28 ideas
7508 | Good reductionism connects fields of knowledge, but doesn't replace one with another [Pinker] |
594 | Speusippus suggested underlying principles for every substance, and ended with a huge list [Speussipus, by Aristotle] |
1212 | Replacing timbers on Theseus' ship was the classic illustration of the problem of growth and change [Plutarch] |
5958 | The sun is always bright; it doesn't become bright when it emerges [Plutarch] |
7510 | Connectionists say the mind is a general purpose learning device [Pinker] |
7513 | Is memory stored in protein sequences, neurons, synapses, or synapse-strengths? [Pinker] |
5959 | Some philosophers say the soul is light [Plutarch] |
5960 | When the soul is intelligent and harmonious, it is part of god and derives from god [Plutarch] |
5952 | Rather than being the whole soul, maybe I am its chief part? [Plutarch] |
7509 | Roundworms live successfully with 302 neurons, so human freedom comes from our trillions [Pinker] |
7511 | Neural networks can generalise their training, e.g. truths about tigers apply mostly to lions [Pinker] |
7512 | There are five types of reasoning that seem beyond connectionist systems [Pinker, by PG] |
5951 | If atoms have no qualities, they cannot possibly produce a mind [Plutarch] |
5963 | Some say emotion is a sort of reason, and others say virtue concerns emotion [Plutarch] |
20796 | Action needs an affinity for a presentation, and an impulse toward the affinity [Plutarch] |
7505 | Many think that accepting human nature is to accept innumerable evils [Pinker] |
1477 | Being manly and brave is the result of convention, not of human nature [Plutarch] |
1478 | Animals don't value pleasure, as they cease sexual intercourse after impregnation [Plutarch] |
5948 | The good life involves social participation, loyalty, temperance and honesty [Plutarch] |
1479 | Animals have not been led into homosexuality, because they value pleasure very little [Plutarch] |
5950 | If only atoms exist, how do qualities arise when the atoms come together? [Plutarch] |
7516 | In 1828, the stuff of life was shown to be ordinary chemistry, not a magic gel [Pinker] |
7515 | All the evidence says evolution is cruel and wasteful, not intelligent [Pinker] |
7514 | Intelligent Design says that every unexplained phenomenon must be design, by default [Pinker] |
5974 | People report seeing through rocks, or over the horizon, or impossibly small works [Plutarch] |
5957 | Absurd superstitions make people atheist, not disharmony in nature [Plutarch] |
2632 | Speusippus said things were governed by some animal force rather than the gods [Speussipus, by Cicero] |
5955 | No one will ever find a city that lacks religious practices [Plutarch] |