From: Jonathan Davis (jonathan@limbicnutrition.com)
Date: Fri Oct 10 2003 - 08:55:35 MDT
From Netsurf Digest (http://www.netsurf.com):
--- The New Humanists: Science at the Edge by John Brockman http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0760745293/churchofvirusA/ This book grew out of Brockman's essay "New Humanists", which appeared on his science-culture Web site The Edge in early 2002. In that essay, Brockman writes that modern intellectuals have become willfully ignorant of the issues of science and technology as they mire themselves instead in self-referential commentary and cultural pessimism. Humanism has been subsumed by the liberal arts, which as often as not reject humanism's historical tenet - man's capacity for fulfillment through reason and scientific method. The essay garnered a great deal of comment and in response Brockman has assembled a who's who of eminent scientists and asked them to discuss their own unique contributions to the development of modern thought. It's not exactly a humbling topic, but considering the vast and wrenching changes in our world views that science has wrought over the last 100 years, who better to comment than the very scientists who are bringing them about? In addition to the scientists - who write articles like "Software Is a Cultural Solvent", "Making Minds", and "A Golden Age of Cosmology" - Brockman also includes an equally stellar selection of responses to his original essay. An excellent and challenging think piece on a multitude of levels. ---- Also from Netsurf: Garret Hardin, Author of "The Tragedy of the Commons", RIP Garret Hardin and wife Jane were found dead in their Santa Barbara, Calif. home a few days ago. Members of the Hemlock Society, these octogenarians seem to have committed suicide. You may remember Hardin for his 1968 paper in Science, "The Tragedy of the Commons", which continues to reverberate wherever issues of resource consumption - e.g. global warming, capitalism, or communism - are considered. Expanding upon a discussion of the arms race then underway, Hardin concluded that "this dilemma has no technical solution." The extreme but logical conclusion bodes ill for global overpopulation and associated resource management issues, although many continue to hope that technical solutions can be found, such as cold fusion or modified strains of crops. Hardin made a case against this approach over 30 years ago and, so far, the evidence is in his favor. The passings of Hardin and his wife are sad and notable events, yet very much in keeping with their philosophies. We present links to a notice of the deaths on MetaFilter and a link to Tragedy of the Commons, a page with further background, including a copy of the 1968 paper. MetaFilter: http://www.metafilter.com/mefi/28452 Tragedy of the Commons: http://members.aol.com/trajcom/private/trajcom.htm ---- Kind Regards Jonathan --- To unsubscribe from the Virus list go to <http://www.lucifer.com/cgi-bin/virus-l>
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