The Dawdler's Philosophy

E17: The Final Induction - The Method of Multiple Working Hypotheses

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Ryan has kids. Kids have diseases and general poor hygiene. Thus, Ryan has diseases and sometimes poor hygiene. But he loves ‘em, those little rascals.

In this episode, the Dawdlers explore this kind of parental affection, but for ideas. How much affection should we give to our brain children? The discussion centers around a little old paper that holds the key! And the key is as Harland says, “The Method”. In this case, it is the method of multiple working hypotheses.

So drink plenty of fluids, get some rest, and prepare to have more children. Or get out of the business of decision making entirely.

-The Dawds

00:05:07 - T.C. Chamberlin

00:11:44 - Working Hypotheses, Ruling Theories, & the Parent/Child Metaphor

00:25:40 - Multiple Working Hypotheses, Ethology v. Psychology

00:35:00 - Chamberlin's Geological Examples

00:43:50 - Ryan Loves Evolution & Punctuated Equilibria

00:59:36 - The Null Hypothesis

01:05:05 - The Aim of Science, Truth & The Noble Lie

01:23:23 - Fact & Interpretation & Measurement & Language

01:39:06 - The Paradox of Choice

01:48:30 - Single Child Households & the Masters of Ruling Theories

Haunting the Margins - E1: Robert Anton Wilson

"If you don't mind haunting the margins, I think there is more freedom there. It's like being a politician in opposition; that's where you can be most sincere. But, of course, you sometimes look at people taking lead parts and think they've got all the gravy." -Colin Firth

Unremitting travelers rarely play it safe. How could they? They are in motion. Momentum is both a liberator and a killer. But these adventurers just don’t care. They are obsessed. They are possessed. They are living on the edge…

Here, The Dawdler’s Philosophy presents a new theme: Haunting the Margins. We focus on individuals who do the unpopular thing and “get weird”. And they’re nearly always ahead of the ever-hackneyed curve to not become normal in their time even though some may think they are. Nay, they be margin haunters, outlaws, and criminals of the mainstream milieu. They may not all be original in ideas, but they are all original in their actions.

First up: Robert Anton Wilson.

Here’s to “Maybe”.

00:07:00 – Margin Haunting, Inc.

00:22:39 – RAW, the Man

00:30:00 – Margin Haunter Attributes/Margin Haunter Conditions

00:46:46 – The Incorrigible Optimist/Model Agnosticism

01:18:06 – Discordianism, Expanded/Correct Answer Machines

01:36:16 – Generalism/Drugs & Openness

E16: Episodic Synchrony - Diversity in Consumer-Resource Systems

“I suppose most scientists—most authors—have one piece of work of which they would say: It doesn’t matter if you never read anything else of mine, please at least read *this*.”

Richard Dawkins wrote that in a note to a 1989 paperback edition of his book "The Extended Phenotype". Ryan appeals to this sentiment when it comes to the idea he outlines in this episode. Poor Harland has to sit and listen to Ryan talk about his “big idea”; one of resource-driven evolution that either drags a population down where a relic gets new life or pushes it up where abundance begets abundance, the results of which are sometimes the formation of new modes and new lineages.

The Dawdlers

00:06:03 – Animal figurines/Diversity & Diversification/Ryan’s “My Story”/Being Different

00:24:38 – Episodic Synchrony

00:46:10 – Impoverishment & Enrichment/Growth Stages/Rate of Increase*

01:13:38 – Anthropogenic Systems/Agritourism/Elite Overproduction

01:40:24 – Examples/Apple Maggot Flies/Cupuladriid Bryozoans/Kelp Gulls/Melanopsid Gastropods

02:19:59 – Harland thinks Episodic Synchrony is Obvious/Convergent Memetics/Harland’s Seal of Approval

02:25:04 – The Prevalence Argument for Episodic Synchrony

*Too late, a mortified Ryan now realizes a slip of his tongue when he said (over and over) “reproductive rate” instead of “rate of increase” or “per capita rate of change” [Forehead slap]. GET IT RIGHT, RYAAAANN!!!

E15: The Rolling Wall of Fog - Science v. Philosophy

There may not be philosophy-free science, but there *is* radical-free philosophy. Harland tries it out for as long as he can in this episode on the possible differences between science and philosophy.

Buckle your chin straps, Truth Seekers!

00:04:50 – Science? Philosophy?/Thought experiments/Provisionalism vs Definitionalism

00:42:48 – Modes of Indeference/Progress

01:02:26 – “Social” science/Wolf packs & bears/Singer-songwriters & jazz musicians/Science is data collection, philosophy is everything else/The structure of scientific papers/Philosophy of statistics vs philosophy of science/Calculus is bullshit

01:30:52 - Radicalisuuuuuuuuuuuhm

E14: Nietzsche's Rich Pageant - Exploring "Will to Power"

If we're lucky, we're able to add a little sumptin'-sumptin' to the end of the line. Maybe it's a good twist or we bring more than a few threads together. But every once in a while someone comes along and braids so far ahead they leave us all behind. Perhaps one day we'll arrive at Nietzsche's fray...again, if we're lucky.

Until then we just have to try and keep moving forward, try to understand. This episode is just one of those attempts.

00:14:42 - Nihilism (Active & Passive)/Morality (Master & Slave)/Articulating Darwin/The Herd/Virtue/More Herd

01:06:55 – Truth, Faith, and Philosophers/The Skeptics/Every Judgement is from a Perspective/Belief

01:40:23 – Will to Power/Life/Flux/Holism: Relation & Effect (There are No Things-in-Themselves)

02:01:23 – The Man, The Mountain, The Madness

E13: Footnotes to Fermi - The Aliens Episode

So, this guy Enrico trolled humanity once and it’s left us reeling ever since. This week the Dawdlers discuss the implications of this troll and explore a few threads on why we don’t get no satisfaction from our attempts to catch signals emitted by extraterrestrial intelligences. A hope and a calculation, but no USS Enterprise.

Grab your ankles if you want, but get comfortable at least. It may be a while before you’re “visited”.

00:07:45 – Fermi’s Paradox/Kardeshev Scale/Civilization Types

00:25:00 – More Fermi/Drake Equation/Lost Amazonian Tribe Analogy

00:46:30 – The Great Filter/Phil Niche Theory/Goldilocks Thinking/Money

01:46:45 – White House Lawn Scenarios

E12: Daniel Dennett's Easy Problems - Content, Consciousness, and Intuition Pumps

This time the Dawdler’s examine Daniel Dennett’s book “Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking” (2013). Regardless of all that, these two tools think they think. Topics explored are philosophical zombies, Occam’s Razor, black boxes, and sorta operators.

Do you smell that? It’s the sweet potpourri of Dennettian thinkadinks.

-Dawds

00:08:24 – Thinking Tools

00:39:32 – Folk Psychology, etc.

00:51:21 – Heterophenomenology and Zombies

01:15:01 – The Tuned Deck and Two Black Boxes

01:39:09 – Ryan does not Understand Dennett

E11: I Just Wanna Get off the Bus - The Overpopulation Episode

Typically, people may describe a “wide-ranging” podcast conversation as covering topics from A to Z to あ. Maybe that’s the case for those podcasts. Us dawdlers? Eh…

Ryan thinks this episode is on the psychology of “over”-population and Malthusian growth dynamics. Harland thinks Ryan just doesn’t like being one-of-many and is heavily invested in the narrative of Lockean individualism or something. Whatever the case may be, they cover a wide range of topics from—Hey, look! Sections!

00:04:45 – Thomas Malthus stuff

00:13:34 – Paul Ehrlich/Tragedy of the Commons

00:20:38 – Ryan’s Lament/The Psychology of “Over”-population

00:35:28 – Harland’s Reverse/Back to Ecology

00:58:26 – Human Exceptionalism/Growth Curbs (eh-heh-heh…)

01:02:39 – Back to Psychology

01:34:02 – What is a Population?/Shit Related to Offspring/Harland Being Radical

E10: The Argument Argument - Walking the Tightrope 'twixt Truth and Nihilism

The free world is kind of a mess right now. Seems we've lost something in a trade or hit a wall. We're so team oriented sending and receiving messages is like exchanging alien signals. Naturally, if we are to decode these strange outbursts, it's time to get innovative. We have a suggestion!

As one can probably surmise from the title, this episode is about arguing. We explore some of Harland's thoughts and ideas on the middle ground between dogmatic appeals to truth and defeatist egalitarianism. You may not be entitled to your own facts, but you do have the capacity for building an argument through premises and conclusions!

Listen up, extremists!

-The Dawdlers

00:04:00 – Argumentation Theory as the middle way between Dogmatism and Epistemic Egalitarianism / Preferring Agreement to Disagreement
00:11:15 – Descriptive v. Normative Argumentation Analysis / Argument “In the wild” v. Argument Institutionalized / Charles Wilard
00:21:45 – Some Basic Concepts of Argumentation Theory: Pro/Con, Pragmatic Speech Acts/Propositions, Enthymemes, Resolve/Settle
00:38:15 – Domesticated Primates, Munchausen’s Angels, & Impossible Gods – Idealization in Engineering Helps Chimps Transcend Animal Limitations
00:50:30 – What is Argument? / Some Definitions Compared / Normative Semantics
01:14:10 – The Argument Argument / The Procedure: Claims, Premises, Conclusions, Definitions, Logic, Reasoning / Ham & Eggs v. Ham & Cheese
01:26:05 – Reasonable People Can’t Disagree / I/O Concordance Given Successful Communication / Tending Toward Resolution
01:43:45 – The Burden of Proof / Are any Topics Off-Limits?

E9: Megadeath - The Mass Extinction Episode

Once again, Earth gets the bullet too!

This episode the Dawdlers yammer on about Mass Extinction. Ryan is trying not to screw up and Harland is working on his impromptu pun skills. Hopefully something is learned but likely it's just not nothing.

Oh, and we've now a little ditty.

Enjoy the Good Death,

The Dawdlers