Re: [xmca] Units of Scientiic Achievement

[Andy Blunden <ablunden@mira.net>]

He, he, "Anthropocene Period"! Very good. I think the concept is 
justified ... unfortunately.
It could turn out to be a paradigm in geology, but the re-discovery of 
the essential, if not central, place of humanity in the cosmos is not 
new to science. It is widey understood, surely, that what we know of 
Nature is largely a result of our intervention in Nature, so we have on 
the one efforts to look without touching so as not to destroy and on the 
other need for practical intervention so as to preserve.

Anyway, nice idea. Thanks for that Jennifer.
Andy

Langer-Osuna, Jennifer Marie wrote:
> I wonder what you all think of the latest articles in The Economist on the Anthropocene, and whether this might count as a conceptual revolution, spurring new problems (presumably in geoengineering) for our species to solve.
>
> Here's the online article, a bit different from the paper one but same point:
> http://www.economist.com/node/18741749
>  
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu [mailto:xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu] On Behalf Of Tony Whitson
> Sent: Monday, June 20, 2011 1:07 PM
> To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
> Subject: Re: [xmca] Units of Scientiic Achievement
>
> Let me clarify that I'm not dismissing evolutionary models of change in 
> scientific disciplines. Stephen Toulmin's (1972) _Human Understanding: The 
> Collective Use and Evolution of Concepts_ has a great deal to recommend 
> it. I just wanted challenge an image species differentiation that seems to 
> suggest too much distance among distinctive species. On the molecular 
> level, I think we have more in common with yeast cells than the sciences 
> in our time have with some pre-revolutionary "sciences."
>
> On Mon, 20 Jun 2011, Tony Whitson wrote:
>
>   
> > Andy, I don't think the analogy with evolution of biological species can 
> > really work.
> >
> > There is tremendous kinship between us and chimps; and the commonalities 
> > among us, chimps and our common ancestors is unlike any commonality that you 
> > could point to between Ptolomaic and Copernican astronomy, or "chemistry" 
> > pre/post oxygenation, etc.
> >
> > On Tue, 21 Jun 2011, Andy Blunden wrote:
> >
> >     
> > > But the metaphor Michael is calling on, Carol, as I see it is "normal 
> > > science" is the incremental, gradual adaptation of a species to its niche, 
> > > and remaining much the same for millions of years, and on the other hand, 
> > > when a species is under real pressure, you get exactly the process Kuhn 
> > > describes in science: rapid diversification and die-outs, with a 
> > > distinctly new species species emerging at the end. It's called 
> > > "punctuated evolutuion" isn't it?
> > >
> > > I find the idea of a formation perfecting itself into extinction 
> > > attractive.
> > > As to "Intelligent design" - this has nothing to do with proof or 
> > > disproof, Carol, but Faith.
> > >
> > > Andy
> > >       
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--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Andy Blunden*
Joint Editor MCA: 
http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~db=all~content=g932564744
Home Page: http://home.mira.net/~andy/
Book: http://www.brill.nl/default.aspx?partid=227&pid=34857
MIA: http://www.marxists.org

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