Douglas Hofstadter's Gödel, Escher, Bach contained some interesting musings on recursion, computation, self-reference, and so on. But of course is main "oomph" was that it was going to use all of these musings to explain consciousness. And the explanation? "This is it -- this is what consciousness is . Consciousness is that property of a system that arises whenever there exists symbols in the system which obey triggering patterns somewhat like the ones described in the past several sections" (385). Can you imagine someone in a real science, one that makes real discoveries, offering an "explanation" like that? "Planets just are those celestial objects that move in the sky in that funny way." "Atoms just are those things that cause chemicals to form in the patterns they do." "Evolution just is the process of new species coming into being." Such a phony would be laughed right out of the scientific community. In a real s
How about a similar related paradox?
ReplyDeleteStatistician Douglas Hubbard regularly advises public sector agencies and private corporations on "decision analysis".
In his conversations, he is amazed to find that a very large number of public sector workers see the private sector as the beacon of efficiency and the public sector as a pit of ineptitude and failure.
And when he speaks to executives in private businesses, he finds they often wish they were like the military or other government-based departments in their analyses and achievements.
Race?
ReplyDeleteStaten Island has bigger white population.
Than my neighborhood? (I am comparing SI to my neighborhood, not to Brooklyn.)
DeleteIn any case, I think everyone of these liberal entrepreneurs that I know is white.
Another paradox: America's most successful private schools (Harvard, Yale, Stanford, etc.) tend to be more liberal than your average state school.
ReplyDeleteI saw a gay couple at Chick-fil-A today.
ReplyDelete