Author: Huenemann

Here is part I of an intellectual autobiography Daniel C. Dennett is writing. I find it extremely interesting, if only for the glimpse of what it was like to be a talented and dedicated student of philosophy at Harvard and then Oxford in the 1960s.

The thesis was duly typed up in triplicate and handed in (by a professional typist, back in those days before word-processing). I anxiously awaited the day when Quine and young Charles Parsons, my examiners, would let me know what they made of it. Quine showed up with maybe half a dozen single-spaced pages of comments. I knew at that moment that I was going to be a philosopher.

And, yes, the slogan is “I drink, therefore I am.”

I just received a flyer advertising Laurence Paul Hemming’s visit to USU next Wednesday, September 16th, at 4 pm. I don’t have the flyer with me just now, so perhaps Kleiner can supply the place and any other details. He is a very accomplished thinker on continental philosophy and Christianity, and gave a very impressive talk on campus last year, from what I hear. More info about him here. Definitely a talk you should attend, whatever your own beliefs.

… but wickedly funny. It’s an Eddie Izzard routine, enhanced with funny images. Topic: Jesus and the dinosaurs. Naughty language, basphemy, etc. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. (Thanks Will Holloway.)

An oldie but a goodie:

Suppose you’re on a game show and you’re given the choice of three doors. Behind one door is a car; behind the others, goats. The car and the goats were placed randomly behind the doors before the show. The rules of the game show are as follows: After you have chosen a door, the door remains closed for the time being. The game show host, Monty Hall, who knows what is behind the doors, now has to open one of the two remaining doors, and the door he opens must have a goat behind it. If both remaining doors have goats behind them, he chooses one randomly. After Monty Hall opens a door with a goat, he will ask you to decide whether you want to stay with your first choice or to switch to the last remaining door. Imagine that you chose Door 1 and the host opens Door 3, which has a goat. He then asks you “Do you want to switch to Door Number 2?” Is it to your advantage to change your choice? (Wikipedia)

What do you think? If you want to try out the problem, and see the results of the “sitchers” vs. the “nonswitchers”, click here.