61–70 of 78 posts
Do people actually read all the books they recommend? I often tell people books are good, esp. books on some mathematical topic, without having read the entire thing myself, just selected parts as my inclination takes me. In fact, there are almost no textbooks I've read straight through.
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Same thing as Ayn Rand - gibberish philosophy that appeals very strongly to the teenager who thinks that they are the special one.
A funny comparison, since I could see The Moon is a Harsh Mistress getting compared to Ayn Rand due to the depictions of (and brief philosophical expositions on) stateless society.
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Why do find psychology to be speculation? Do they not use empiricism in their studies (maybe not all of them)?
Until very recently (mid 90's) many psychological phenomena were explained by childhood experiences, in line with Freud's psychoanalytical theory. Many of these have since been disproved. One criteria I have for trustworthiness of a scientific discipline is that of stability. If the previous theory has been found to be very wrong, very recently, then I am cautious to trust again. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychoan…
Freud's major contribution to psychology was that we actually have a dynamic subconscious that profoundly affects how we live our lives. This aspect of his theory has become so ingrained in our culture that it's hard to imagine the world before Freud. Also, that aspect of his theory has held up over the years.
Also, he got a number of things correct: many of his coping mechanisms have strong empirical support, for instance.
Freud was wrong in detail, but his overarching approach changed psychology for the better.
[0] Yes, I know this "history" is a vast oversimplification.
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Why do find psychology to be speculation? Do they not use empiricism in their studies (maybe not all of them)?
Until very recently (mid 90's) many psychological phenomena were explained by childhood experiences, in line with Freud's psychoanalytical theory. Many of these have since been disproved. One criteria I have for trustworthiness of a scientific discipline is that of stability. If the previous theory has been found to be very wrong, very recently, then I am cautious to trust again. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychoan…
The psychologists I've worked with design experiments to attempt to determine fundamental mental capabilities in terms of perception, memory, spatial reasoning, etc. and how this can be applied to design safe and effective user interfaces, in particular for safety critical systems like aircraft.
Sure, the models they develop are likely just useful approximations, but it seems that models at the neuron level would be too unwieldy for these sorts of questions anyway.
[0] http://www.amazon.com/First-Course-General-Relativity/dp/052...
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His writing is terrible on the level of style, characterisation, and even plot, but I think many of the ideas he expressed about human relations in his books are profound - that the rules which govern our societies are temporary, contingent and negotiable, that we don't live according to the principles we claim to, that free is often anything but, that colonies often become stronger than the parent society, that revo…
Are you sure you're not thinking of Starship Troopers?
It looks like the text is freely available; I skimmed through the first chapter and it makes sense to me so far (I don't know how long that would hold true). I've been looking for a basic probability text for some time now, nothing too heavy but something to compensate for not having taken enough math in college.
Has anyone read the probability text mentioned in the list - Probability: The Logic of Science by Jaynes? It looks like the text is freely available; I skimmed through the first chapter and it makes sense to me so far (I don't know how long that would hold true). I've been looking for a basic probability text for some time now, nothing too heavy but something to compensate for not having taken enough math in college.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Until very recently (mid 90's) many psychological phenomena were explained by childhood experiences, in line with Freud's psychoanalytical theory. Many of these have since been disproved. One criteria I have for trustworthiness of a scientific discipline is that of stability. If the previous theory has been found to be very wrong, very recently, then I am cautious to trust again. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychoan…
People really like to trash Freud, but you have to put him into context. Before Freud, we had a few branches of psychology: philosophical psychology in England arguing about empiricism vs. nativism, Wundtian psychology in Germany sitting around asking very specific questions that they answered using introspection, and in the States we had the very first blossoming of the behaviorism that would dominate psychology in…