Postmodernists seem to misunderstand the natural sciences

“Rather, they cling to the dogma imposed by the long post-Enlightenment hegemony over the Western intellectual outlook, which can be summarized briefly as follows: that there exists an external world, whose properties are independent of any individual human being and indeed of humanity as a whole; that these properties are encoded in ‘eternal’ physical laws; and that human beings can obtain reliable, albeit imperfect and tentative, knowledge of these laws by hewing to the ‘objective’ procedures and epistemological strictures prescribed by the (so-called) scientific method.”

– Alan Sokal’s “Transgressing the Boundaries: Towards a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity” (1996) – later revealed by the author to be a hoax, which he used to demonstrate how academic journals that lack peer review can allow complete nonsense like this to slip by unnoticed

Disclosure: I lack training in the natural sciences (but, then, so do most postmodernists)

Postmodern ideas have now gained a foothold in the humanities and social sciences. For example, these views seem to be particularly popular among professors of literature and philosophy. Many of them argue that all truth is both relative and subjective – a doctrine known as “relativism.” Some of them have even argued that morality is relative, to either the individual or the broader culture – a better subject for two other posts. (To be released later on.) Postmodernists are also skeptical of what they call “meta-narratives,” or grand narratives about the larger world. And, in the context of the natural sciences, they believe that the natural sciences support their relativist view of things. They believe that mathematics and physics both deny the possibility of a true knowledge of nature. They cite a number of math and science ideas (four in particular) to support these strange interpretations. But it seems that they have grossly misunderstood these ideas, which do not actually make the claims that the postmodernists attribute to them. Thus, it might be helpful to set the record straight, and show what the sciences actually say about relative truth and the theory of knowledge. I should acknowledge that, like my current targets, I admittedly lack training in the natural sciences or higher mathematics myself. I freely admit this up-front. But, then, most of my postmodern targets seem to lack training in these subjects, too – virtually all of them, it seems. Thus, any criticisms on this score would have to go both ways, if true fairness is to be observed.

Jean Baudrillard, postmodern philosopher and sociologist

A review of “Complexity & Chaos” (audiobook)

In 1993, the original “Jurassic Park” film brought chaos theory to a wide audience. In that movie, the character of Ian Malcolm predicts that the act of bringing back the dinosaurs for this park will cause “terrible instability” (to paraphrase what he said). Many in the film’s audience probably wondered why they made a mathematician into such a prominent character for this movie. But, if you listen to this audiobook, you will see why they did so. Chaos theory has much to tell us about how unpredictable the world is. Thus, there’s more to chaos theory than what you’ve heard in “Jurassic Park” – although I love that movie, and its summary of this field. This audiobook explores the subject, and tells us what this mysterious area is all about.

What college majors are best for entering the finance field?

“The most powerful force in the universe is compound interest.”

– The greatest Albert Einstein quote that Albert Einstein (most likely) never said

The short answer is that there are five college majors that are particularly helpful for going into finance. These are: mathematics, statistics, economics, accounting, and (of course) finance.

Benjamin Graham, whom some consider to be “the father of investing”

What should I study to go into marketing research?

I should preface this by saying that I have a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, with a Concentration in Marketing. I don’t have the kind of personality to succeed in the sales end of marketing, but I never really intended to do that anyway. Rather, I wanted to go into marketing research, and apply my analytical personality to studying consumer behavior.

I believed that doing social sciences might be more appropriate for my personality, and studied marketing with this goal in mind. But for various reasons, this did not work out, and I ended up doing something else instead. Nonetheless, I do have some basic education about the subject, and might be able to advise people about what to study to enter the field. I have some inside information, at least with regards to formal education.

A review of the BBC's “The Story of Maths” (by Marcus du Sautoy)

“Maths is the true language that the universe is written in – the key to understanding the world around us.”

– Marcus du Sautoy, in the conclusion of this series

In America, we often shorten the word “mathematics” to just “math.” In Britain, they retain the pluralization of “mathematics” to make it “maths,” even when shortening it in this way. Thus, no one from Britain would ever be likely to say just “math,” and would probably consider it an Americanism that would sound a little strange to them. But whatever you call it, I've been tutoring people in the subject since 2012, as a professional “math” tutor (and I am an American, as you may have guessed from my spelling of this word).

Some thoughts about math education

“4 out of 3 people struggle with math.”

– A joke of unknown origin

As some of you know, I've been a professional math tutor since 2012. This is the first post where I've really talked much about my job. (I may or may not do others on this subject.)

How fractions are used in the United States Constitution

One of the most well-known clauses in the original Constitution was known as the “Three-Fifths Clause.” This name comes from a fraction in the clause, which is no longer in effect. But there are other fractions in the Constitution which are still in effect.

For example, you can find the fractions “one-fifth,” “one-third,” “two-thirds,” and “three-fourths” in various parts of the Constitution that are still in effect. Even the concept of a “majority” is something of a fractional concept – that is, more than one-half.

With 50 states, 100 Senators, and 435 Representatives …

Thus, if you really want to understand the Constitution, you have to know your fractions. Some examples are available below, along with sources to back them up:

United States Capitol

The difference between skepticism and close-mindedness

"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it."

- Aristotle

Open-mindedness is defined as a "read[iness] to entertain new ideas" (which is positive)

It's long been fashionable for people in the Western world to claim they are "open-minded," and so this is claimed even by people who are not that way at all. (No one says with pride that "Yeah, dude, I'm closed-minded!") Yet closed-mindedness seems to be as common as it ever was, with people refusing to entertain any number of ideas they don't agree with. But what does it mean to be "open-minded," anyway? The website of Princeton University defines the word open-minded as "ready to entertain new ideas," and this seems to me to be appropriate. How does one know if an idea is false, if one has not heard it? (Or in the words of the Princeton definition, "entertain[ed]" it?) How does one know if they will like this food, if they haven't tried it? And how does one know if this idea is wrong, if they haven't heard it out?

Aristotle

Why is my stats class so focused on bell curves?

I would wager that many a student has taken a statistics class, and been introduced to bell curves without having the slightest idea why they're used. That was me, to some extent, when I took my first statistics class. I was told they were useful, and was willing at the time to take their word for it. But it was not until a second statistics class, many years later, that I learned why bell curves are used.

My love-hate relationship with economics

"Let's start with what economics isn't.  Economics isn't a meal ticket to make lots of money in the stock market, although economics helps you understand how stock markets and other markets work. Economics also isn't a business degree, although economics teaches important business skills. Economics, first and foremost, is a social science.  As such, economics helps to explain the mysteries of how people and society operate ... Economics is defined as the study of how people choose to use their scarce resources in an attempt to satisfy their unlimited wants."

- A webpage that influenced my decision to study some economics in college

I did not fall in love with economics, the way that I fell in love with history and politics. This is not to say that I didn't like the subject, but it didn't excite me in the same way. There are parts of it that I find quite fascinating, and others that I find quite boring. But it is definitely one of my interests, and I'll talk a little bit here about my love-hate relationship with economics.

Why I am against a minimum wage (or a maximum legal price for healthcare)

It seems like the most charitable of things to do: to legally set a minimum level of earnings for workers, or a maximum price of healthcare for consumers. These two things might not seem connected, but they are each a form of the same thing: price controls.

If people understood the laws of supply and demand, I wouldn't have to explain why price controls are bad. But because our education system has been so deficient in teaching this concept, I feel I must do so now.