#63 On magic tricks
Dear Mat, First off, we’re accusing one another of “essentialism” and “foundationalism”. I think we’re both against those things and think that science should be done accordingly. Truce? More importantly, I feel
Category: Blog
#62 On Foundations
Dear Jamie, Congratulations for drafting the final chapter of your thesis! You’ve already managed the whole thing with much more grace than I did. I’m writing this bit before I
#61 On cranes and skyhooks
Dear Mat, I’m pondering my reasons for adopting a no skyhooks policy. I’d be genuinely interested in what you think the political agenda is behind my stance. This rambling letter is me trying
#60 On scientific confidence
Dear Jamie However many times I’ve been truly guilty of dastardliness in past letters, my last one was a genuine effort to understand. My brain was having serious trouble remapping
#59 On how the question changes the answer
Dear Mat, Interesting letter. It was a rollercoaster from my POV because the first few paragraphs appeared to be a dastardly warping of what I was saying, yet by the end
#58 On the conditions of knowledge
Dear Jamie, Years ago I heard a story (possibly apocryphal) that after the space race the Russian and American space agencies made things unnecessarily complicated and expensive for themselves when
#57 On the key (and lock) to knowledge
Dear Mat, This is a long letter but I feel we’ve alighted on a fundamental, multifaceted philosophical difference and it’s what I’ve been researching full time for several years so I’ve
#56 On systems and their yardsticks
Dear Jamie, I love snide but every part of your second paragraph tells me you didn’t understand my last letter at all. But the gut/unconscious is a good topic. The