Monthly Archives: July 2008

ARE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES AS INTERESTING AS JOURNALISTS?

Posted on July 25, 2008 by Philip

ARE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES AS INTERESTING AS JOURNALISTS? Another excuse that journalists find for not let letting candidates address voters is that candidates speaking in their own words are not as interesting as journalists are. The Chief Leader Writer of the … Continue reading →

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IGNORING WHAT THE CANDIDATES HAVE TO SAY.

Posted on July 24, 2008 by Philip

IGNORING WHAT THE CANDIDATES HAVE TO SAY. Consider what the above post implies for coverage of the current campaign during the remaining months until the election. Important journalists believe that any position the candidates have already taken—even on very important … Continue reading →

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MUST NEWS BE NOVEL?

Posted on July 24, 2008 by Philip

MUST NEWS BE NOVEL? I posted here on an article by Brian Stelter about television coverage of a debate between Obama and Hillary Clinton. The article began, “A serious discussion on pressing national issues may be good for the country. … Continue reading →

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HOW FAR CAN PURE LOGIC TAKE US?

Posted on July 23, 2008 by Philip

HOW FAR CAN PURE LOGIC TAKE US? I find that I now think of the discipline of philosophy as an investigation of how much we can learn from pure logic—without using any facts. The answer seems to me to be … Continue reading →

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SAMUEL JOHNSON, PHILOSOPHER.

Posted on July 23, 2008 by Philip

SAMUEL JOHNSON, PHILOSOPHER. With my obtuse approach to philosophical issues, I have always treasured Samuel Johnson’s refutation of Berkeley’s argument that the objects of the world are just inventions of the mind. (Johnson kicked a stone, saying “I refute it … Continue reading →

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NEW TREATMENTS FOR CHRONIC PAIN?

Posted on July 22, 2008 by Philip

NEW TREATMENTS FOR CHRONIC PAIN? Gutwande says that medicine has been slow in making use of the new scientific view of perception. Gawande speculates that many medical conditions—unexplained back pain, experience of phantom limbs, fibromyalgia, tinnitus—arise from a breakdown or … Continue reading →

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HOW WE PERCEIVE.

Posted on July 22, 2008 by Philip

HOW WE PERCEIVE. The experiment I posted on yesterday involving photographs of bicycles provides support for what Atul Guwande calls in this New Yorker article “the account of perception that’s starting to emerge.” He calls it the “brain’s best guess” … Continue reading →

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THE BICYCLES IN FRONT OF EMERSON HALL.

Posted on July 21, 2008 by Philip

THE BICYCLES IN FRONT OF EMERSON HALL. Some years ago, I read about a psychology experiment which involved showing subjects blown up photographs, blown up to the point where they appeared as random collections of dots. The resolution was then … Continue reading →

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HAVE YOU HEARD OF THE BEATLES?

Posted on July 20, 2008 by Philip

HAVE YOU HEARD OF THE BEATLES? When Nick was 8, he came home from school one day, and said excitedly, “Mom, have you heard of the Beatles?” It’s hard for members of later generations to realize what it was like … Continue reading →

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“OFF-LABEL” USE.

Posted on July 19, 2008 by Philip

“OFF-LABEL” USE. I argued here that testing of new cancer drugs should make greater use of multiple regressions (in addition to controlled experiments). The article I linked to yesterday by Gina Kolata about Avastin cites an estimate that 75% of … Continue reading →

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