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Category Archives: technical issues
Christopher Norris Defends Philosophy
Christopher Norris has written an article in Philosophy Now defending the Philosophy of Science from allegations of its irrelevance by scientists (most recently Stephen Hawking for example). Norris alleges the existence of “scientists’ need to philosophize and their proneness to … Continue reading
Mythical Myths #3 – The Concept of Race
Oh damn! I had no particular wish to address this until browsing led me by chance to RACE – The Power of an Illusion at PBS where a bunch of well intentioned people are discrediting anti-racism by associating it with a … Continue reading
Many Views on UBB
Michael Geist provides some useful links to opinions about the “Usage-Based Billing” issue, and has just expanded on his own view, as has also Teksavvy’s Rocky Gaudrault.(More here, here, and here.) My take on all this is that it is … Continue reading
More MOOCs
Massively Open On-Line Courses allow large numbers of people to participate at varying levels of commitment in a process of shared learning. Part of the openness aspect is that there are many avenues of participation and rather than relying on … Continue reading
Stop The Meter?
I’d like to hear more of what someone like Stephen Downes or Michael Geist thinks about this. (Both have reported the campaign but not really made a clear statement of their own reasons for doing so favourably.) To me, the … Continue reading
Sunrise and Sunset at Solstices
It is curious that the days of shortest and longest periods of sunlight (which just about everyone knows are due to the tilt of the earth’s spin axis relative to the plane of its orbit) are not everywhere the same … Continue reading
Denis Dutton
For several years now, Arts&Letters Daily has been my favourite source of on-line stimulation. Sadly, its founding editor, Denis Dutton, died on December 28.
Posted in arts and culture, social issues, technical issues, web
Tagged ALDaily, denis dutton
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What is Wrong with Web-based Networking
Yahoo Shutting Down Del.icio.us, Ning’s recent abandonment of its free service, and the end of Bloglines are just the most recent examples of why it seems dangerous to rely on proprietary solutions to the problem of data storage for web-based networking … Continue reading
The Chinese Room
Stephen Downes links to this notice about three free Philosophy courses from John Searle who is famous for his Chinese Room thought experiment. Now Searle may be a great teacher, and the ‘Chinese Room’ may be a useful paedagogical device, … Continue reading
PLENK2010
Over the last three months I spent a considerable amount of time following the #PLENK2010 Massive Open OnLine Course organized by Dave Cormier, Stephen Downes, Rita Kop, and George Siemens.
Posted in education, web
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Miraculous Magnetic Clowns
James McGirk, writing in 3quarksdaily, repeats the widely stated claim that the Insane Clown Posse display inexcusable ignorance when they claim, in their song ‘Miracles’, to be mystified by magnets. One line in particular snagged the world’s attention: “Water, fire, … Continue reading
Posted in arts and culture, physics
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One Bandwidth Rate for ALL Content
The concern expressed here, and here and here, is much more valid than that about usage-based billing. It is not the possibility of having to pay for bandwidth that is problematic, but that of being charged differential rates depending on … Continue reading
The Inheritors of What?
A new book by Eric Kaufmann entitled Shall the Religious Inherit the Earth?: Demography and Politics in the Twenty-First Century is
Posted in biology, religion, sustainability
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Letter to Tony Clement
Here’s what I wrote re Net Neutrality and Usage-Based Billing: The public internet has provided a wonderful stimulus to the economic and cultural life of our country and the entire world. But that stimulus depends on its equal accessibility to … Continue reading
What’s Wrong With Usage-Based Billing?
OpenMedia.ca wants to Stop The Meter On Your Internet Use. But if all kinds of bandwidth were charged at the same rate (so that the carriers couldn’t favour one type of content, such as cable tv over another, such as … Continue reading
The Myth of Separate Magisteria | Big Questions Online
The Myth of Separate Magisteria | Big Questions Online. The main problem (aside from its pretentious name) with Stephen Jay Gould’s concept of “Non-overlapping Magisteria” as a resolution of the “conflict” between science and religion is the fact that many … Continue reading
Posted in religion, science, uncategorized
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Personal Knowledge Management
The #PLENK2010 topic for discussion in Week 8 is PKM.
What’s Wrong With Usage-Based Billing?
The folks at OpenMedia.ca are concerned about the recent CRTC ruling to allw Bell to apply usage-based-billing to independent ISPs. But I don’t se the problem. So long as everyone gets the same speed of sevice regardless of data type … Continue reading
Posted in canada, web
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TV vs Internet
This article at the Tyee addresses the broader issue of whether ‘Net Neutrality’ is enough if the physical network used by the internet is being shared with competing services owned by the owners of the infrastructure.