tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-66735912012-01-23T21:32:12.155-05:00Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.comBlogger991100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-38019232551855764632011-12-06T17:50:00.003-05:002011-12-06T18:08:40.562-05:00

The Highly Hypnotizable Person,Edited by David A. Oakley , Michael Heap , and Richard J. BrownThis is the most authoritative and comprehensive summary of hypnosis research compiled in over a decade, so anyone interested in the subject should take note. Noteworthy contrubutions include Helen Crawford on the genetics and neuropsychology, Steve Lynn on clinical correlates, Judith Rhue on the

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-4698675391388135172011-12-04T17:24:00.004-05:002011-12-04T17:44:43.631-05:00

The GenoType Diet: Change Your Genetic Destiny to live the longest, fullest and healthiest life possible By Catherine Whitney (Author), Peter J. Dr D'Adamo (Author) [Review based on Kindle version]From my Amazon review:"... is it plausible in general that metabolic traits cluster along with personality traits, and that these clusters imply different health regimens? Of course it's possible. I'm

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-62416943180510835502011-11-20T15:57:00.008-05:002011-11-20T16:27:29.714-05:00

This is the second in a series of commentaries on the ideas promoted in Jonathan Bailor's book "The Smarter Science of Slim."This one presents my own spin on his argument for a SANE diet as an effective long term strategy for counteracting the trend toward obesity and obesity-related chronic illness.In addition to recommendations for brief, infrequent, high intensity exercise to counter insulin

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-28042247599523906302011-11-20T14:25:00.013-05:002011-11-20T15:45:49.631-05:00

This is my first post in a series of planned commentaries based on my reading of Jonathan Bailor's highly recommended book, "The Smarter Science of Slim."This first commentary is my perspective on the history of the issues and how I perceive they have been resolved scientifically so far.The Low Carb RevolutionYears ago, Dr. Atkins shocked popular culture and infuriated proponents of low fat diets

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-75514679666150429132011-11-13T19:36:00.005-05:002011-11-13T19:46:46.194-05:00

My review of Jonathan Bailor's book, "The Smarter Science of Slim." Highly recommended, he does a great job integrating a lot of research faithfully into an accessible picture and offers practical advice consistent with it.I also mention some things I would have written a little differently, like expanding the discussion of exercise a little beyond just eccentric high resistance and popular but

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-66036055164449515322011-09-04T22:31:00.002-04:002011-09-04T22:34:48.675-04:00

Consider this relatively commonsensical view of problem solving: “We absorb information in some common generic way and then apply our individual talents to using that information to solve problems.” As straightforward and intuitive as this description sounds, it contains a counter-productive assumption about knowledge, confusing it with information. We tend to assume that the things we

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-67407997502740033592011-09-03T23:30:00.003-04:002011-09-03T23:34:20.304-04:00

We almost universally recognize the legitimacy of experts in a number of different domains. In many academic fields such as mathematics, sciences, history, literature, and other academic areas, some people know much more and consistently perform much better than others in tests of ability. Similarly for many professional fields and various sports and games, we recognize that there are experts

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-21235407226557424042011-08-29T21:45:00.002-04:002011-08-29T21:51:08.893-04:00

There is a long research tradition studying the gross response of our nervous system to stimuli as a result of a response in the Reticular Activating System of the brainstem. The general response seems to be one of preparing us for activity since it involves increased heart rate and blood pressure and a condition of sensory alertness, mobility and readiness to respond. Still, too much of a good

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-25229950911776279122011-08-29T21:35:00.001-04:002011-08-29T21:37:12.742-04:00

The Limitations of Expertise Although it covers a very wide range of activities, the large body of expertise research takes place in areas where we can easily identify how good people are based on standards of performance within the field itself, and where, to put it bluntly, skill matters. What about performance in real world, where things are a lot messier, and the more skillful exponent

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-84894042921900857262011-08-29T20:51:00.003-04:002011-08-29T21:00:23.789-04:00

The Power of Expertise Who Ya Gonna Call? Let’s say you’re working on your computer and it starts acting strangely. You get errors that don’t understand or it crashes for no apparent reason. If you aren’t sure what to do at first, where will you look for help? You might perform a web search for the symptoms to see if it’s a known problem and other people have solved it before you. You might

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-33838292092060006272011-08-22T21:41:00.003-04:002011-08-22T21:46:35.168-04:00

What’s the most important thing about problem solving? If you paid attention in school, you probably would respond: getting the right answer! There’s nothing wrong with wanting to get the right answer. Or is there? I want to raise four related concerns: The problem structuring concern: Problems don’t always arise in a form that has an identifiable single right answer. Often there are

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-65531447213243982492011-08-21T11:00:00.008-04:002011-08-21T12:10:59.142-04:00

What Makes Some People Better Problem Solvers Than Others? The Dilemma and Challenges of Exceptional Thinking Abilities Simply getting the right answer isn’t always the best way to think about solving difficult problems. For some problems outside of the classroom and aside from questions of knowledge from within well established domains, there may not be a single right answer. There may be

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-48211219395650646262011-08-14T21:56:00.003-04:002011-08-14T22:01:17.449-04:00

When a difficult problem is solved deliberately, it is generally because the right expertise was applied to good information through the right tools as part of a reliable process. These are the essential elements of effective human problem solving. The rest is in the details. We often do less than this because we are also very good at guessing well. The human nervous system is not a logic

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-19881548138746892252011-06-24T12:29:00.003-04:002011-06-24T12:42:21.415-04:00

Does adding men to a group make the group dumber?New preliminary finding reported at the Harvard Business Review: Adding more women to a group may make the group smarter.Previous related finding: Collective intelligence of groups is roughly independent of intelligence of individual membersPrevious assumption: A more diverse group is better than a less diverse group.Surprising new possible

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-38183432840537510662011-06-05T14:37:00.004-04:002011-06-05T14:44:36.896-04:00

Review of ...The Alternate-Day Diet, by James B, JohnsonPutnam Adult, 2008. The Alternate Day Diet explains some of the relevant science behind calorie restriction as both a health-conducive regimen and a weight control strategy and offers valuable experience-based practical advice. There is a lot of evidence in favor of strategic intermittent calorie restriction for making us healthier but

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-66150261305094211872011-06-05T11:44:00.003-04:002011-06-05T11:51:19.959-04:00

"The Hypnotist: Healer, Head-Hacker, & Headliner" by Jake Shannonhttps://www.createspace.com/3623853 Jake Shannon is a fascinating multi-talented man with a rich and partly enviable life experience. He has also lived through extraordinary pain and illness which were a big part of his initial inspiration for his deep study of hypnosis. As in the life story Dan Ariely, whose life with severe

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-32204067579176481952011-04-11T17:08:00.011-04:002011-04-15T15:17:47.084-04:00

Book Review - Apollo Root Cause Analyis: A New Way of Thinking Book by Dean Gano, Apollonian Publications, 2008. Review by Todd I. Stark Link to Amazon review.Very useful principles for preventing bad things from happening, April 11, 2011 By Todd I. Stark "Cellular Wetware plus Books" This review is from: Apollo Root Cause Analysis: A New Way of Thinking (Paperback)How can we prevent bad things

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-37282632286089139072011-03-08T12:50:00.006-05:002011-03-08T13:02:49.718-05:00

Review of --> Critical Thinking: Learn the Tools the Best Thinkers Useby Richard PaulA lifetime learning approach, more than a course in "critical thinking."I enjoyed this book and got a lot out of it. For such a high level book it isn't easy reading because it requires you to think about your own thinking while you are reading it in order to get full value out of it. If you skip that exercise,

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-41876368267972330742011-02-05T16:08:00.003-05:002011-02-05T16:17:01.904-05:00

Book Review: The Psychology of Attitude Change and Social InfluencePhillip G, Zimbardo and Michael R. Leippe - 1991 McGraw HillLink to review on Amazon .I 've been studying social psychology for years and I've remained fascinated by it since college, and have read dozens of texts on the subject. I bought this text because I like Zimbardo's clear informal style of writing and I suspected this

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-84200937974605664292010-09-26T11:09:00.006-04:002010-09-26T11:20:50.297-04:00

Big Brains: The Origins and Future of Human Intelligenceby Gary Lynch and Richard GrangerPalgrave Macmillan, 2009There is a lot of very clearly and cleverly presented original material on brains and their evolution and development in this book. It is one of those books that constantly makes you think and has enough depth to read several times fruitfully. I highly recommend it. See my full

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-76551902661802208672010-09-11T11:22:00.005-04:002010-09-12T17:27:44.863-04:00

My review of the 1981 book: Intelligence: The Battle for the Mind by Hans Eysenck and Leon Kamin can be found on Amazon here.I found this old book a fascinating look at the politics of intelligence at its most extreme prior the publication of The Bell Curve. In spite of all the friction generated by The Bell Curve that left a misleading impression in the minds of many people, there was actually

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-49052900575482258652010-08-16T07:32:00.004-04:002010-08-16T07:52:40.054-04:00

Inspired by Nicholas Carr's book "The Shallows," and more especially by the varied reactions to Nicholas Carr's ideas, I previously posted 3 articles on the subject of how electronic media are affecting our thinking and reading. I'm no expert on this subject, except that I read a lot both online and offline. The posts were a review of Carr, some thoughts on our shifting perception of knowledge

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-25995113687473470122010-07-31T12:30:00.011-04:002010-07-31T14:41:18.757-04:00

Review of David Perkins’ “Outsmarting IQ: The Emerging Science of Learnable Intelligence,” 1995, Free Press.Link to review on Amazon --> http://www.amazon.com/review/R3AYGZV7G7AUTO/ref=cm_cr_rdp_permProfound Thinking By ExampleThis is the single best book I’ve come across on the potential for improving human thinking ability. I give it my highest recommendation; I think it should be read by

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-81771289554097170762010-06-21T15:48:00.005-04:002010-06-21T15:55:48.848-04:00

Beautifully written reminder that each medium has its tradeoffsby Todd I. StarkAmazon review --> http://www.amazon.com/review/R2Z3CVIADXIWI1/ref=cm_cr_rdp_permWhen I first came across this book I noticed that a lot of my friends on social media were expressing disgust or boredom with the thesis of "Is the Internet frying our brain?" After all, who but a curmudgeon would claim that the most

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-85004484404953168942010-06-12T12:58:00.019-04:002010-06-15T02:19:55.516-04:00

On the New York Times Opinion page, Steven Pinker weighs in on the Internet optimists vs. pessimists issue. He appreciates the value of intellectual depth but he doesn't think the brain is nearly "plastic" enough to be reshaped fundamentally by the tools we use, he doesn't believe there are general abilities that are affected by experience. "Experience does not revamp the basic

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-9778163963720199282010-06-06T08:44:00.067-04:002010-06-13T00:48:35.535-04:00

My previous post highlighted Nicholas Carr and Clay Shirky's recent books which seem to agree that Internet and Web and related technology are changing our daily habits and also the way we think.Carr suggests we are gaining a lot but also losing something important. Shirky counters: "good riddance!" to whatever we might be losing.Maybe it's just a touch of reactionary temperament in me, but for

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-13899477186655999792010-06-05T10:33:00.015-04:002010-06-20T16:03:32.431-04:00

The Wall Streeet Journal online is playing off two authors of recent books with opposing premises:Clay Shirky with his optimistic view of how the Internet is making us smarter by giving us more freedom to expand our minds, as discussed in his book, Cognitive SurplusNicholas Carr with his more pessimistic take on how the Internet is making us think more shallowly, from his book, The ShallowsAs

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-86046279042821299452010-05-29T11:37:00.003-04:002010-05-29T11:45:26.693-04:00

"Smart Choices: A Practical Guide to Making Better Life Decisions"by John Hammond, Ralph Keeney, Howard RaiffaOriginally published 1999, Harvard Business School PressLink to review on AmazonThere are a lot of books about decision making and problem solving, and the vast majority of them are mediocre. There are a number of decent, readable accounts that give some simple tips and teach you about

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-89416457615058513012010-05-20T19:26:00.005-04:002010-05-20T19:34:03.453-04:00

Review of "The Genius in All of Us," by David Shenk, Doubleday, 2010. An effective deconstruction of hereditary talent, and clues for a new model of exceptional abilityLink to the review on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/review/R3DGLT1WYK6QRG/ref=cm_cr_rdp_permIt is easy to like or dislike this book from a casual reading based on how you feel about the premise: that everyone has the potential for

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-76444740913842098912010-03-21T09:06:00.005-04:002010-03-21T09:14:31.657-04:00

Link to review on AmazonThere's a fair amount that we know about learning, and we often place great importance on teaching, but we seem to take for granted the way teaching and learning are related. It is not at all obvious how teaching leads to learning (assuming that it does!) or what is the best way to create an environment for learning. We do have a lot of relevant evidence, but it is rare to

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-3912690793074289342010-02-16T14:12:00.001-05:002010-02-16T14:12:01.267-05:00

Absolutely, the decision making process is the bottleneck in health matters, and knowing how to make better use of our own behaviors is the only practical individual solution. Of particular significance, most people are capable of learning to make good decisions, but our reasoning powers falter under conditions of deprivation and distraction, where our cognitive unconscious, habits, and

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-4279907770876183362010-01-23T08:19:00.004-05:002010-01-23T08:25:33.276-05:00

Review of: Minds, Brains, and Learning, by James P. ByrnesLink on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Minds-Brains-Learning-Understanding-Neuroscientific/dp/1572306521/ref=cm_cr-mr-titleNearly a decade after its publication, this book remains for me one of the very best basic resources for those who want to understand how we learn in terms of brain function, and in general the educational relevance of

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-63349961872359800822009-12-24T11:38:00.005-05:002009-12-24T11:51:10.131-05:00

Jason Flom has a very good brief post on 10 principles for the future of learning:http://www.eduratireview.com/2009/07/10-principles-for-future-of-learning.htmlThis is a good post that I'm not so much criticizing as using a springboard to illustrate a trend that I see with current epistemological thinking in popular culture: we are moving toward seeing collectively derived sources as authorities

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-53678681480340756402009-12-23T09:51:00.005-05:002009-12-23T10:08:05.572-05:00

The link below is to a thought-provoking post by Daniel Loxton about the relationship of science and skepticism. My thoughts are in reply #27, and I'm also posting them here. If you're interested in such things as I am, I also draw your attention to Jim Lippard's interesting epistemological observations in reply #10.http://skepticblog.org/2009/12/22/

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-72093651874847208002009-12-20T19:33:00.005-05:002009-12-23T10:19:08.161-05:00

The Expected Unexpected - or, What can we learn from White Swans?A review of The Black Swan, by Nassim Nicholas TalebReview by Todd I. Stark, 12/20/2009Link to review on Amazon.I came to this book expecting a clever but flawed argument for intellectual laziness or superficial thinking, another popular argument for "gut" or "intuition" or "Zen." Or perhaps a slick Gladwell-esque treatment of

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-37436670436312753482009-09-20T11:42:00.003-04:002009-09-20T11:47:04.124-04:00

Link to review on Amazon.Snap Judgment is essentially a summary of behavioral finance findings. This field is an extension of the heuristics and biases research program into the realm of finance.The heuristics and biases program is a deep scholarly literature that shows in great detail how the mental shortcuts that help us survive can also derail our thinking. Recently researchers have applied

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-27094926700028558312009-09-20T09:45:00.000-04:002009-09-20T09:45:01.565-04:00

The Two Faces Low Tech CombatA very good introductory article to the distinction between intra and inter species interactions in humans and why it is important to martial arts and combatives strategy.

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-81197807479039717082009-09-20T09:23:00.001-04:002009-09-20T09:24:11.512-04:00

The Full Spectrum Low Tech Combat#c2437013533776975663#c2437013533776975663#c2437013533776975663The linked article is a good analyis, a nice starting point for a "soup to nuts" framework for modern combatives.

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-55356583333378725472009-09-20T09:15:00.001-04:002009-09-20T09:38:01.762-04:00

Alpha Male v Predatory Threat Low Tech CombatThis is a very important distinction because you prepare differently for social aggression and predatory aggression. For social aggression you emphasize defusing and de-escalation and then constraining and defending. For predatory aggression you emphasize avoiding, then defending and constraining.A good technical article on this distinction:http://

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-26031832414162198032009-09-19T10:26:00.003-04:002009-09-19T10:35:16.711-04:00

Amazon review link.The recent easy availability of science news has been a mixed blessing. On the one hand, we get the breaking news every time someone publishes anything even remotely interesting. On the other hand, it is even harder to perceive the consensus in scientific fields. We get the feeling of things changing and new data coming in, but not a good sense of the overall patterns and how

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-10680646181923519822009-08-30T16:45:00.007-04:002009-09-19T10:24:11.533-04:00

Link to posting on Amazon.Leading intelligence researcher Robert Sternberg dedicates this book to the woman who turned his life around in the 4th grade, his teacher Mrs. Alexis. Bless her and teachers like her. She was the first one to have the sense to ignore his poor standardized test results and expect and encourage him to do better than the tests predicted. Sternberg's own career is a

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-28903287829470844542009-08-22T16:22:00.005-04:002009-08-22T16:41:48.382-04:00

Early efforts to model human-like thinking with machines using rules were interesting but failed in a number of ways to capture even simple ways that humans think. Marvin Minsky, AI pioneer at MIT, insists that we understand the mistakes and can begin to appreciate how the mind actually works in functional terms from the lessons we have learned. Learninig from our past mistakes, what a novel

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-70458594393284172782009-08-06T13:52:00.003-04:002009-08-06T13:56:00.614-04:00

Problem Solving as a SkillWhat do you think of when someone uses the term “problem solving?” It’s a very common term for a very common activity. It is so common that we take it for granted. This tendency to take problem solving ability for granted is embedded in various ways in culture, which unfortunately reinforces counter-productive assumptions and attitudes and takes away from our results.

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-26016629507909780142009-08-05T17:24:00.007-04:002009-08-05T17:34:52.431-04:00

This article pertains to WSS 3.0 and MOSS 2007 flavors of SharePoint.There are two common issues in SharePoint involving excessive authentications:A. Being forced to authenticate multiple times when you first connect to the portal, andB. Being forced to authenticate when you open an Office document from the portal.The first is a problem that can have multiple causes and requires some

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-71018808600596189172009-06-01T15:55:00.007-04:002009-06-01T19:34:56.253-04:00

This presentation about BAD PowerPoint is very interesting! I enjoyed this. What I got out of it is that presentations are actually not intended to involve thinking, they are intended to entertain, amuse, and be memorable. They are meant to inspire action but prevent people from thinking too much before acting. Basically, a presentation is intended to be a form of propaganda! (Well, marketing to

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-54318740007804689332009-05-02T06:51:00.007-04:002009-05-02T07:13:22.857-04:00

Book Review: "The Imprinted Brain: How Genes Set the Balance of the Mind between Autism and Psychosis" by Christopher BadcockReview by Todd I. StarkA bold new theory of mental illness that could revolutionize our understanding, if it is right. [See my reviews on Amazon.] This is a deeply fascinating theory. I gave it lots of stars because of the importance of its ideas, even though it is

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-16143665818731590882009-04-21T08:16:00.002-04:002009-04-21T08:20:23.401-04:00

Check out SharePoint planning presentation by Paul Culmsee on SlideShare: How to avoid SharePoint becoming a wicked problemView more presentations from paulculmsee.How to avoid SharePoint becoming a wicked problem - Presentation Transcript“If you can tell me why you say that plan A is great, and I understand your judgments, you have succeeded in objectifying your space of judgment to me. And

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-91442937952200129632009-04-18T02:49:00.002-04:002009-04-20T22:41:59.523-04:00

Erudite, wise, and delightful tour through human fallibilityA review of "Bozo Sapiens: Why to Err is Human" by Michael and Ellen Kaplan [See this and other reviews on Amazon] We don't naturally think like scientists, except perhaps in very limited and specific ways. Thinking that can't stand up to scrutiny is commonplace. Why do we tend to be more wrong than right most of the time? This

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-22386394727619099962009-03-30T16:09:00.003-04:002009-03-30T16:13:47.391-04:00

Review of: "Out of Our Heads: Why You Are Not Your Brain, and Other Lessons from the Biology of Consciousness" by Alva Noe Review by Todd Stark, 3/30/09An accessible and compelling exploration of the extended mindThe mind is more than what the brain is doing. The idea isn't new, but it often gets too little respect. Perhaps because people think it implies something supernatural, or perhaps

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-67643310341737234862009-03-28T08:55:00.012-04:002009-03-28T10:21:54.046-04:00

If you manage a single-server SharePoint 2007 farm, which is a very common configuration, there's a good chance that at some point you will want to move to a separate SQL Server. Maybe for performance, maybe to improve your infrstructure, maybe to help meet corporate database guidelines. There are lots of reasons you might want to do this. So what is involved? Is it a big deal? The short

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-51396421719056675502009-03-02T23:07:00.005-05:002009-03-02T23:16:15.491-05:00

My text about the psychological and neuroscience perspectives on hypnosis Hypnotic and Subtle Influence is posted on Jake Shannon's "Scientific Mind Control" site. The text is dated but I think by and large still accurate and useful. The basic concepts and research models have not changed significantly, other than to fill in more of the details. The chapters organization is based around

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-47024096392863425372009-03-02T13:34:00.004-05:002009-03-02T14:04:28.785-05:00

Subliminal perception is a deeply ambiguous concept, which is perhaps appropriate if you think about it!This is partly because the concept caught on originally as the result of a hoax. The now infamous "eat popcorn, drink coke study" was a planted story by marketing consultant James Vicary which became a wildly successful urban legend about selling products subliminally in movie theatres.

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-55019819878472276052009-02-26T23:17:00.002-05:002009-02-28T19:04:05.025-05:00

My review of "Evolving Your Brain: The Science of Changing Your Mind", (author Joe Dispenza). Interesting neuroscience, inspiring message, and some old philosophy in new clothes Overall I enjoyed reading this book, although I did find it somewhat misleading regarding the scientific "paradigm" it offers and the minority philosophical points underlying it, and I was disappointed that there was

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-8929079012150164722009-02-20T08:19:00.002-05:002009-02-28T19:04:47.780-05:00

The top of the diet book list: More Taste, More Filling, Less CaloriesMy review of "The Volumetrics Weight Control Plan" by Barbara Rolls, PH.D. and Robert A. Barnett, HarperCollins, 2000. There are thousands of diet books out there promoting approaches with varying combinations of common sense, science, experience, and novelty in their approach to weight control. They each have their

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-82248667685746690702009-02-19T08:55:00.001-05:002009-02-28T07:35:28.357-05:00

Hypnosis and SynesthesiaNew Scientist ran a recent review article by David Robson that might be of interest to those exploring the nature of hypnosis. It is on the experimental investigation of synesthesia effects using hypnosis. Feb 14-20 2009 issue. Research is reviewed narrowing down the genetic origin of synesthesia, but then research is also reviewed showing that similar sensory cross-over

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-78035526091778678002009-02-14T12:34:00.002-05:002009-02-28T19:05:34.988-05:00

The Story Behind the Landmarks in the History of LifeA review of Sean Carroll's book "Remarkable Creatures: Epic Adventures in the Search for the Origin of Species" 2009, Houghton Mifflin.This is one of those “stories behind the science” books that gives you a sense of the sort of explorations that lay behind the famous discoveries that shaped modern biology. The primary focus is on the

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-86477330669464324942009-02-14T10:16:00.002-05:002009-02-28T19:06:01.435-05:00

The Sexual Selection Theory of Art: A Review of Dennis Dutton's "The Art Instinct"Why have human beings always enjoyed making and experiencing art throughout history and in all areas of the world? This book is a bold claim about the nature of human beings. The claim is that the things we enjoy doing and the things we appreciate about each other were shaped largely by our history as a species

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-81139548779967677592009-02-01T14:37:00.005-05:002011-12-02T01:41:32.537-05:00

The Peek-A-Boo Tactic in Modern Martial ArtsUpdate Dec 2, 2011: Lee Morrison at Urban Combatives recently expanded on the idea of the Peek-A-Boo as a distinct tactic by combining it with some other more or less instinctive positions commonly used by well known instructors such as Tony Blauer's "SPEAR" and calling the positions collectively "default positions." Interesting idea and worth reading I

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-72941102455240665762009-01-31T16:20:00.002-05:002009-02-28T19:07:28.720-05:00

The rare Amazonian DogBird: I love this photo.http://scienceblogs.com/grrlscientist/2009/01/todays_mystery_bird_for_you_to_155.php

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-4042217667589775892009-01-04T21:50:00.003-05:002009-02-28T19:08:25.097-05:00

Attacking intellectual blindness rather than faithThis cartoon posted by Cameron Reilly in his blog is on the classic theme of faith vs. science. I appreciate jokes of this sort, although I also think they sort of miss the point. They are funny more because they play on our fear of religious fanatacism and our stereotypes of faith than because they really hit home. I think it’s more the “blind”

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-39193441735682041102009-01-02T21:18:00.001-05:002009-02-28T07:43:02.018-05:00

Preventing Injuries: Biological RobustnessI'm a risk averse type, who happens to enjoy some slighly risky activities, so I've always had an interest in injury prevention. In the past decade I've gotten more systematic about preventing injuries. A minor pull that would have taken a few days to heal in my teens will now at 50 sideline me for weeks or even months. And after a few weeks off, I'm

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-47827384251160486032009-01-02T13:45:00.002-05:002009-02-28T19:09:26.818-05:00

Minimalist Fitness: Wherever you go, there you are, working out!I just read this excellent post on the Zen Habits blog which reflects a lot of my own philosophy of minimalist conditioning as well. Part of self-directed training is doing a little research to figure out how to get started, then getting out of analysis mode and DOING IT. It helps in making that transition to DOING IT to have

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-42771387532300062222009-01-01T14:22:00.001-05:002009-02-28T07:45:48.771-05:00

Being fair to sociologists: is it worth the effort?In his blog Stranger Fruit, John Lynch makes the latest of his attacks on Steve Fuller, who has recently chosen to associate himself supportively with intelligent design proponents. I don't agree with Fuller in general, but I also think I understand in part why he finds his critics to be responding stupidly in many cases.My comments:1.

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-15065028843998488482009-01-01T09:51:00.003-05:002009-02-28T19:13:51.726-05:00

Two Kinds of Scientific Rationalists: The Influence of Motivated CognitionThe concept of motivated cognition: its uses and abusesThere is a growing body of evidence that human abstract cognition is motivated, something that has been studied recently and somewhat infamously with regard to politics. The scientific concept has also been abused for political purposes, so for good context on the

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-74343837830292289032008-12-30T21:13:00.001-05:002009-02-28T19:15:28.694-05:00

My sub-species has finally been identified: fervent public autodidactI was honestly very touched by this comment from Alexander Iwanow on my FaceBook page. I just had to save it here so I can look back on it on those days when I wonder whether anyone reads those reviews that I sometimes put so much into. "Mr. Stark, I've been an admirer of your fervent public autodidactism for years now. You've

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-85504491751077648532008-12-30T12:35:00.001-05:002009-02-28T07:48:58.894-05:00

Functional Training and Corrective ExerciseIn his T-Nation article, trainer Mike Robertson addresses the concept of functional training in terms of the popular trend toward using devices like BOSU balls, wobble boards, etc., that are said to help develop better stability and prevent injuries. Mike discusses why the current trend to using instability devices isn't always productive and how it

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-2621637180754917742008-12-30T11:20:00.000-05:002008-12-30T11:41:02.833-05:00

Flowchart for responding to negative blogsThe Air Force (their Public Affairs Agency) has this simple but useful flowchart for responding to negative press online. I found this reading web marketing author David Meerman Scott's WebInk blog. It's largely commonsense, but as the saying goes, such isn't always so common.

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-80327360381428274362008-12-30T00:39:00.001-05:002009-02-28T19:16:34.764-05:00

Which is Better: Conscious or Unconscious Decision Making ?http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/12/081224215542.htm The snippet above from Science Daily reports on the superiority of unconscious decision making in the case of estimating likelihoods.My thoughts ...There's a fairly sizable literature on decision making, and typically the headlines hide the facts in this field. I'd estimate

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-22205678283376729872008-12-29T21:15:00.002-05:002009-02-28T19:18:13.438-05:00

If you like to burn data disks and are concerned about their longevity, check out this great idea posted on LifeHacker. The example here uses a Windows freeware tool called QuickPar, and for recovery you will need another tool (such as ISOBUSTER) to read surviving data from bad disks so you can use this method.Burn More Reliable Discs with QuickPar http://tinyurl.com/9j7hybThe tip is about using

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-14492056682598738512008-12-29T15:04:00.000-05:002008-12-29T15:14:14.985-05:00

Thoughts on Twitter (so far)I just started using Twitter this week and have been wondering whether it would be of any use in the long run. It seems to leverage our instinct for gossip, effectively a giant ongoing chat room. But that doesn’t mean it can’t become a powerful tool.First, so far, I think it's pretty clear that it is not the right medium for intelligent discussion and encourages a

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-27244472184651696052008-12-28T11:26:00.001-05:002008-12-28T11:36:08.640-05:00

Being "scientific" about exercise and weight controlI was looking for references to research on the relationship of appetite and exercise and I came across an interesting blog post that inspired some thoughts. I see a lot of people trying to interpret research results, which in general I like to see. But people also seem to commonly try to draw advice for themselves from selectively chosen

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-61658393423930736712008-12-23T12:33:00.000-05:002008-12-23T14:52:20.614-05:00

Creative Science, Naturally[I am posting this to preserve a copy of it as much as to share it. It is a book review originally published in Fall, 2003 Entelechy. ]A review of Nature’s Magic: Synergy in Evolution and the Fate of Humankind written by Peter Corningby Todd I. StarkIn Nature's Magic, Peter Corning offers us good news and bad news. The he good news is that chance, necessity, and natural

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-81522999646712426862008-12-23T12:12:00.000-05:002008-12-23T12:12:43.442-05:00

I liked BRONS' post on altruism and evolution, and I responded to it with my own thoughts on the changing view of altruism in biology.Vox Libertas: On Sex and Evolution and Politics

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-45227157747876583582008-04-18T16:19:00.000-04:002008-12-23T09:38:41.803-05:00

My Favorite Productivity SoftwareI'm someone who loses track of what he's doing 15 seconds into it unless there's something particularly interesting to hold my attention. So I've looked at a lot of different kinds of tricks and tools over the years to try to help me stay on track. The list is:Yosemite FileKeeperIllium ListProSplashData SplashIDSnag-ITWinDirStatMicrosoft Outlook 2007 Microsoft

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-47130229684369471442007-11-25T13:36:00.000-05:002008-12-23T09:38:41.782-05:00

The Problem: Home Backup I don't want to lose my important data or my software. Files get deleted accidentally. Files get corrupted by various means. Sometimes I edit a document and then realize too late that I liked the previous version better and I didn't use software that saves versions. Sometimes a hard drive gets damaged. Backups can save a lot of grief. A lot of people don't back up

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-26805700087209795432007-09-05T16:11:00.000-04:002008-12-23T09:38:41.770-05:00

MOSS Notes - reducing authentications Tips for reducing the number of authentications (Windows XP) Add the SharePoint sites to the list of trusted sites 1. In Internet Explorer, on the Tools menu, click Internet Options. 2. On the Security tab, in the Select a Web content zone to specify its security settings box, click Trusted Sites, and then click Sites. 3. Clear the Require

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-1148480800709403352006-05-24T10:26:00.000-04:002006-05-24T10:26:40.780-04:00

Eide Neurolearning Blog: Brain of the Blogger

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-1135262432930717472005-12-22T09:29:00.001-05:002009-02-28T20:16:50.236-05:00

Fiorina: Culture War rhetoric arises from an ideologically polarized political classSince I think it is relevant to the politics of the ID issue that I've been discussing today, I am copying the text of my Amazon review of Morris Fiorina's book on culture war in American to here. For example, Bill Dembski (an Intelligent Design author) frequently states that culture war is important to us and

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-1135260470524681772005-12-22T09:07:00.000-05:002005-12-22T09:07:50.523-05:00

BrainEthics: No ID theory in Penn classes

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-1135257397320872132005-12-22T07:54:00.000-05:002005-12-22T08:59:31.486-05:00

Santorum's Response to Dover is Reassuring (and I think honest)I have to give Pa. Senator Rick Santorum a lot of credit. According to an article in today's Philadelphia Inquirer, when he read through the testimony of the Kitzmiller "Intelligent Design" case and recognized the degree to which the proponents were religiously motivated, he no longer said he was in support of the case.That reinforces

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-1135145542639739742005-12-21T01:12:00.000-05:002005-12-21T01:12:22.643-05:00

The verdict for the Dover School Board case on "Intelligent Design" is now in. See: http://www2.ncseweb.org/wp/?p=98#more-98 The judge's opinion found (correctly, imo) that the case was essentially unsuccessful activism against the establishment clause of the 1st ammendment of the U.S. Constitution because ID is disguised religion being forced onto educators as part of the curriculum in

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-1113669387056601972005-04-16T12:36:00.000-04:002005-04-16T12:45:24.740-04:00

A recent exchange on evolution and human nature between myself, Paul Armstrong, and others on Boston.Com boards ...http://boards.boston.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?msg=281.27&nav=messages&webtag=bc-newsTS editing note: I've intentionally eliminated some unhelpful responses from people. I also eliminated John Landon's ("nemonemini" -- http://eonix.8m.com/) responses although they have some value. I did

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-1113665498342791872005-04-16T11:31:00.000-04:002005-04-16T11:31:38.343-04:00

A candidate for a "sign of the times ..." 

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-1113595278827666412005-04-15T16:01:00.000-04:002005-04-15T16:01:18.826-04:00

Review of "America's Crisis of Values," by Wayne Baker. Thought-provoking and timely synthesis, April 15, 2005 The best thing about this book is that it raises a number of very profound and important questions in a way that makes you think deeply about them. If you have any interest at all in what insight scientific reasoning can bring into large scale human behavior, this book

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-1111803808275265522005-03-25T21:23:00.000-05:002005-03-25T21:32:14.116-05:00

The Council for Secular Humanism recently posted an issue statement on the Terri Schiavo case. I disagreed with it somewhat because they tried to make a culture war issue out of it. I sent them a response. I'm including their statement and my response here.The issue statement I responded to ...Council for Secular Humanism Issues Statement on Schiavo Case AMHERST, N.Y. (March 25, 2005)—Theresa "

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-1099083867239462992004-10-29T17:04:00.001-04:002009-02-28T19:54:31.114-05:00

Anti-Evolutionism Establishes an Ironic Precedent in a state formerly known for progressive religious toleranceI suppose this is a symptom of the larger movement in the US toward acceptance of religious conservatism as a common vision, and its (to many of us) frightening tendency to reverse all of the gains made by the tradition of Jefferson's more secularized and tolerant democracy. I live in

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-1098967057722924512004-10-28T08:37:00.002-04:002009-02-28T19:56:33.796-05:00

Intelligent Design: The Meaning of Creation and EvolutionWe care very much about what other people believe and what sort of communities they participate in. It matters to us somewhat whether other people believe in fairies or demons or astrology. It matters to us much more what communities they belong to and the threat posed by well-organized opposing groups. That's why most scientists and

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-1098912515341379882004-10-27T17:28:00.001-04:002009-02-28T19:58:37.005-05:00

Scientific Explanations as Narrative?Some thoughts on the question of whether science is some sort of a story roughly equivalent myth to other stories. This is a touchy subject because of the politics involved in the so-called “science wars.” If you take it seriously rather than just dismissing all externalist philosophy or sociology of science as “postmodernism” out of hand, this one is even

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-1098912293597787012004-10-27T17:24:00.001-04:002009-02-28T20:01:06.490-05:00

"Dualism" and its modern nuances To my understanding, most people are dualists of some sort since: (1) we have a powerful intuition that mental events are real in some sense and not just an artifact of physical processes, and (2) the properties of mental phenomena are extraordinarily difficult if not impossible to describe in purely physical terms. At the very least, most of us acknowledge that

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-1098901450247551402004-10-27T14:24:00.001-04:002009-02-28T20:06:25.157-05:00

In order to communicate things of importance between different groups of people with different traditions of reasoning, you must find some means of building a common discourse. My own proposal for this is to identify the background conceptual models and lineage of each tradition to see how each is rational and then find ways to compare them in different contexts with mutually agreed objective

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-1098720695642770472004-10-25T11:54:00.000-04:002004-10-25T12:11:35.643-04:00

Some "Big Picture" thoughts from cognitive science, EP, and related fields I've been tossing around lately. The notes in parens mean something specific to me and my bookshelves and all those little piles all over floor, but I haven't included the formal cites here. 1. The human mind is probably both computational and a symbol processor (Marcus, Algebraic Brain). It seems to have adapted

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-1098683477399217172004-10-25T01:37:00.001-04:002009-02-28T20:11:17.341-05:00

The Panda's Thumb is an anti-anti-Evolution site with some surprisingly civil and constructive discussions. http://www.pandasthumb.org/Some recent posts of mine there:(1) On Del Ratszch and his take on the design concept in science:http://www.pandasthumb.org/pt-archives/000563.htmlI think the key to appreciating the relationship between Del Ratszch and IDis in his comment “We don’t yet have a

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-1091677561839275012004-08-04T23:46:00.001-04:002009-02-28T20:12:16.921-05:00

Jessica swim photos from 2004 season 

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-1091677367786309012004-08-04T23:42:00.001-04:002009-02-28T20:12:49.441-05:00

Jessica swim photos from 2004.  

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-1091658079168269532004-08-04T18:21:00.001-04:002009-02-28T19:47:43.615-05:00

Hello, this is Paul Keller ... 

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-1083447564577313322004-05-01T17:31:00.002-04:002009-06-04T08:04:18.990-04:00

In Ektopos, Matthew writes:Philosophical Generosity (AKA Why do I hate Richard Dawkins)I’ve been wondering why it is that every time I see Dawkins name my blood just boils, especially when I see a quote. I figured out last night that I get irritated not so much by Dawkins ideas as by his attitude. Simply put Dawkins lacks philosophical generosity. Perhaps it is the case that this was not a

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-1083445141462244152004-05-01T16:57:00.002-04:002009-02-28T20:13:37.859-05:00

In response to an interesting post at Ektopos, claiming that philosophy was a failiure and an "untruth," I had some thoughts...Whether philosophy fails at its goal depends on what the goal is supposed to be. If philosophy is an ongoing endeavor continuous with the Greeks, and if that endeavor was a program to discover the truth about the foundations of knowledge and reality, then yes, it has

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-1083443713276238232004-05-01T16:29:00.003-04:002009-02-28T20:15:04.655-05:00

Essay about "The Brights" and their goals ...Originally posted at Ektopos http://www.ektopos.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=16I'm simultaneously fascinated and disturbed that two issues are so closely linked in our discussions: (1) freedom of speech for atheists, and (2) the value of religious practices and institutions to human life. The first is the stated goal of the

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6673591.post-1080250461713690872004-03-25T15:59:00.003-05:002009-06-04T08:02:08.926-04:00

Some thoughts on solving complex problems ...One of the things that characterizes a complex system (system that appears complex to human beings) is our relative inability to predict its behavior, or the result of changes to the system. See Dietrich Dorner's "Logic of Failure" for a good example of the analysis of complex systems and their modes of failure. Dorner's examples have human beings

Todd I. Starkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02231844857877577527noreply@blogger.com0