms for holdin=
g fair elections, and said a brief spell of President's rule, till the new =
government comes into being had become the necessary remedy for Goa.
- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------=
- -----
=A9 Copyright, 1999 The Printers (Mysore)Ltd.=20
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Date: Wed, 22 May 2002 10:04:46 +0530
From: "Joel D'Souza" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Goanet] 22 MAY: GOACOM NEWS CLIPPINGS
GOACOM NEWS CLIPPINGS
22 May 2002
CM WARNS AGAINST SCREENING OF GUJ RIOTS TAPES: Chief Minister Manohar
Parrikar has sounded a clear and loud warning to those who are screening
some video tapes on Gujarat riots with the intention of inciting communal
violence in the State. (GT)
CUNCOLIM POLICE SEIZE CASSETTE OF RIOT CLIPPINGS: The police have decided
to act tough in the wake of reports that video clippings of Gujarat carnage
are screened at the Congress meetings in some part of Salcete. On Tuesday
evening, the Cuncolim police descended at an alleged unauthorized meeting
in Velim constituency and seized video clippings of Gujarat carnage. (H)
PARRIKAR SWEARS BY 8-MEMBER CABINET: Stating that the menace of large sized
cabinet has to be tackled by making a law, Chief Minister Parrikar said his
party would propose the amendment for smaller states like Goa to restrict
the cabinet size to 20 percent of its elected capacity. Personally he would
prefer to have a single digit cabinet, Parrikar remarked. (GT)
SAFFRONISATION CAN HIT TOURISM BADLY: Addressing reporters yesterday, All
India Congress Committee General Secretary Kamalnath yesterday said that
Goans must understand that tourism is the backbone of the Goan economy.
"Goans must understand that saffronisation will have great repercussions in
Goa," he stressed. (GT)
NINE CRPF COMPANIES: As many as nine companies of the Central Reserve
Police Force have been dispatched to Goa to ensure peaceful conduct of
assembly elections. (H)
MGP MANIFESTO: A pro-Goan employment policy, accountable and transparent
government and protection of the environment are some of the commitments
the nearly 40-year-old MGP has made to voters in its manifesto. (GT)
'BJP HAS PROPPED UP UGDP': All India Congress Committee central observer,
Ramesh Chennitala, yesterday accused the BJP of being involved in all sorts
of hara-kiri to split votes of secularism allegedly promoting the UGDP and
NCP at the forthcoming Goa assembly election. (GT)
GIVE NO MLA MORE THAN ONE TERM: UGDP Cortalim candidate, Mathany Saldanha,
advised the people to ensure that no MLA was elected for more than one
termthat is 5 yearsso that there is constant and healthy inflow of fresh
faces and fresh idea that will ensure a better functioning of our
democracy, particularly keeping in mind the present depressing political
scenario in Goa. (GT)
EFFECTIVE LEARNING WORKSHOP: Smt Pavatibai Chowgule College of Arts and
Science will hold a workshop for students and parents on May 23, from 3 to
5.30 pm, at the Parvatibai Hall of the college. The interactive sessions
will include career counseling and effective parenting besides strategies
to improve the performance of students. (NT)
WORKERS CONVICTED: The Additional sessions court convicted Subhash
Volvoikar and Pandurang Gawde, workers of Chowgule & Company, accused of
entering into a criminal conspiracy with other workers and murdering the
deputy general manager and injuring the general manager of the company in a
dispute over their demands three-and-a-half-years ago. (H)
ST ANTHONY'S FEAST: The feast of St Anthony at Praias Chapel, Anjuna, will
be celebrated on May 26.
FELLOWSHIP FOR LIBRARIAN: The nominations for awarding a Raja Ram Mohan Roy
Library Foundation Fellowship are invited from the librarians, library
scientists or heads of organisations and social activists dedicated to
inculcating the spirit of reading habit among the masses and spreading the
library movement in the country. Nomination forms available at the Curator,
Central Library, Panaji. (NT)
NO WATER, ELECTRICITY: "I had lived in Mombassa, Kenya, the then British
East Africa, for 20 years from 1946 to 1966. Mombassa is an island with a
population that is more than a lakh. It used to get hardly 20 inches rain
per year, yet we had never experienced any shortage of either water or
electricity. There was always abundant water and power supply round the
clock. In fact, we never ever stored any water or used any emergency lamps
as we do here." (Martinho J Fernandes, Goa Velha, in a letter to the
Editor, Herald.)
INDIAN AMBASSADOR CROWN'S G.O.A.'S MAY QUEEN IN QATAR: The Goan Overseas
Association (G.O.A) held its May Queen Pageant 2002 on 16 May at the Giwana
Ball-room, Ramada Hotel, with over 500 guests, well-wishers and sponsors
from all walks of life in attendance. The Chief Guest for the evening was
His Excellency Ranjan Mathai, the Indian Ambassador to Qatar. The compere
Savio D'Silva flew specially from Dubai for the event and. Goa's leading
band "ARCHIES" played fantastic music. Alex Gonsalves the DJ of Desert
Thunder with his exquisite choice of music ensured that everybody had a
tumultuous time. The May Queen Pageant was very glitzy. Ms Sabina Fernandes
and Ms Valia Gonsalveswere crowned May Queen 2002 and Runner-up by H.E.
Ranjan Mathai, Ambassador of India and Mrs. Maria Rodrigues who was May
Queen 2001. ("Simon D'Silva" [EMAIL PROTECTED])
S P O R T S
FOOTBALL: Calangute Association edged past host Nerul Sports Club 3-1 via
the tie-breaker to book a place in the semi-finals of the 10th Nerul
Panchayat Cup. Host FC Siolim squeezed past Sangolda Lightning Club 2-1 to
storm into the semi-finals of the Siolim-Marna Panchayat Cup soccer
Tournament at st Anthony Church grounds, Siolim. Adarsh Yuvak Sangh,
Saligao, defeated host St Savio Sports Club, Calangute, 4-1 via the
tie-breaker to move into the St Savio Super Soccer tournament, at Calangute
Grounds. Holiday Sports Club, Arpora, hammered St Rock's Youth Club,
Majorda, 5-0 to advance to the next round of the Anjuna Villagers Cup
soccer tournament. (H)
BOXING: Gaurish Kerkar of Porvorim Boxing Club outboxed Budesh Parsekar of
Anjuna to emerge triumphant, at the 3rd Novices Boxing Championships
organised by the Goa Amateur Boxing Association, at Campal. (H)
D E A T H S
21 May: Divar: JULIO ROSARIO RODRIGUES, husband of Fatima, father of
Oliver/Arlyn, James/Meena.
G O A W E A T H E R
Temp: 27.6 deg C (81.7 deg F) at 7.30 am at Assagao
Max temp: 33.8 deg C; Humidity: 65 per cent. (Panjim yesterday)
Courtesy: H=Herald, NT=The Navhind Times, GT= Gomantak Times
Daily Goacom News Clippings also at: http://www.goacom.com/news
Website: http://www.goacom.com
Webzine: http://www.goacom.com/go
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End of goanet-digest V1 #3999
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