Sunday, January 15, 2012

The Very Latest Updates


The essays that are most frequently updated  tend to be those of more than ephemeral interest.   The following are those that have received recent additions (in some case, as recently as ten minutes ago):

(A) Mathematics


* Consilience, right-side-up and upside-down

Now with a shout-out to our flippered friends  the porpoises !



Added a mention of the Dylan song of that title;  plus a plea to the readership.   Anyone who can answer that plea will earn my -- well, not necessarily undying gratitude -- that would assume too much philosophically about the afterlife, a topic I have refrained from touching on in these posts -- but at least, gratitude with a long shelf-life.



This post has itself grown from scrawny to fitfully interesting, and is evolving week by week.

* Metrizable vs. Metric

An update to one installment of our Urysohn saga.



Now add his teacher Hadamard.

* Algebraic geometry

You won't learn a darn thing about algebraic geometry here, since I don't understand the subject myself;  but you will make the acquaintance of three intriguing algebraic geometers.



… and of Set Theory, and Category Theory…

* Realism defined

Now with an appendix on Moral Realism and Aesthetic Realism.



This one’s a subtle exercise, difficult to characterize;  but I commend it to your attention.



The plight of the math-challenged.



This essay is a pendant  to the post above;  but whereas the notion of “difficulty” is extrinsic,  and relativized to contingent human limitations, “depth” is intrinsic, and dwells within the very being of mathematics.


(B) Politics


Rumbles from around the world, including today's events in Rome.



Part of an attempt to prevent the phrase “President Romney” from ever entering our vocabulary.

* The Degradation of Education

Not simply by neglect and underfunding -- but by presenting expensive alternatives that are wolves in sheep's clothing.  Read this and get angry.

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