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I believe something like the following happens. I write a 2 dimensional game with ladders in it. The main character can climb up ladders. An optimizer comes along and says, "I am a better coder than you. I can code that game with a much faster ladder climbing function." What I do next time is design a game with some broken ladders, like Donkey Kong. You can climb up a bit of the ladder and then get stuck. I do that because I have worked out that the optimizer cannot write a faster ladder climbin…Read more
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365The accomplished comedian Hatty Preston describes the University of Manchester as the real university in Manchester. I disagree with her. I present a model to understand how the different universities in Manchester relate to one another. The University of Manchester is stuck with a problem I call the B+ problem. The other universities each have the same ambition - to become one of the top 20 universities in the world - but are using unusual strategies, to avoid that problem.
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I had been on a WhatsApp group for comedians to engage in idle chat and post spam, and a person joined whose image produced a fear reaction in me. I showed the image to some people at a charity shop which I work at. A girl told me she had the same reaction. But others did not. I was puzzled by that. My working hypothesis is that the person in the image has a way of sending different signals to people from different class backgrounds. The person looked similar to a political theorist I am acquain…Read more
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404While Nancy Rothwell was vice-chancellor, the University of Manchester climbed steadily up the Shanghai global rankings to 35. But there was widespread student discontent with Nancy Rothwell. Now the university languishes at 52. That gives rise to a paradox, which starts with these propositions. (A) The students are right to oppose Nancy Rothwell. (B) The university did much better in the global rankings when Rothwell was manager. (C) The best explanation for its earlier success is that Rothwell…Read more
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455Do philosophers need to be clever? Let us use a simplified model. There are two kinds of people: clever and stupid. The clever are few and the stupid are many. Philosophy is done only by clever people. Then one day someone wants to expand the discipline, so that stupid people can also contribute. They introduce training for stupid people and stupid philosophers arise. But now there are lots of philosophers. It is impossible to keep track of all the research in one’s specialism. So how does one w…Read more
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473If you are the only black or brown person in a white man’s department, you should do “crazy stuff.” The reason why is because it is likely that there was a black or brown person before you and they were clever like you and they did sensible stuff and they failed. So a sensible approach is probably a failed strategy. Try another strategy, one that seems crazy even.
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1997In this paper, I present a challenge to Adam Smith’s specialization recommendations, at least according to the “unzany” interpretation suggested by his famous pin factory example. I present it while attempting the style of a notable fiction writer from the Indian sub-continent, as befits the challenge. I have adapted the style slightly for the Western setting.
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274In this very brief paper, I propose that a solution to a certain unjustness is to meddle with other people's families.
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2267This document briefly summarizes several objections to Thomas Kuhn on science, including by Feyerabend, Davidson, and Fodor.
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132This paper reconstructs the argument that Raymond Tallis objects to and presents what I take to be quite an obvious response.
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201This paper uses Douglas L. Kriner's work on presidential unilateral action to develop an example challenging the conception of a law as an instruction, or order, from the state involving a punishment by the state if it is not followed: a fine, imprisonment, community service, etc.
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232A worry that was once raised about anthropology at home is that the anthropologist will end up producing a report that is uninformative. In this paper, I draw a parallel between this worry and the paradox of analysis, from the analytic tradition of philosophy. I reveal that a solution to the latter would also address the former.
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152A poem by Laura Riding provides a counterexample to Jacques Derrida's claim that speech has been privileged over writing.
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157Andrei Marmor’s premise-by-premise reconstruction omits a premise, which I draw attention to and contest.
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172This is a brief summary of 22 (!) well-known objections to utilitarianism.
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575Are these two views about new reproductive technologies contradictory?IJRDO Journal of Social Science and Humanities Research 10 (3): 2-3. 2024.This paper responds to two seemingly contradictory views that Jeanette Edwards identifies in an article on the impact of new reproductive technologies in the northwest of England. I argue that they are probably not contradictory. But I do so by modifying how the views are formulated and reflect on the significance of this for anthropology at home.
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508In this paper, I present a way in which John Rawls’s original position thought experiment can be brought closer to nationalism. The social science laws can be taken from a nation’s heritage.
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216This document summarizes Robert Nozick's objections to John Rawls in chapter 7, part 2, of Anarchy, State and Utopia. A number of other objections apart from the most well-known ones are identified.
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218This document summarizes ten objections to John Rawls's difference principle. The objections are less well-known ones.
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193This paper responds to Margaret Masterman’s legendary “The Nature of a Paradigm,” which aims to identify 21 different uses of “paradigm” in Thomas Kuhn’s The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. I propose that he should have used, or at least introduced, the term in another sense or attempted sense, absent from her list, and explain why.
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705This is a one page handout reconstructing the paradox and identifying four solutions in the literature, as well as some concerns about them.
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721This paper contests a point that Jacques Derrida and John Searle actually agree on, within their infamous debate: that a sign must be repeatable. I focus on a situation involving dissent when evaluating this claim.
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1433This document gathers together, in summary form, objections scattered across many papers and multiple online databases. Nevertheless, it omits some objections, notably complicated ones. (NOTE: please go to view version history, if you have problems downloading.)
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707A brief handout summarizing Andrew Lang's criticisms of Frazer.
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988This is a handout identifying twenty objections that have been made to the reflective equilibrium method.
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94This paper argues for the significance of kinship because of government policies to deal with declining populations.
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