Thursday, October 15, 2020

Knowledge of the world relies

 

“Knowledge of the world relies / On what we can see / But experience implies / Nothing yet to be.”

That’s a verse from “Problem of Induction,” one of Hannah Hoffman’s new philosophy-themed songs. You can check it out below, along with another new one, “The First Philosopher.”


FATHERS ARE THE FORGOTTEN KEY TO SOCIAL WELFARE: Dr. Patrick Fagan of Marripedia cites multiple data-driven studies during the Trump era that demonstrate the crucial importance of fathers being present and genuinely involved with their kids. But you would never know that from how federal social welfare programs are focused.


You may recall some of Hoffman’s previous philosophy-themed music.

Her musical humor expands beyond philosophy, too. Check out her delightfully absurdist “Biden – You Know The Thing” and its follow up “No Religion, No Anything (Trump Reacts to Biden)“, among other music videos at her site (you can also support her work on Patreon).


In a changing Saudi Arabia, the first dog cafe delights pet lovers EuroNews 


An Earlier Universe Existed Before the Big Bang, and Can Still Be Observed today, Says Nobel Winner Telegraph


Scarlet fever is making a comeback after being infected with a toxic virus, researchers sayabc.net.au 


New England’s Forests Are Sick. They Need More Tree Doctors. New York Times


747 soars past the competition as Katmai’s new Fat Bear Week champion Anchorage Daily News


Grapefruit Is One of the Weirdest Fruits on the Planet Atlas Obscura 


Covid-19 downturn not as bad as feared; crisis not over: IMF chief Agence France Presse


Infighting, ‘Busywork,’ Missed Warnings: How Uber Wasted $2.5 Billion on Self-Driving Cars The Information. NC early and right here as well.


Coronavirus: World leaders must urgently phase out factory farming to cut future pandemics risk, says report Independent


  • Am I the Asshole? — a profile of Reddit’s large & well-run popular forum for everyday moral reasoning (with commentary from Pamela Hieronymi and T.M. Scanlon)

  • “The complication of analytic philosophy arises from the attempt to be as precise as possible, whereas the complication for Derrida is the result of meticulously trying to avoid being more precise than is possible” — Should analytic philosophers reconsider Derrida?
  • “The sad truth is that even if each individual’s choice is rational, it can lead the collective to some undesirable places” — policy failures have made it rational for individuals to accept more risk rather than isolate themselves, says Tyler Cowen (GMU)
  • Want to blog about public philosophy? — The Blog of the APA is looking for a public philosophy editor
  • “We don’t presently know of any compelling arguments that language models are incapable of achieving language understanding” — linguist Christopher Potts (Stanford) with philosophical reflections on GPT-3 (via Robert Long)
  • Philosophical razors — a list at Wikipedia
  • The “Gender/Sex Disparities in COVID-19 Outcomes” teaching resource and toolkit — from the GenderSci Lab (Harvard), for use in intro-level gender studies, feminist philosophy, philosophy of science, feminist science studies, health sciences, & similar courses