Debunking “The mathematics of happiness”

alan sokal

Alan Sokal weighs in again thanks to Nick Brown who was troubled by the conclusion that 

The mysteries of love, happiness, fulfilment, success, disappointment, heartache, failure, experience, random luck, environment, culture, gender, genes, and all the other myriad ingredients that make up a human life could be reduced to the figure of 2.9013.

It’s quite astonishing that Walker Percy, whom I’m currently reading, caught this in 1983, predating the Sokal Hoax by some 13 years.

By the 1970s and 1980s, self-help had mushroomed into a vast literary genre that encompassed everything from the secrets of material achievement to the new age promises of chakras, reiki and self-realisation.

In Lost in the Cosmos: The Last Self-Help Book Percy writes:

Carl Sagan is right in ridiculing the absurd pseudosciences now so popular. He is admirable in his defense of science as a reliable and self-correcting method of attaining truth.

Yet the fact is that nowadays there is no piece of nonsense that will not be believed by some and no guru or radio preacher, however corrupt, who will not attract a following (p. 172).

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A Confederacy of Dunces – quotes and extracts – 47

A Confederacy of Dunces

She described to Ignatius the courage of Patrolman Mancuso, who against heavy odds, was fighting to retain his job, who wanted to work, who was making the best of his torture and exile in the bathroom at the bus station. Patrolman Mancuso’s situation reminded Ignatius of the situation of Boethius, when he was imprisoned by the emperor before being killed. To pacify his mother and to improve conditions at home, he had given her The Consolation of Philosophy, an English translation of the work that Boethius had written while unjustly imprisoned and had told her to give it to Patrolman Mancuso so that he might peruse it while seated in his booth. “The book teaches us to accept that which we cannot change. It describes the plight of a just man in an unjust society. It is the very basis for medieval thought. No doubt it will aid your patrolman during his moments of crisis,” Ignatius had said benevolently (p. 139).

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Why Intelligence Requires Both Body And Brain

embodied cognition, embodiment

This from Footnote1 (H/T to Rob Wilson for this).

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Family and the Politics of Moderation: Private Life, Public Goods, and the Rebirth of Social Individualism

adam smith

Coming soon from Lauren who is also contributing to Propriety and Prosperity: New Studies on the Philosophy of Adam Smith.

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The Moviegoer – quotes and extracts – 2

walker percy

What do you seek — God? you ask with a smile.

I hesitate to answer, since all other Americans have settled the matter for themselves and to give such an answer would amount to setting myself a goal which everyone else has reached — and therefore raising a question in which no one has the slightest interest. Who wants to be dead last among one hundred and eighty million Americans? For, as everyone knows, the polls report that 98% of Americans believe in God and the remaining 2% are atheists and agnostics — which leaves not a single percentage point for a seeker (pp. 13-14).

Moviegoer

A Confederacy of Dunces – quotes and extracts – 46

A Confederacy of Dunces

Apparently I lack some particular perversion which today’s employer is now seeking (p. 134).

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Belligerent Searle

consciousness

This interview from New Philosopher

I don’t read much philosophy, it upsets me when I read the nonsense written by my contemporaries, the theory of extended mind makes me want to throw up…so mostly I read works of fiction and history.

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Adam Smith: From Propriety and Sentiments to Property and Wealth

adam smith, vernon smith

Here is a recent freebie written by Vernon Smith who also happens to be writing the Forward to the forthcoming volume Propriety and Prosperity: New Studies on the Philosophy of Adam Smith.

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Systems and Complexity Thinking in the General Practice Literature: An Integrative, Historical Narrative Review

complexity

Here’s an interesting survey article. My regular collaborator (a pathologist, special adivisor for planning for a large medical school and a complexity theorist — all one person I might add) has been subtly implementing such an approach for many years. What is unusual (and I think right) about the graphic below is that though all of the giants of the complexity are there, Varela and Maturana are not typically viewed in such company. Nice touch.

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