...but he's worth reading and so is Ann Rand.
On Nov 25, 12:57 pm, CrossBow <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Okay, rip my liver out but Noam's entourage reminds me of Ann Rand's...bit
> of a parade of pedestals..
>
> OUCH!..that hurt in advance!
>
> On Tue, Nov 25, 2008 at 12:26 PM, Jason (Memphis) <[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>
>
>
>
> > wrote:
>
> > I think that Noam (my impression) believes that handing people a
> > science of human behavior that is essentially a handbook for
> > predicting and controlling people is sort of like handing nuclear
> > weapons to a terrorist group. Therefore, only the elite few (my
> > impression) should be privy to those techniques and that scientific
> > discipline as that scientific discipline of human behavior unfolds.
> > In addition, any attempt to develop such a scientific discipline
> > should be thwarted but it's development is evitable (again, my
> > impression of Noam). I don't know if that is even close but just my
> > initial impression from what little that I have read of his works.
>
> > On Nov 25, 12:10 pm, "Jason (Memphis)" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> > wrote:
> > > ornamentalmind,
>
> > > I think that my major criticism of Noam Chomsky is his lack of
> > > scientific thinking especially making predictions or controlling
> > > organisms. Most of what I've read are historical interpretations of
> > > established facts and descriptions of something that has already
> > > happened. He definitely has his facts in order. However, Noam seldom
> > > attempts to make specific predictions of societal drifts that could be
> > > verified--or at least he is not any better at predicting than other
> > > historical experts. In addition, many of his followers do not
> > > challenge what he says and most of what he says is said in such a way
> > > that makes it hard to challenge (or test). Framing has been studied
> > > extensively and the master of framing is Noam Chomsky himself.
>
> > > A particular (this is just one) criticism is that he wrote a review of
> > > B.F. Skinner's "Verbal Behavior" (link below) and presented arguments
> > > against Skinner that Skinner never claimed. I included Noam's case
> > > against Skinner and a response by a behaviorist. Chomsky also accused
> > > Skinner of advancing totalitarianism (much the same as Noam--directly
> > > or indirectly--is accusing Obama). Yes, Skinner does advocate a
> > > science of the behavior of organisms, which would embrace, explore,
> > > refine and advance a scientific discipline to predict and control
> > > organisms with scientific precision (including humans). That is what
> > > Chomsky seems to fear (as do others including Skinner). The concept
> > > of "freedom" or "free will" or the idea that humans are above the laws
> > > of nature and therefore immune to scientific prediction and control is
> > > a Western religion and Chomsky is sort of the Priest. At the end of
> > > Skinner's "Science and Human Behavior," Skinner warned people that one
> > > why to defend against the abuses of a science of human behavior is for
> > > the masses to learn about how that science works and those scientific
> > > techniques employed. Politicans and government have been working on a
> > > science of human behavior for years (akin to Asimov's psycho-
> > > history). The problem with Skinner is his ideal that such a
> > > discipline should be transparent and open to the public and entire
> > > scientific community.
>
> > > By the way, Chomsky (from the little I've read) is a fun read, and
> > > he's a linguistic master.
>
> > > A Review of B.F. Skinner's Verbal Behavior (1959) by Noam Chomsky
>
> > >http://cogprints.org/1148/0/chomsky.htm
>
> > > On Chomsky's Review of Skinner's Verbal Behavior (Journal of the
> > > Experimental Analysis of Behavior, volume 13, pages 83–99)
>
> > >http://seab.envmed.rochester.edu/abstracts/jeababstracts/13/%2013-083...
>
> > > Jason
>
> --
> gnothe se auton- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -
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