March 2009 – Fourcultures

Fatalist access to scientific knowledge: a case study

March 31, 2009March 29, 2009 fourcultures1 Comment

The way academic and scientific knowledge becomes accessible online has been a hot subject for some time. I want to suggest that this process is structured according to the four cultures identified by Grid-group cultural theory. Here I am focussing on the idea that there may be a Fatalist paradigm of knowledge sharing at work, which provides access in a capricious manner – and I make a tentative suggestion as to how this particular deficiency in the availability of access may be overcome . Continue reading “Fatalist access to scientific knowledge: a case study” →

Official: Top Search Engine reveals Atheist Bias!

March 30, 2009March 31, 2009 fourculturesLeave a comment

Try searching for “God is now here”.
Then try seaching for “God is nowhere”.
Spot the difference.
Discuss…

Twitter at last

March 29, 2009March 28, 2009 fourcultures1 Comment

Now Twitter is available on WordPress.com sites I might just give it a go.

This article got me interested.

But why say something in 140 characters when you can say it in 500 words or more? Brevity: it’s overrat

Towards an institutional understanding of the ‘cultural agoraphobia’ bias

March 28, 2009March 27, 2009 fourculturesLeave a comment

As seen on the Public Library of Science blog, Prof James Boyle has been arguing in his book The Public Domain (read for free) and a recent talk for Arcadia that society is biased against openness.

Grid-group cultural theory contributes a number of factors to this discussion, as follows… Continue reading “Towards an institutional understanding of the ‘cultural agoraphobia’ bias” →

Chaos theory and fourcultures

March 27, 2009March 27, 2009 fourcultures6 Comments

More on Chaos theory, evolution and fourcultures.

Meika recently posted a piece about brain research, bias and chaos theory.

And DK asked:

How does chaos complicate or enrich evolutionary theory in biology? How does the nonlinearity that chaos features interact with mutation/drift/natural selection? Is there a canonical text (or at least something authoritative & comprehensive) on this?

I think one of the key texts on this subject is going to be Continue reading “Chaos theory and fourcultures” →

Bias, learning to walk at the edge of Chaos

March 22, 2009March 27, 2009 fourcultures7 Comments

This is a guest post by Meika, for which, many thanks.

Cambridge-based researchers recently published a study providing experimental data which supports the idea that the human brain lives “on the edge of chaos”.
Its press release ends:

According to [co-author] Kitzbichler, this new evidence is only a starting point. “A natural next question we plan to address in future research will be: How do measures of critical dynamics relate to cognitive performance or neuropsychiatric disorders and their treatments?”

Well, taking that ‘cognitive performance’ a bit more specifically to include learning, and learning to walk in particular, the following story leads in an interesting direction for us fourculture fans.
Five years ago… Continue reading “Bias, learning to walk at the edge of Chaos” →

Good Intentions: is rational choice the only choice?

March 19, 2009March 18, 2009 fourcultures3 Comments

A new book called Good Intentions proposes that Christians should stop judging economic matters on the basis of pre-conceived moral positions and start judging them on the basis of what actually works. A prime example is the debate about the minimum wage… Continue reading “Good Intentions: is rational choice the only choice?” →

But there are more than two alternatives (western/individualist/analytic vs eastern/collective/holistic)… Continue reading “East meets West: are there just two cultures?” →

Month: March 2009