Reading David Foster Wallace’s ”Infinite Jest” over a period of six months provoked a lot of thought about what makes a good book and why I didn’t particularly care for this one. Read more (16 min, 3900 words)
Reactions to “Infinite Jest”
Author: Jnerst
Mass-producing Hansons
I met Robin Hanson this weekend and started to think about how important it is to have people with expertise in several fields. Specifically setting up crossover academic departments could be an interesting experiment. Read more (6 min, 1500 words)
Science, the Constructionists, and Reality
My experience studying sociology of science as an engineer was frustrating, and only later have I come to understand the fundamental differences between the sciences and the humanities and how they think of reality. Read more (16 min, 4100 words)
In Defence of Evidence Resistance
Doubting conventional wisdom doesn’t necessarily make you a conspiracy theorist - skepticism should be universal and not only applied to "legitimate targets". It’s not always irrational to not change your mind when confronted with a piece of contrary evidence, and it can sometimes even be justified to increase your confidence that you’re right. Read more (11 min, 2800 words)
Superweapon Proliferation Worries
Phrases like "fake news", "fact-resistance" and "post-truth" have recently become common. They support a narrative implying that a large segment of the population have lost contact with reality and become impervious to facts. This is a dangerous simplification that makes things worse. Read more (5 min, 1200 words)
Hating Mr. Collins
Using Mr. Collins from ”Pride and Prejudice” as an example, I discuss how someone behaving well or badly isn’t necessarily what makes us like or dislike them, and that we should own up to the fact that we aren’t fair in our dealings with others. Read more (4 min, 900 words)
Erisology, Take Two
A second and more to the point attempt at pinning down what ”erisology” (or ”the study of disagreement”) actually is and what other fields are relevant to it.Read more (1100 words)
Varieties of “Black Mirror” Appreciation – A Statistical Analysis
Among fans of ”Black Mirror” the opinions on individual episodes is remarkably diverse. Is there a hidden structure in people’s preferences? This sounds like a case for Principal Component Analysis.Read more (2600 words)
Case Study: The War on Christmas
The ”war on Christmas” is an example of how a phrase can mean different things and how people typically aren’t interested in making sure they know what others mean. Also about how Christmas changing from unquestioned background norm to one of many cultural practices highlights the arbitrariness of traditions in ways that can be painful to be reminded about.Read more (3800 words)
Hiatus
On the perils of writing a blog and why I didn’t publish anything for four months.Read more (500 words)
Everything Studies 