Ben, is there something going on you want us to know about?
As to the content of the post*, I think it is just an attempt at an expression in a comic of Rutherford's famous quote, In science there is only physics; all the rest is stamp collecting.
Don't know WTF I did to become "Be" in 2.
Yes, I was meaning to impersonate him.
JP performatively brings up a good point: it's annoying that the "Name" field is highlighted by default when a comment window comes up. For instance, say you want to go immediately to the top of the page using the "home" key -- instead, you wind up at the beginning of the "Name" field.
This is the kind of glitch that keeps you from attracting as many commenters as you could.
Stormcrow not only imperfectly attempted to impersonate Ben, but leaves us with a hanging asterisk.
Randall is completely right, and no further argument is needed. This is a completely settled question.
8: *I'm old and I suck and I should go to bed. And Walt is righter than heebie in 9.
I don't know that you suck, but hey, I forthwith renounce the asking after the hanging asterisks, what, what.
OT: By the way (if you're still up, oldster), I mentioned your deer problem to a farmer friend, and he said: aside from fencing, get a dog. Only other way.
Was xkcd clever once upon a time, or was I deluded?
He's sometimes funny. This cracked me up.
Notice there is not a philosopher to the right of the mathematician. This is because Munroe knew philosophers would not find this funny.
I like xkcd. And I thought there should be a philosopher to the right of the mathematician, too. Oh, yeah? We can do science without your goddamn numbers!
11: No problem, one of the benefits of age is that I really don't care all that much. (Actually not too long back, I left one hanging and Ben nicely completed it with precisely the correct thought.)
On the deer, I did not want to turn it into a long discussion of all of the many aspects of my 20 year campaign against the deer, but thanks, and yes dogs do help. Right now, I only have an incompetent outdoor cat* (raised in Boerum Hill Brooklyn, the birds don't even bother to scatter when she goes out). We have maintained a few small fenced/netted areas; now that I am getting more time to garden I will probably go with a real fence (but things have gotten much shadier and I like the trees as well).
* Not that it matters of course, my most successful "hunter" cat loved to go out and just hang out with and watch the deer when they were eating pears off the ground.
I like the wobbly cephalopod in the hand of the biologist, I must confess.
It's interesting that, while still open in the regular case, the purity conjecture has been established for the étale cohomology for smooth schemes. For proof in the further simplified case of smooth varieties (over an algebraically closed field), see section 16 of J. M/ilne's notes on the subject.
Further, the notion of a pure motive, though not entirely unrelated, is best considered distinct. Of course, no motive can be considered more pure than another, so I'm not sure what Munroe is getting at here.
I thought that the canonical chain started at psychology and went through Munroe's list to end
"... Physics, which is just applied Mathematics, which is just applied Philosophy, which is just applied Bullshit. What does that say about you?"
I'm pretty sure by purity Randall had module theory in mind. Etale cohomology is the darling of the decadent coastal left, and should be put on the left side of the graphic, between sociology and psychology.
I don't understand what 2 is on about.
JP performatively brings up a good point: it's annoying that the "Name" field is highlighted by default when a comment window comes up. For instance, say you want to go immediately to the top of the page using the "home" key -- instead, you wind up at the beginning of the "Name" field.
This behavior has been discussed before. There was a period during which it was no longer in effect, and it was specifically reinstituted. It will not be changed.
This is a completely settled question.
Really? Among people who know what they're talking about?
I don't understand what 2 is on about.
Aside from the Name-field issue, I understood him to be inquiring whether something was wrong, in response to LB's apology for the pacing down-bump she gave your post by posting her own.
Or, perhaps your sudden uptick in posting.
28: since I know people who know what they're talking about on this score, and they don't think it's a settled question (or even have firm opinions with contrary substance), it is not a settled question about those who know what they're talking about. Kwed.
29: Have you talked to them recently? Perhaps this was just settled in the affirmative and Munroe is announcing it to the world.
27: Or, perhaps your sudden uptick in posting.
Yes, a rather lame joke on your flurry of recent posts, some of which some might uncharitably characterize as "stretches". Although I suck in general, raising three kids has made me attuned to certain patterns of behavior. (For instance, with Ogged I assume that about 2/3rds of his posts this is what he is really on about.)
some might uncharitably characterize as "stretches"
Tell me who or face my wrath.
Some hypothetical people in hypothetical worlds I might have heard about. You probably wouldn't know them.
The only thing worse than being talked about, JP, is not knowing you're being talked about.
They're lying to you, Ben. I suspect sinister motives (not in feldspar's sense).
Notice there is not a philosopher to the right of the mathematician. This is because Munroe knew philosophers would not find this funny. Or more probably because he is limiting his inquiry to sciences, leaving the humanities off-screen to the left. (Somewhere over there on the left is philosophy -- hi philosophy.)
Then why has he included mathematics and sociology?
I see Unfogged's tradition of trash talk is alive and well.
His point was not to map completely the purity spectrum but rather to show that he has not gotten over that particular type of math supremacism to which a certain type of person is highly susceptible. See also.
I stopped reading xkcd shortly after I decided he was not being sarcastic in the linked comic. Which, I admit, is pretty juvenile.
The proper philosophers' response is, "Ooh, hi all you disciplines that used to be part of philosophy, until we got sufficient clarity on the concepts and the rules of investigation to send you on your way! How big and strong you've grown!"
Thereby setting up philosophy as the home of unclarity, and its own enemy. Nice going, Neil.
There is a hilarious, then ultimately tragic, substory in The Manuscript Found in Saragossa during which the author of a text on pure mathematics is accused of encoding political arguments cryptically in his text, leading (if I remember correctly) to the text's destruction.
Some of the story is allowed to us via google books.
40. Or, to be more constructive about it, if you actually read any three random XKCD strips, it becomes obvious Munroe is perfectly aware that "purity" isn't the be-all-end-all of human experience.
I think I've decoded HamLove's true identity...
That's right. I'm Summer Glau.
p.s. I can kill you with my brain.
God, that particular cartoon was funny.
45, 46: I don't think we disagree . . .
I'm using a different tone than is my norm, so perhaps I am not expressing myself as well as I could (as if my normal voice would be any better).
And, perhaps, I just do not understand your meaning.
Permit me to try again. [In the course of trying again, I discovered that I am not intelligent enough to make my point clearly, just so you know.]
My point was that the comic linked to in the post is actually devoid of humorous content (except for the cephalopod) (and is an almost literal transcription of a well-worn math joke, but there's nothing wrong with that). Like many similar jokes, the humor has something to do with the reader identifying with a certain group.
I mostly believe this, as, many years ago, when I first started doing math, I found such jokes funny, and this feeling left when I became less of a math groupie (and more of a mathematician).
I do admit, though, that it is possible for other people to find things genuinely funny, even if I do not.
And, for the record, I find much of xkcd to be enjoyable. I just don't make a point of reading it anymore. And I don't think he feels that purity is the most important thing in the world. I just think he is a math/compsci groupie.
Not that there's anything wrong with that.
41: No, we're in unclarity's base, killing its doodz.
I used to be a math groupie, but I'm now a math hooker. Not as lucrative of a career option as I had hoped, but it beats going to law school.
or he has thought quite a bit about that, but has declined to give us a persuasive argument.
Declined to give a persuasive philosophical argument in short webcomic format? He missed his chance for a genius grant!
My advisor has these two strips on his office door.
As well as this and this, which are much more to his taste.
I do admit, though, that it is possible for other people to find things genuinely funny, even if I do not.
With such generosity of spirit, I'm shocked that you haven't been nominated for some kind of sainthood already.
56: That sentence (as well as many others that I wrote) was meant as understatement. Just in case.
Insert here my usual complaint regarding xkcd, stick figure art, and the general lameness of webcomics.
55: Man, do I love Dinosaur Comics. Someone should write a comic about comics purity, tracking out from Cathy through Get Fuzzy to the ultimate expression of the graphic narrative, staring at a puddle of ink while tripping your ass off on mescaline/Zippy the Pinhead.
59: I think Scott McCloud's working on that one.
i also thought where is philosophy then recalled that may be it does not count among yours as science iirc what i read in Wittgenstein's TLP, that it's sub or supra sciences, but never like on the same level
or medicine, but it's that, applied biology and chemistry
in my language science is shinjlex ukhaan which means analytic intelligence
b/c the words learn (surakh), know(medekh), knowledge(medleg), research(sudlakh, sudlal) are all different words and not in the stem of the word science, it goes just straight with intelligence
when for example in russian (nauka) and japanese(..gaku) both are derived from the word learn
or science is greek for knowledge, right?
so philosophy in my language is gyn ukhaan (deep intelligence), medicine is anagaax ukhaan (healing intelligence), while applied sciences go by name sudlal f.e biology - am'tan sudlal (living life research) etc, no confusion
what i just wanted to say but it get long
51: Like many similar jokes, the humor has something to do with the reader identifying with a certain group.
I mostly believe this, as, many years ago, when I first started doing math, I found such jokes funny, and this feeling left when I became less of a math groupie (and more of a mathematician).
Next up: xkcd does "what's purple and commutes?"
(I feel similarly about people who worshipfully recount Feynman anecdotes, or make dumb jokes about Schrodinger's cat.)
||
Brit politics threadjack:
http://www.unfogged.com/archives/comments_8869.html#860949
>
64. Yeah, it gives me a bit of dissonance when an evil bastard who I wouldn't cross the road to piss on if he was on fire resigns on a point of principle I fully agree with. But credit where it's due
On topic, the character at the end of the line is clearly Heebie, and she is RIGHT.
re: 65
Yeah, pretty much exactly my thoughts. To be fair Davis has been campaigning on the side of good on this particular issue for a while [even if he remains a Tory bastard on other issues].
Purity, applicability, and reduction are all orthogonal concepts.
You don't want to say that sociology is *applied* psychology, even if all the laws of sociology can be explained by the laws of psychology. It would be really awkward to do sociology by applying psychology. It would be like trying to predict the weather my tracking the motion of air molecules.
Really, each discipline has a theoretical and an applied part, and the reduction, if it occurs, occurs at the theoretical level.
This is the kind of earnest explanation that labs made fun of me for giving earlier.
science is greek for knowledge
Latin, actually. The word has a funny history. When William Whewell coined the word "scientist" he immediately pronounced it ugly and said he hoped it wouldn't catch on. Also, there was a period of time where it looked like the names "science" and "philosophy" were going to have their meanings swapped from the way they are today, so that what is now called "science" would be called "philosophy" and what is now called "philosophy" would be called science. This all happened about the time the term "natural philosophy" for what is now called science went out of fashion.
For the definitive word on this issue, I turn to Dr. Octagon:
psychology is not applied biology nor is biology applied chemistry
level independent some degrade the levels above and below captive
intricacies after their friends give interest
theories collapse, perhaps concepts cannot explain irreversible concrete
philosophical developments
such analysis indicate
emergence naturally, in a simple society
the pale matrix summarizes the scorning affluent software 30 arc seconds
strategy like drops of water floating in a void unstable atoms orbit this
new cloud nuclear having excess neutrinos or protons teeter on the edges of
nuclear stability nor and drip lines under the stress some develop a halo
bale radioactivity isotopes exotic
depending on their velocity their charges narrow momentum distribution
force is directly reflected
electric magnetic c 22 l i 11 escape particle bombardment
properties of the nucleus
v8 in the sun it produces easily detected
neutrinos much less to predict the standards can be designed if you end it
and it provide for continuing evolution of technology by remaining
compatible with existing applications in programming language
psychology is not applied biology nor is biology applied chemistry
whats the issue?
psychology is not applied biology nor is biology applied chemistry
whats the issue?
psychology is not applied biology nor is biology applied chemistry
whats the issue?
psychology is not applied biology nor is biology applied chemistry
whats the issue?
psychology is not applied biology nor is biology applied chemistry
whats the issue?
I actually remember the original song being more coherent; I corrected all the typos in the lyrics that I could easily spot, but I'm pretty sure some of the lines are still wrong. Still, useful.
The definitive hip-hop take on inter-theoretic reduction is here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tS64Mz-Z_7I
[Kool Keith and Sir Menelik rapping on a Doctor Octagon album]
http://www.musicsonglyrics.com/D/droctagonlyrics/droctagonbiology101lyrics.htm
re: 72
Holy fuck. Talk about being uber-pwned.
Well, I linked to the tune at least.
It was coöperative, ttaM. I'd forgotten Sir Menelik was involved.
re: 76
Yeah, I think most of the writing on that track is Sir Menelik; at least that's what I remember from fan-boy reading about the album a couple of years ago. On Production, too, I think (from the same album).
77: that kind of makes sense. The more Kool Keith I listen to, the more puzzled I become at all the science content on Dr. Octagon. Sex Style or Diesel Truckers do not betray a great deal of even amateur scientific inclination. I know they're different concepts and all that, but still.
it becomes obvious Munroe is perfectly aware that "purity" isn't the be-all-end-all of human experience.
And that noöne thinks he thinks that, since we're talking about math and the sciences.
59: You might be interested in the Oubapo.
I stopped reading xkcd shortly after I decided he was not being sarcastic in the linked comic. Which, I admit, is pretty juvenile.
I think you misspelled "too many other people started to like it" there.
Have you got any reason for thinking that, Trevor?
82: I'm sure he has good reason to think he's kidding, Ben.
80: Though, one of the upsides of it being so popular is that I'm usually told about the really good ones.
(For example, a friend has already emailed a link to the offending comic.)
I guess "for example" undermines my position.
Dammit.
51, 62: I'm expecting "dog cat sin theta" any day now.
re: 78
Yeah, I get the impression that the more science orientated stuff on that album is Menelik and Dan the Automator with Kool Keith more as guest artist on those tracks with the core of the writing on those two or three particular tracks not really Keith's work.
[Checking discographies] On Production, No Awareness and Biology 101 are all credited to Menelik as writer.
87: yeah, looking at the lyrics to Earth People the flavor of the sci-fi imagery is very different.
84,
I hadn't thought of it that way, but it makes a lot of sense. As something becomes more popular, it makes sense to pay less attention to it, because you can rely on other people to do the filtering for you.
Now, how can I get the internets to do this for me?
Holy shit! There's a horse in the hospital!
92: Yeah, that blog isn't so good anymore, since it got popular.
93: I just wait for people to tell me about the posts in the comments.
93: That can work, but you'll probably have to wade through a bunch of navel gazing crap, too.
96: oh, well, I just wait for people to tell me about the good comments in the other, secret comments.
97: in the other, secret comments
Right, the ones where everyone gets talked about but they don't know it.
I just wait for people to tell me about the posts in the comments,/i>
i too sometimes don't click on the link in the post
and get only what people say in the comments
if i absolutely can't get it what they are talking about then i'm kinda like compelled to click on it
especially if it's a video link b/c the work internets load slowly
ok, once more
I just wait for people to tell me about the posts in the comments
i too sometimes don't click on the link in the post
and get only what people say in the comments
if i absolutely can't get it what they are talking about then i'm kinda like compelled to click on it
especially if it's a video link b/c the work internets load slowly
Right, the ones where everyone gets talked about but they don't know it.
No, another one.
102: shhh!
Yeah, Ben might hear.
104: Then the first sentence of 100 wouldn't make sense. Or 104.
ok, then, what happened happened
or 'a word is not a bird, if it's said can't be caught'
if to cite a proverb
104: Then the first sentence of 100 wouldn't make sense. Or 104.Clearly what will happen is comment 99 will be repeatedly deleted until the former 105 is finally 99, at which point we will have to arrange it so that the next six comments make sense of your 105. This comment would probably have to go too.
103: no, Sifu, that comment can stay.
The reverse of this is a problem at Crooked TImber where the delayed moderated comments frequently mess up subsequent references.
And speaking of secrets, I am curious how you guys handle spam so well. No captcha and yet I don't know if I can ever recall seeing any unambiguous spam. (Manually watch it that closely?) Good job, even if you can't tell me without killing me.
Ogged's day job is spammer. So we have "a friend" on the inside, so to speak.
I asked about this a while back; this is how
91: Beefo Meaty isn't just a doctor. He's also a man.
I am curious how you guys handle spam so well
Much as it pains me to say it, the answer is that Ben w-lfs-n is a genius.
115: the answer is that Ben w-lfs-n is a genius.
Much as it pains me to say it, evidently unlike his utterly pwnable coblogger.
115: Oh, so that's probably why I get 403s when I try to comment from my phone.
Yes. Ben has to add your user agent manually to allow your phone to post.
I actually think that it would be difficult to place philosophy on the line because, as Ben suggested, philosophers are not in agreement w/r/t whether there is any truth to it. I would contest both its reductionism and it notion that sciences (hard and soft) can be more or less pure.