I’ve never watched an entire Formula-1 race—just some highlights, every now and again. But the process—with all its high-speed precision, intricacy, and interrelated parts—fascinates me. To win an F1 race requires simultaneously high levels of performance from the car (with its multitude of parts and systems), the driver, the race engineer(s), and the pitstop crew—all responding skillfully to …
Bachelors & Buddhas: On The Validation Of Scientific & Metaphysical Claims
If we define “bachelor” as “an unmarried man” – then the statement “Every bachelor is an unmarried man” is true by definition. Given how we’ve defined our terms, it simply cannot be false. It is necessarily un-falsifiable. Hence, it really doesn’t make sense to call such a statement a “theory” or a “hypothesis.” It’s not something that can be proved or disproved empirically. It’s not a matter …
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Practice Notes: Carrot Juice, Grapefruit & Eggs
Groceries Needed just a few things the other day—carrot juice, grapefruit, and eggs—so headed over to Trader Joe’s. Now, of course, I ended up with a few other things also in my shopping basket, but still a fairly small haul, overall. Scanned for a short line at the registers—and spotted one completely open. Yeah! Placed my basket next to the clerk—a young guy, late-twenties, maybe. …
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Realisms Interlinked: A Preview
I’ve been dipping into the rather dense but fascinating book Realisms Interlinked: Objects, Subjects, and Other Subjects by Arindam Chakrabarti—a scholar who, with great facility, straddles the worlds of Indian and (analytic) Western philosophy. Mr. Chakrabarti’s overall project is to propose and defend a form of metaphysical realism. And while I—from my lay-woman’s perspective—remain agnostic …
Practice Notes: Geese
Walk A few days ago, as I was exiting the parking lot of the Boulder public library, a small flock of geese—four or five of them—were walking across the street. Now, of course, geese have wings—so they could easily have flown across the street. But for whatever reason they were, instead, walking. The street they were crossing was a fairly busy one, with cars approaching from all four …
Practice Notes: The Jade Plant
I have a Jade plant that I very much love. I purchased it around four years ago, when it was just a small plant—four inches tall, or so. Now, it’s a good fourteen inches tall and wide, quite regal! I can say, with confidence, that over the past four years this Jade plant has grown—has increased in size, at least fourfold. Stealth Growth But have I actually perceived it growing—directly—with …