Comments on: Some thoughts about where science and art come from (and about why governments don’t need to pay for either of them) http://www.samizdata.net/2013/03/some-thoughts-about-where-science-and-art-come-from-and-about-why-governments-dont-need-to-pay-for-either-of-them/ A blog for people with a critically rational individualist perspective Mon, 20 May 2013 13:56:34 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 By: Rob Rhinehart on the science and the business of living without food « Samizdata http://www.samizdata.net/2013/03/some-thoughts-about-where-science-and-art-come-from-and-about-why-governments-dont-need-to-pay-for-either-of-them/#comment-316383 Rob Rhinehart on the science and the business of living without food « Samizdata Wed, 27 Mar 2013 11:43:12 +0000 http://www.samizdata.net/?p=17763#comment-316383 [...] (in this case literally that) technology-stroke-science, of just the sort I was writing about in this earlier posting here about where science (and art) come from. It really is very striking how very much, in this [...]

]]> By: Michael Jennings (London) http://www.samizdata.net/2013/03/some-thoughts-about-where-science-and-art-come-from-and-about-why-governments-dont-need-to-pay-for-either-of-them/#comment-309974 Michael Jennings (London) Sun, 17 Mar 2013 22:48:26 +0000 http://www.samizdata.net/?p=17763#comment-309974 Yes, I think we will all be watching it.

]]> By: llamas http://www.samizdata.net/2013/03/some-thoughts-about-where-science-and-art-come-from-and-about-why-governments-dont-need-to-pay-for-either-of-them/#comment-309973 llamas Sun, 17 Mar 2013 22:43:11 +0000 http://www.samizdata.net/?p=17763#comment-309973 “The Challenger” has not yet aired in the US. It is a co-production of the BBC and the US-based Science Channel,and apparently, the BBC got first dibs. I anxiously await its release. The short snippet of film that shows Feynman doing the ice-water demo at the Commission’s public hearings are about the only film record there is of his work on the investigation, I look forward very much to seeing a fuller depiction, even if it is dramatized.

llater,

llamas

]]> By: Brian Micklethwait (London) http://www.samizdata.net/2013/03/some-thoughts-about-where-science-and-art-come-from-and-about-why-governments-dont-need-to-pay-for-either-of-them/#comment-309935 Brian Micklethwait (London) Sun, 17 Mar 2013 21:21:55 +0000 http://www.samizdata.net/?p=17763#comment-309935 Michael

There’s a TV movie about Feynman’s investigation of the Challenger disaster coming up tomorrow night, BBC2: The Challenger.

Presumably already seen in the USA.

]]> By: Michael Jennings (London) http://www.samizdata.net/2013/03/some-thoughts-about-where-science-and-art-come-from-and-about-why-governments-dont-need-to-pay-for-either-of-them/#comment-309920 Michael Jennings (London) Sun, 17 Mar 2013 21:02:00 +0000 http://www.samizdata.net/?p=17763#comment-309920 Feynman’s comments on one occasion about how he would trust himself over a group of 100 experts any time – because the average view of 100 experts could not possibly be profound – was pretty astute too. (It’s in one of his books – I’m not sure which one). I’d love to hear Feynman’s views on Climate Change. I have no idea what they would be – I’m not Feynman, and he was such an original thinker than any guess might well be wrong – but I’d love to hear them.

]]> By: Tim Almond http://www.samizdata.net/2013/03/some-thoughts-about-where-science-and-art-come-from-and-about-why-governments-dont-need-to-pay-for-either-of-them/#comment-309818 Tim Almond Sun, 17 Mar 2013 18:00:13 +0000 http://www.samizdata.net/?p=17763#comment-309818 Yes – “modern art” is a form of skeuomorphism, preserving the way that people used to produce and look at art (galleries, hanging on walls) despite the fact that we created new technologies to produce art that don’t need that and allow for mass distribution.

If Manet were alive today, he’d be working in cinema or advertising.

]]> By: llamas http://www.samizdata.net/2013/03/some-thoughts-about-where-science-and-art-come-from-and-about-why-governments-dont-need-to-pay-for-either-of-them/#comment-309662 llamas Sun, 17 Mar 2013 12:50:17 +0000 http://www.samizdata.net/?p=17763#comment-309662 Trust me in this, there are plenty of engineers who think like Sheldon too. Plenty.

There are also plenty of theoretical specialists who think like Howard. It’s not an ‘either-or’. Think Feynman – a name that has cropped up on TBBT more than once, and a personalty they all revere.

llater,

llamas

]]> By: George Mulberry http://www.samizdata.net/2013/03/some-thoughts-about-where-science-and-art-come-from-and-about-why-governments-dont-need-to-pay-for-either-of-them/#comment-309644 George Mulberry Sun, 17 Mar 2013 12:21:22 +0000 http://www.samizdata.net/?p=17763#comment-309644 Sheldon Cooper is a typical very smart guy who thinks that because he is an expert in one field, he therefore knows everything about all other subjects as well. I suspect that he would be quite a fan of a centrally planned society, provided he was the one doing the planning.

]]> By: Alisa http://www.samizdata.net/2013/03/some-thoughts-about-where-science-and-art-come-from-and-about-why-governments-dont-need-to-pay-for-either-of-them/#comment-309603 Alisa Sun, 17 Mar 2013 11:06:30 +0000 http://www.samizdata.net/?p=17763#comment-309603 Thanks for the tip, VR – indeed, excellent.

]]> By: Michael Jennings http://www.samizdata.net/2013/03/some-thoughts-about-where-science-and-art-come-from-and-about-why-governments-dont-need-to-pay-for-either-of-them/#comment-309564 Michael Jennings Sun, 17 Mar 2013 09:46:40 +0000 http://www.samizdata.net/?p=17763#comment-309564 veryretired: All this is true. Huge strides have been made in cancer research, and bigger ones are around the corner. With individually tailored treatments for specific cancers and specific individuals, I think a situation in which most cancers, if not all, can be cured completely is no more than a few decades off.

That said, I have seen too many people get cancer, receive long periods of treatment involving chemotherapy, bone marrow transplants, and other high tech treatment that has prolonged their life, but ultimately the cancer has still won in the end. The treatment itself has been horribly painful and has had horrendously unpleasant side effects, so the quality of that additional life has not always been very good. Of course, the only thing to do is to find better treatments without these side effects and in which the cancer does not win in the end.

I’m not really making any point contributing to the argument here, other than that cancer is vile. Just a side observation.

]]> By: Michael Jennings http://www.samizdata.net/2013/03/some-thoughts-about-where-science-and-art-come-from-and-about-why-governments-dont-need-to-pay-for-either-of-them/#comment-309553 Michael Jennings Sun, 17 Mar 2013 09:31:16 +0000 http://www.samizdata.net/?p=17763#comment-309553 In my experience, engineers and physicists tend to hold one another in high regard. Making dismissive jokes about one another is part of that, though.

]]> By: veryretired http://www.samizdata.net/2013/03/some-thoughts-about-where-science-and-art-come-from-and-about-why-governments-dont-need-to-pay-for-either-of-them/#comment-309357 veryretired Sun, 17 Mar 2013 00:15:08 +0000 http://www.samizdata.net/?p=17763#comment-309357 Very interesting, and somewhat related, article at the Weekly Standard about the ongoing fuss over a new book by the philosopher Thomas Nagel.

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