Tag Archives: rationalism

The guiding light of KD45

Posted on August 24, 2025 by VM

On the subject of belief, I’m instinctively drawn to logical systems that demand consistency, closure, and introspection. And the KD45 system among them exerts a special pull. It consists of the following axioms: Thus, KD45 pictures a believer who never … Continue reading →

Posted in Analysis, Life notes | Tagged AGM theory, Bayesian belief system, belief systems, determinism, KD45 logic, modal logics, negative introspection, paraconsistent theory, positive introspection, probabalistic reality, rationalism, S4 logic | Leave a comment

Scientists’ conduct affects science

Posted on September 7, 2023 by VM

Nature News has published an excellent feature by Edwin Cartlidge on the “wall of scepticism” that arose in response to the latest superconductivity claim from Ranga Dias et al., purportedly in a compound called nitrogen-doped lutetium hydride. It seems the … Continue reading →

Posted in Analysis, Science | Tagged Douglas Natelson, Majorana zero modes, Microsoft Research, Mikhail Eremets, Nature journal, objectivity, Paul Feyerabend, Ranga Dias, rationalism, Russell Hemley, self-correcting | Comments Off

The devil’s lassi

Posted on February 25, 2023 by VM

‘The Devil’s Milkshake’, Tarence Ray in The Baffler, February 23, 2023: You’ve seen it before. An industrial disaster poisons a town’s food or water supply. Residents get angry. Public officials try to dispel that anger through a public act of … Continue reading →

Posted in Analysis, Science | Tagged Ayurveda, Devil's Milkshake, East Palestine, modern medicine, rationalism, solar eclipse, superstition | Comments Off

There’s a scientistic eclipse

Posted on April 30, 2022 by VM

There is a solar eclipse today and news websites are as usual participating in amplifying nonsense. It’s prima facie not nonsense in and of itself but because it’s not qualified as astrological material. That is, it’s an example of news … Continue reading →

Posted in Science | Tagged Indigenous peoples, knowledge system, rationalism, Renny Thomas, right wing, scientism, solar eclipse, Zee News | Leave a comment

Slate Star Codex: No time for malice

Posted on February 25, 2021 by VM

This post benefited from valuable input and feedback from Thomas Manuel. To the uninitiated: Scott Alexander Siskind is a noted member of the international community of rationalists and wrote the once-celebrated blog Slate Star Codex. I use the past tense because … Continue reading →

Posted in Analysis, Culture | Tagged Cade Metz, doxxing, Elizabeth Spiers, fascism-curious, New York Times, rationalism, rationalists, Scott Aaronson, Scott Alexander, Scott Alexander Siskind, Slate Star Codex, view from nowhere, will wilkinson | Leave a comment

The real story of ‘The Old Guard’

Posted on July 25, 2020 by VM

Spoiler alert: Don’t read this post if you intend to watch The Old Guard but haven’t done so yet. The Old Guard, an action film starring Charlize Theron among others, released on Netflix on July 10. In a scene in … Continue reading →

Posted in Analysis, Science | Tagged apoliticism, Charlize Theron, compassion fatigue, Enrico Fermi, history of science, human experimentation, medical experimentation, medical imperialism, medical research, Netflix, Paul Feyerabend, profiteering, rationalism, The Old Guard, violence | Leave a comment

The rationalists’ eclipse

Posted on December 27, 2019 by VM

The annular solar eclipse over South India on December 26 provided sufficient cause for casual and/or inchoate rationalism to make a rare public appearance – rarer than the average person who had decided to stay indoors for the duration of … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Science | Tagged Against Method, annular solar eclipse, BR Ambedkar, Caliban and the Witch, capitalism, myth, Paul Feyerabend, Periyar, pseudoscience, rationalism, science communication, scientism, solar eclipse, superstitions, superstitious beliefs, Sylvia Federici | Leave a comment

The alleged politicisation of science

Posted on September 22, 2019 by VM

“Don’t politicise X” has become the defence of choice for a class of scientists and public intellectuals in India whose class and caste privilege utterly blinds them to various inequities in the practice of science – as privilege is wont … Continue reading →

Posted in Op-eds, Science | Tagged caste-based discrimination, Chandrayaan 2, gender-based discrimination, ISRO, misogyny, nationalism, Paul Feyerabend, politicisation, politics, privilege, pseudoscience, rationalism, realpolitik, religion, scientism, Tim Hunt | Comments Off

Some notes on empiricism, etc.

Posted on March 10, 2017 by VM

The Wire published a story about the ‘atoms of Acharya Kanad‘ (background here; tl;dr: Folks at a university in Gujarat claimed an ancient Indian sage had put forth the theory of atoms centuries before John Dalton showed up). The story in … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Acharya Kanad, aesthetics, Alfred Shapere, dichotomy, empiricism, epistemology, formal science, Frank Wilczek, Hilary Putnam, history, knowledge, naturalness, nature science, Philosophy of Science, rationalism, sense experience, Social Sciences, string theory, time crystals | Leave a comment