tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13305228.post7295061328621425211..comments2023-11-02T11:32:38.324+00:00Comments on The Joy of Curmudgeonry: Pigeons and Ambient PersuasionDeogolwulfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02197539477668018797noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13305228.post-61414187418155255102008-07-04T22:57:00.000+01:002008-07-04T22:57:00.000+01:00"a true ‘forth estate’, composed of scientists, sc..."a true ‘forth estate’, composed of scientists, scholars, teachers, and the media."<BR/><BR/>Dr. James Hansen, B. F. Skinner, the General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers and Mr. Kelvin McKenzie - can't wait!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13305228.post-20504233624612804472008-07-04T21:06:00.000+01:002008-07-04T21:06:00.000+01:00Very good, Malcolm.Very good, Malcolm.Deogolwulfhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02197539477668018797noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13305228.post-12591719271908819632008-07-04T10:21:00.000+01:002008-07-04T10:21:00.000+01:00B.F. SkinnerOne of the behaviourists in the mind c...B.F. Skinner<BR/><BR/>One of the behaviourists in the mind control vein. Wonder he wasn't charged but then again, he wouldn't be, would he?James Highamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14525082702330365464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13305228.post-74290045991977243012008-07-03T19:58:00.000+01:002008-07-03T19:58:00.000+01:00Simple Deog, 'Prague Spring' was the uprising wher...Simple Deog, 'Prague Spring' was the uprising where those who presumed to do the conditioning, namely the Communist Czech secret police, were all taken out and shot.<BR/>I'd be happy to do the same to their inheritors, from Berkeley campus to ZaNuLabour.<BR/>It won't happen. But just so they know how I 'feel'.Sky Captainhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15154273736917461358noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13305228.post-73349992065159049912008-07-03T17:50:00.000+01:002008-07-03T17:50:00.000+01:00There's much to say about this, of course; there i...There's much to say about this, of course; there is so much fundamental philosophical confusion in this sort of Skinnerian absolutism that it is, rightly, taken seriously by nobody these days. <BR/><BR/>But for now, this:<BR/><BR/>Two behaviorists have just made love. One says to the other:<BR/><BR/>"It was great for you; how was it for me?"Malcolm Pollackhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15589628469540807380noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13305228.post-37315225650416580242008-07-03T14:55:00.000+01:002008-07-03T14:55:00.000+01:00Recusant, I suppose he could have meant it in a ba...Recusant, I suppose he could have meant it in a banal sense; after all, going by the terms themselves, stripped of most connotations, I would be surprised if "scientific enquiry" did not add to the "scientific view"; but what he means depends on what he means by "scientific view", and I suspect he uses it as a synonym for the metaphysical view of materialism.Deogolwulfhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02197539477668018797noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13305228.post-21748831627041948012008-07-03T14:07:00.000+01:002008-07-03T14:07:00.000+01:00Prague Spring?Prague Spring?Deogolwulfhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02197539477668018797noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13305228.post-84538457784826940302008-07-03T14:06:00.001+01:002008-07-03T14:06:00.001+01:00Ah, Cleanthes, but you're forgetting that our man ...Ah, Cleanthes, but you're forgetting that our man was a behaviourist: the last thing he would deny is incentives (in purely mechanistic terms of "operant conditioning"); it is just that, being a behavourist, he wished to cut out the middleman, as it were, i.e., some kind of autonomous self or will mediating between the conditions of behaviour and the behaviour itself.Deogolwulfhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02197539477668018797noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13305228.post-89232704017533946902008-07-03T14:06:00.000+01:002008-07-03T14:06:00.000+01:00"but it is in the nature of scientific inquiry tha..."but it is in the nature of scientific inquiry that the evidence should shift in favour of the second[the scientific view]".<BR/><BR/>And there you have it in a nutshell. Scientists will ensure that the scientific view is vindicated. The 'Scientific Method' and the uses put to 'Occam's Razor' are all part of the same cognitive bias. Impartial and disinterested, my arse.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13305228.post-78524907424248865452008-07-03T10:00:00.000+01:002008-07-03T10:00:00.000+01:00"Autonomous man is not easily changed; in fact, to..."Autonomous man is not easily changed; in fact, to the extent that he is autonomous, he is by definition not changeable at all. But the environment can be changed, and we are learning how to change it. "<BR/><BR/>This is only true if you believe that autonomous man does not respond to incentives.<BR/><BR/>And since that is obviously not true, it follows that our man is talking shite.<BR/><BR/>Is it perhaps possible that it is <I>his</I> environment or genes which are deficient and causing him to spout rubbish? Perhaps a change of environment might in order? Something with comfy walls?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13305228.post-15709717967461304492008-07-03T07:51:00.000+01:002008-07-03T07:51:00.000+01:00One comment, two words:Prague Spring!One comment, two words:<BR/>Prague Spring!Sky Captainhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15154273736917461358noreply@blogger.com