[language] [Fwd: Re: Sensationalism in Science and Philosophy]

H.M. Hubey hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu
Wed May 7 20:08:44 UTC 2003


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-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: Sensationalism in Science and Philosophy
Date: Mon, 20 May 2002 12:18:57 +0000
From: linguist at linguistlist.org
To: hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu



I'm sorry, but we must return your posting on this topic, because
the moderators have closed this thread to further discussion
at this time, and notice of this decision has been announced
to the list.  We sincerely regret having to return your message.
Perhaps you can continue the discussion privately.

Regards,

LINGUIST


	From hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu  Mon May 20 01:25:56 2002
	Delivered-To: linguist at linguistlist.org
	Date: Mon, 20 May 2002 00:57:48 -0400
	From: "H.M. Hubey"
	Subject: Sensationalism in Science and Philosophy
	To: The LINGUIST Network ,
	 ploch at languages.wits.ac.za, dan_everett at sil.org
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	I would like to thank Dr. Ploch for his long post clearing the air and
	clarifying the confused state of matters.
	
	I would also like to add a few comments which are germane.
	
	First of all, these discussions are extremely important for linguistics.
	
	Around the 1930s  people like Paul Samuelson were known as
	"mathematical economists". Today "economist" means "mathematical
	economist". And the term "literary economist" is reserved for those
	who would like to litter the landscape with tossed word salads.
	To me a person is a "literary economist" like Jules Verne is a
	"literary physicist". Obviously, Verne was a science fiction
	writer. One day there will also be "literary linguists".
	
	The times are changing, and they always did.
	
	Around 1950 "computer" was a human, like an engineer, or
	accountant. Hence the words for machines had the adjective
	"automatic" in front of it e.g. EDVAC, UNIVAC etc, because at that
	time sophisticated-machines were called "automatic".
	
	One day, the adjective "mathematical" will not be necessary when
	using the word "linguist".
	
	Over the last 300 years or so strange things have happened and
	strange ideas have become sold as 'truth'. I was shocked to find
	one of my students put on her web page that she 'practices wiccan'.
	All this is due to lack of knowledge about what science is. And it is
	not really very recent, but has been going on for centuries.
	
	The great [anti] hero of movies and films moved into the science
	field and usurped it. The earliest such event was the ridicule
	heaped upon Isaac Newton and his "mathematics" by the philosopher
	Berkeley (and his cronies who called Newton to their "court" and
	[allegedly] demolished his whole edifice) who today is not known for
	much more than what can best be explained as "what I don't see does
	not exist." The story of science has been told incorrectly by those
	who had a lot to lose from its successes. Let us not forget that
	Newton did "natural philosophy" (not "physics").
	
	The best explanation of why science developed the way it did and
	why it had to essentially this deterministic path is in August Comte's
	book. (Unfortunately, I could only read the English translation by
	Andreski, not the original French.) But he too was put away by those
	who had much to lose, and who did not understand what was written.
	
	Then during this century we had Feyerabend who "proves" that
	witchcraft is science. When he gave this talk at Stanford a student
	asked him why he does not fly brooms instead of airplanes, and his
	answer was "I understand planes but not brooms."! How can this
	con-artist even show is face anywhere?
	
	Then finally, the dam burst when that ignoramus Searle decided to
	do one better and wrote his little work on why there will never be
	intelligent machines. There was a companion article in the Scientific
	American by the philosopher couple Mr/Ms Churchland. It is only
	too painfully clear that Searle does not even understand what was
	written, and has no ability to even think of complex issues in that
	article of his in Scientific American. But this is all what
	post-everything
	movement is about. There was a great deal of ridicule of Searle, which
	like a true con-man he merely termed "hostility". But it looks like the
	tide has turned. The big attack was launched by two physicists,
	Sokol and Bricmont, and it was the hoax article which they got
	published in a prestigious journal. In fact, one can find the website
	where there is a "postmodernism generator". It creates a new
	postmodernist article automatically everytime you click on the
	button. That is how much gibberish there is in that movement
	which, to me, includes people like Feyerabend, Searle, and Kuhn.
	
	Nothing succeeds like success, and it looks like things are going
	back to sanity.
	
	All of this is not much more than earlier replays of what Bill Gates
	did to the world (mostly America). A much more reliable operating
	system Linux is available for free. Just think a minute. If there were
	free cars outperforming Lexus, Benz, Infiniti and BMW, how long
	would these manufacturers stay in business? The WebServer Apache
	was so good that there is even a version of it that runs on Gates'
	Windows operating systems and yet he still sells his IIS. Why?
	Most people say that they use Windows only because they have
	to use MS-Office and that because their old files are in these
	packages. But there is Star-Office, which is probably still free and it
	produces basically MS-Office compatable files. So why does Bill
	Gates still hold the world by its testicles?
	
	That is the same reason why Feyerabend, Kuhn, Searle are still
	enjoying a kind of [anti] hero fame. Who are they fighting and
	why are they so popular?
	
	Obviously, I recommend reading Popper, Comte, and others
	who wrote on science like Mach, Frank, Paulos, Schroedinger,
	etc. Their works are less "heroic" than those of Feyerabend, Searle
	and Kuhn but they are much closer to the mark on how science
	is and was really done. And that is why linguists should broaden
	their readings to others than those who are greatly popular in the
	"mainstream". Look at Gates' Windows and Office? Free products
	are better than those. That speaks volumes about the mass
	marketing of products and ideas.
	
	
	
	--
	M. Hubey
	
	hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu
	/\/\/\/\//\/\/\/\/\/\/http://www.csam.montclair.edu/~hubey
	
	


--
...
M. Hubey
...
hubeyh at mail.montclair.edu
http://www.csam.montclair.edu/~hubey



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