Lifeboat Foundation

Researchers have found water vapor in the disk around a young star exactly where planets may be forming. Water is a key ingredient for life on Earth and is also thought to play a significant role in planet formation, yet until now, astronomers have never been able to map how water is distributed in a stable, cool disk—the type of disk that offers the most favorable conditions for planets to form around stars.

For the first time, astronomers have weighed the amount of water vapor around a typical planet-forming star.

The new findings were made possible thanks to the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA)—a collection of telescopes in the Chilean Atacama Desert. The University of Manchester’s Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics hosts the UK ALMA Regional Centre Node (UK ARC).

At any given time, there are roughly 100,000 missing people in the U.S. These hackers are using their skills in computer forensics to follow digital footprints.

Back in 2007, statistician Nassim Nicholas Taleb described a “Black Swan” as an occurrence that “is an outlier,” meaning it deviates from accepted wisdom. Accordingly, black swans are unanticipated, and uncommon, and can result from geopolitical, economic, or other unanticipated occurrences.

Because of major advances in computing, we can now anticipate, and, with applied risk management, help contain what was described as Black Swan events. So, in effect, with predictive analytical capabilities enabled by artificial intelligence, most Black Swans have now morphed into what is now termed Grey Swan events.

An industry leader in the insurance sector, Aon, defines Black Swan events as unexpected, unanticipated shocks. They depict unexpected but predicted surprises that are known as “Grey Swan events.” Similar to Black Swans, they can have a profound effect.

An experimental treatment for Alzheimer’s disease involving sounds and flickering lights has shown promise in mice and people. Now, research suggests the novel approach ramps up our brain’s waste disposal networks.

By Clare Wilson

Blog post with show notes and transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2018/11/05/epis…nd-theory–…

Alex Rosenberg is professor of Philosophy at Duke University and has made several important contributions to the philosophy of science, biology, and social science.

0:00 intro.
2:53 scientism.
5:09 naturalism and the manifest image.
7:25 pragmatism.
10:40 intentionality.
12:38 objections to eliminativism and truth.
14:35 consciousness.
16:50 biological functions, purposes, and the selected effects theory.
22:28 reductionism.
28:05 causality.
31:02 multiple realizability.
35:13 math.
39:45 morality.
44:51 humanism, art, and history.

Continue reading “Thing in itself” »

Wonderful presentation by Daniel Dennett on consciousness.

Alex Rosenberg is the R. Taylor Cole Professor of Philosophy at Duke University. His research focuses on the philosophy of biology and science more generally, mind, and economics.

/ friction.
/ discord.
/ frictionphilo.

Continue reading “Alex Rosenberg | Intentionality, Evolution, and More” »

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