Reflections On "Fear of Knowledge" by Boghossian

Boghossian has surely written a well informed and thoroughly argued book entitled "Fear of Knowledge". And I have to admit in most cases he was able to make me doubt what I would call my “common sense” approach to knowledge . What Prof. Boghossian proclaims in very elaborate terms is that there is a historic evolution and that there exists a factual world outside of our cognition , and I won’t argue that it doesn’t seem to me like that.

However I found several sections where I think he is a bit out of balance, but I will focus on two fundamental problems with his well crafted rationalization. He himself states one contradiction on page 78, where he writes: “We ourselves seem to acknowledge that WE CANNOT HOPE TO DEMONSTRATE THE CORRECTNESS OF AN EPISTEMIC SYSTEM BY USING THAT VERY SYSTEM”. (emphasis added)

A) He is dealing with facts/truth/knowledge on a meta-level, because he already uses the we clause, hence indicating that his demonstration makes only sense when communicated with others

B) He is right – how can you possibly claim you are right based on your own observation.

I think that my relativism has is based on reason. It allows me to engage in constructive – as in productive/diplomatic/sythesis-seeking communication .

Hence a relativist position allows to accept the fact that you might be wrong (and as a package/worldview) allow to disregard aspects of believe e.g. religious, that you don’t share without disrespecting other positions – one theme at a time.

I’d describe my Weltanschauung in this case as pragmatic relativistic (rather than radical relativism).

At one point Boghossian uses the example of the perception that the world is flat, while in reality it is a sphere. Isn’t that a wonderful example of the usefulness of pragmatic relativist thinking: in everyday life the world is flat, for aeronautical engineers the earth is a sphere, but to a theoretical physisist the earth is a space with tons of molecules in a quantum state. It makes sense to accept ‘facts’ relative to what you want to do.

Especially in the case of scientific knowledge I am with Habermas’ existence–reality split. In this view existence describes the world of objective factual truth (as in the objects that you see in front of you) and existence is gradually (say hyperbolically) verified with the amount of observations that coincide. However just because you and nobody else has ever seen a pink elephant doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist – as discussed at length by philosophers of science under the theme of induction. It results that once again my pragmatism solves the problem – as long as the existing insight provides correct explanations to the phenomena I will use it as reference.
Or in other words so is my reality. Because reality is in Habermasian terms nothing but what one individually believes to be true. Hence each individual lives or constructs his/her own reality.

Which brings us to the second component, constructivism. It is relevant only for the description of the human construction of knowledge in the brain, rather than the collective construction and codification of scientific insights in the noosphere. Both are constructed, but on very different scales/dimensions.

I believe in radical constructivism (ala Watzlawick). The brain constructs reality out of the experience it is exposed to.

I have to end here (I just cant find more time right now), but if you want to engage in a discussion, feel free to comment – and I will follow up.

Also please check out the cyberphilosophy collaboratory some friends and myself just started.

you say Ohhh we say BAMA - what a great celebration

this was the most emotional and uplifting democratic experience ever - and i wasn't even able to vote ;-) No but really, i have never experienced anything similar - masses of people celebrating, taking over the streets - a stereo and a DJ emerged from nowhere and smiling faces all over...WOW i am really proud of this new generation of americans, i am so happy this country which has so many great people and that has so much power is reigned again by someone who is really smart and whats even more important who spreads hope and the spirit of optimism around the world - let's go and make this planet a better place - Yes we can.

Best Docu on Kids and the Internet

my sister always asks me what she should allow her kids to do online. It's a difficult question to answer, because she doesn't really understand what's going on so everytime i end up explaining here what this or that service is in the first place.

But as a good uncle i do reflect quite a bit about what my nephews and nice should be doing online and from a professional perspective i am really intrigued to understand how they can exploit the net for learning and "contextual intelligence booster'(checking wikipedia etc.).

Anyways PBS has produced a really good documentary about the reasons why kids love their online lifes and what's good and what's bad about it. I really have to say that this is probably the best docu on the subject i have ever seen!

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/kidsonline/view/main.html

Goooo Barack!! Groovy Obama Vibes

The US elections end race is really giving me goose bumps and shivers. Depending whether i hear and think about the positive vibes and epochal advancement should Obama win, or whether i think about what a sad and scary scenario will unfold in case the world has to deal with a new rendition of a conservative commander in chief fear-monger.

Well, next week we'll know - that much is for sure. For now check out these pretty groovy Obama support songs:

Yes We Can - Will.i.am (Black Eyed Peas)


Coco Tea - Barak Obahama



PRINCE THOMPSON - Obama Reggea



GOOOOOO Barack!!!!!

I love these Statistics

I usually argue for qualitative analysis, because i believe that statistical data might be good in describing trends, but it does not determine the individual case (which is what is IMHO most relevant most of the time).

In this TED video Hans Rosling presents some amazing data very nicely animated and passionately commented:




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVimVzgtD6w

Book chapter published: Virtual worlds as environment for learning communities

I am happy to announce that the chapter i wrote together with Marc (Ludo) Alier (Sciences of Education Institute, UPC, Spain) in "Knowledge Networks: The Social Software Perspective" (editors: M. D. Lytras, R. Tennyson & P. O. d. Pablos) is available @ e.g. Amazon

Here is the abstract:

This chapter discusses the potential of three dimensional virtual worlds as venue for constructivist learning communities. To reach a balanced answer to the question whether virtual worlds are likely to evolve into satisfying educational instruments (1) Authors retrace the historic trajectory of virtual world development and computer based learning, second they describe how (2) learning communities function in general and how virtual worlds in particular can be exploited for collective educational experiences. With this basis, authors then present (3) a structured analysis of the strenghts, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) found to bound the potential of SecondLife for institutionalized learning based on their expertise from working and teaching in virtual worlds. In conclusion authors argue that a critical but optimistic approach towards virtual learning environments (and SecondLife in particular) is adequatee. In their assessment virtual worlds bear great opportunities for educational purposes; however most of today’s educational institutions will be challenged to encompass the informal and holistic learning scenario.

Just drop me a line and I am happy to send you a working draft of the chapter.

Concetrated multitasking and lost linear comprehension - what's cognitively happening when we are online

Some reflections on Nick Carr's pretty good article "Is Google Making Us Stupid?":
In general i have to commend him for writing a thought provoking article and I agree with his core argument: "The more [we] use the Web, the more [we] have to fight to stay focused on long pieces of writing."

But Scott Karp gives a good counter argument - in his reflections about the Atlantic's piece: "Maybe the reason why Nick and so many other literati are losing their patience with long form information is that it is so fundamentally inefficient and inferior to connected bits of information."

What i would like to add is that the even more fundamental shift is not the way we perceive information (surf the net) but how we are engaging and participating in the discourse (by blogging, etc.), hence not only taking in, but creatively processing the info. The web has the potential to transform couch-potatoes in creative activists!

But coming back to reading and concentration: I think Nick has a point in saying we don't read linear and the text must also keep us interested - in fact i have read at least 6 comments embedded in the article by an web-annotation service called diigo, and one of the comments send me off to read half of Scott's response to Nick quoting him. My point support's Scott's: We are searching, identifying and continuously critically assessing all the information opportunities we have in front of us - as I see it: the amount of relevant info processing is really high while on the other hand it is true that this type of learning/experiencing information has become my dominant style and it costs me to following one long linear experience.

After a quick google search resulting in a wikipedia lookup to confirm that my conceptualization is reasonable, I would like to also critique Nick's use of the term concentration: He writes: "Now my concentration often starts to drift after two or three pages. I get fidgety, lose the thread, begin looking for something else to do. I feel as if I’m always dragging my wayward brain back to the text." Again I agree in principal, but it is attention span that is shorter, because there is a related/networked task or piece of information that draws the attention. Nevertheless i claim that when i - like now - working with 16 tabs and 8 programs open (involved in about 4/5 different work tracks) i am in a very concentrated (alert) state of mind. What's happening is I am jumping between tasks to maximize my productivity. While working on a task I am either instigated to switch to another by a thought triggering idea i perceived, or there is a certain boredom or lack of creative thought which drives me to look through the options running on the machine. No matter what is exactly going on with Being online (i am reflecting on these themes in the Cyberphilosophy classes @ SupercoolSchool) i would describe my state of mind as concentrated multitasking.


On a side note - I really grumbled when i read the following taylor'ist quote in Nick's article: “In the past the man has been first,” Taylor declared; “in the future the system must be first.”
Wow - know your enemy: This is exactly the contrary to what John Seely Brown, Howard Rheingold and myself are writing about in an article about the use of technology for humanistic education.

Rapping Physicists

Some folks at the CERN research center produced a rap video about what they are researching with the Large Hadron Collider. It uses original footage from the center, so you can see the actual machinery and visualization tools etc.

the future of browsing / web-collabloration

peter - a.k.a. the waving cat - pointed me to a really interesting video in which mozilla's concept browser labs showcase their vision of web-browsing/collaboration. Really cool interfaces. And I really liked the idea of having "objects"/mini-programs/macros that i can use e.g. to do certain things like visualization of tables, searching & clustering information, etc. etc. etc.


Aurora (Part 1) from Adaptive Path on Vimeo.

Tuolumne Meadows (Yosemite)

I usually spear you the misery of my weekend adventures, but in this case I can not hold back - it was probably the most intense climbing i did in a long time (12 pitches fairview dome, 5 pitches cathedral, and 5 pitches eichorn pinnacle - all in two days).




(some pix are taken from the web)

next - car design revolution

this morning i had one of these moments when you find something on the net which makes you think - Jeeez that might well be the beginning of a very new way of doing X - in this case "build cars". Ideo's Diego Rodriguez commented in his metacool blog about BMW's GINA prototype:

Hail the Peer-Production Revolution

Yochai Benkler is possibly the man with the most convincing argument for a knowledge work revolution based on the radical change regarding the control of the means of production.

If you have not heard of his thesis developed in wealth of networks you have to watch this TED video. If you know about his work watch this video to re-engage, he is really convincing:

(should the video not work for you go here)

delicious visualizations

inspired by the hypergraph tool i blogged about in my last post i thought that delicious would be a great playground for this kind of visual navigation. and sure enough, there is a ton of really nice and (possibly :) usefull interfaces designed already. The only one's I handpicked:

Revealicious allows for pretty neat bubble network diagram style browsing of your bookmarks

Delicious Mind i haven't tried it out yet, but it looks like an awesome app which allows you to make a mindmap out of your delicious tags

please send me if you find widget style visualization in the hypergraph direction Please comment or contact me!

Hypergraph for navigation

about 8 years ago i experimented with the Brain as website navigation tool, and i was really won over by the smooth visualization that gives you a good impression of Where you are on a page.

Yesterday Sam finally showed me the open source equivalent - hypergraph was of course developed for more sophisticated purposes and it isn't as eye-candy as the brain, nevertheless i would reckon we see this type of navigation more and more on the web.

In fact Patrick immediately wondered why the heck we can't browse our delicious bookmark tags through a hypergraphed interface? I agree, that would be great! please make me aware of any similar tool esp. to be used with delicious!

Supercool Philosophy - Learning to be Free

I have recently written some substantial blogposts on the supercoolschool blog:

Supercool Philosophy - Learning to be Free

Is the most profound one as i am sharing the first 1.0 of the educational philosophy of supercool school. It links to the full text (22 pages) and a shortened manifesto (3 pages)

Supercool School will set minds on fire

Is a review of John Seely Brown's Minds on Fire. It elaborates on the multitude of synergies of his text and the supercool philosophy.

Supercool learning = to inquire and to create

Is a review of a 1971 text by Noam Chomsky. The text entitled "Toward a humanistic conception of education" also has several great passages that align perfectly with the educational approach of supercool school.

You know you are talking to the right people when...

...the "warning screen" for a conference registration contains Hail Discordia! propaganda ;-) (For those of you who don't know Discordia - check out the wonderfully anarchic/psychedelic world setup in Robert Anton Wilson's Illuminati).

I just registered for the iCommons Summit and when i made a mistake in the form it prompted me with the following message:

Pentabarf Meditation has been interrupted by worries.
The Erisian dwarfs have been notified. In the meantime you are encouraged to read The Five Commandments below or go back in history instead.

KNOW YE THIS O MAN OF FAITH!

1. There is no Goddess but Goddess and She is Your Goddess. There is no Erisian Movement but The Erisian Movement and it is The Erisian Movement. And every Golden Apple Corps is the beloved home of a Golden Worm.
2. A Discordian Shall Always use the Official Discordian Document Numbering System.
3. A Discordian is Required during his early Illumination to Go Off Alone & Partake Joyously of a Hot Dog on a Friday; this Devotive Ceremony to Remonstrate against the popular Paganisms of the Day: of Catholic Christendom (no meat on Friday), of Judaism (no meat of Pork), of Hindic Peoples (no meat of Beef), of Buddhists (no meat of animal), and of Discordians (no Hot Dog Buns).
4. A Discordian shall Partake of No Hot Dog Buns, for Such was the Solace of Our Goddess when She was Confronted with The Original Snub.
5. A Discordian is Prohibited of Believing what he reads.

IT IS SO WRITTEN! SO BE IT. HAIL DISCORDIA!
PROSECUTORS WILL BE TRANSGRESSICUTED

This is the way i want cyberspace to communicate with me! Of course it turns out Pentabarf is a conference management system programmed for the 21C3...

South Park: The Day The Internet Stood Still

I am usually not a big SouthPark fan, even though i think there are some very funny aspects, the aesthetic is not really appealing to me. BUT this episode is just VERY VERY FUNNY

"One day the citizens of South Park wake up and find the internet is gone. When Randy hears there may still be some internet out in California, he packs up his family and heads west."

The whole episode is great, and you can watch all 22min here.

Here comes everybody

The latest episode of "Der elektrische Reporter" features an interview with Clay Shirky, author of "here comes everybody". I'll have to dig deeper, but what he had to say left a very very interesting impression:

"Like Lawrence Lessig on the effect of new technology on regimes of cultural creation, Shirky's assessment of the impact of new technology on the nature and use of groups is marvelously broad minded, lucid, and penetrating; it integrates the views of a number of other thinkers across a broad range of disciplines with his own pioneering work to provide a holistic framework for understanding the opportunities and the threats to the existing order that these new, spontaneous networks of social interaction represent. (from amazon)"

http://shirky.com/
http://www.herecomeseverybody.org/

Virtual World "Activism" inspires pro-Kremlin Political Action

something strange, innovative and remarkably funny happened the other day at a news conference by the former chess world champion Kasparov. While he was talking to the press about the Russian opposition movement, he was disturbed by a remote controlled mini-helicopter modified to look like a penis. Now this is strange "panorama" news which i wouldn't mention on my blog. What makes this intervention truly unique is that the young pro-kremlin activists took that idea from an earlier incident in SecondLife where a group of anti-capitalist hackers disturbed a press conference by in-world real-estate tycoon Anshe Chung.


To my knowledge this is the first time that political activism from a virtual world was copied in a real world scenario.

Great Modern Art

Mr. Stylewalker has spotted some really innovative, beautiful, awesome, argentinian modern art:


MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

THANKS!