it's always nice to see a tenured professor speak outside of his discipline so fucking poorly, and one might suppose that the findings [increasingly better documented and rendered to higher definitions] are themselves mathematical models [reality being funny like that] and that the perspectives of body and choices of will of the once-living number in the near-infinite profane, creation an increasingly open system of self--

and then further flails by mistaking natural history for textual meaning--

which we know he does with 'math'.

Nice!

Thankfully, yes. From afar. *worship worship*

Reminded me of this:

Concerning the processes of Archaeology and Paleontology, these observations come immediately to mind:

1.) The processes are not repeatable. No other researchers can go to the virgin site and rework it to verify the findings. Were proper protocols followed, for example? There are notable cases where this has been a big problem, even for premier scholars (e.g., Leakey).

2.) The processes cannot be modeled formally (e.g., mathematized). This puts their objectivity in doubt, in addition to insuring that results are not precisely quantifiable.

3.) The processes are not deterministic. There are no underlying physical principles that insure the lockstep connection of cause and effect. Instead, hundreds of unobservable variables must be hypothesized away to permit any conclusions to be drawn at all.

Taken together, these considerations (among others) relegate these processes to the same category as other ultimately subjective disciplines, such as "Source Criticism" for ancient documents. "Truth" is a matter of expert consensus... which is really "opinion informed by and invested in the current mindset". This is the best system we have, but it delivers a weaker dose of "truth" in some disciplines than others.

Yes, I am dismissive of the processes of archeology and paleontology.

*cleans water off screen*

Post your ideal mate dammit.

Shuddup, you.

I'm not sure I can trust a guy that trusts a spy to keep me safe.

lol. I'm a failure, I know.

I see what you did right there with Steel Magnolias, *nods head*, yup it was a good movie

Happy B'day!!!

This will have to be in there somewhere, won't it. Yes...

Excellent point!

awesome

lol, this post, it slaps me on the knee

Hehe...

Well when you hear the same bullshit arguments for 10 years, that leaves time to come up with satisfying answers