Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id DAA27224 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Fri, 13 Apr 2001 03:37:10 +0100 From: <joedees@bellsouth.net> To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk Date: Thu, 12 Apr 2001 21:39:42 -0500 Content-type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-transfer-encoding: Quoted-printable Subject: Re: Is Suicide Contagious? A Case Study in Applied Memetics Message-ID: <3AD6209E.5245.CCF545@localhost> In-reply-to: <038f01c0c3a4$16fb6180$235c2a42@jrmolloy> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
On 12 Apr 2001, at 15:57, J. R. Molloy wrote:
> > In what sense is either philosophy or analog computing an
> > hypothesis?
> >
> > (I'd question the hypothetical nature of some of the others, too,
> > but these seem the most obvious examples.)
> >
> > --
> > Robin Faichney
>
> Thanks for asking, Robin.
>
> "Philosophy" is an hypothesis in the sense that it does something
> other than ask the wrong questions.
>
The word philosophy is rooted in the Latin terms Philo (wisdom)
and Sophia (love of). It asks questions both right and wrong, and
proffers both right and wrong answers. All of these help us to
advance, for the elimination of flawed alternatives is the flip side of
zeroing in on valid ones; one searches for a needle in a haystack
by tossing out non-needles.
>
> "Analog computing" is an hypothesis in the dictionary sense.
>
>
> τΏτ
>
> --J. R.
>
> Useless hypotheses:
> consciousness, phlogiston, philosophy, vitalism, mind, free will,
> qualia,
> analog computing, cultural relativism
>
> Everything that can happen has already happened, not just once,
> but an infinite number of times, and will continue to do so
> forever. (Everything that can happen = more than anyone can
> imagine.)
>
>
> ===============================================================
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>
>
===============================This was distributed via the memetics list associated with the
Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission
For information about the journal and the list (e.g. unsubscribing)
see: http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/jom-emit
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