http://david.brax.nu David Brax, philosopher Fri, 26 Feb 2010 15:12:40 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en "Hey!" someone with the authority to command my attention wrote to me today "You should take a look at this book" and then there was a link to "Law and the Brain" by authors Semir Zeki and - wait for it - Oliver Goodenough. I congratulate you, Sir, on a ... http://david.brax.nu/blog/nominative-determinism/ In the art of annoying people with science, nothing is as effective as pointing out cognitive biases. Bringing out the Confirmation Bias in particular is unlikely to endear you to friends and colleges. But you usually get away with the point - there is almost always more research to be ... http://david.brax.nu/blog/the-heuristic-in-the-bias/ I'm mostly useless at cocktail-parties. To engage, exchange pleasantries, gossip and general observations and then move on goes against every instinct I have. As a sort of debutante, I thought that my role at social occasions should be that of the salon-communist – to provoke, insult and amuse the other ... http://david.brax.nu/blog/if-you-like-it-maybe-you-should-write-a-dissertation-about-it/ If you want to sell a book about happiness research/positive psychology, or anything even remotely related to that area, you better be prepared to answer this question. Or at least claim that you are, and then subtly change the subject and hope that no-one notices. Basically, the answer is this: find ... http://david.brax.nu/blog/how-do-i-get-happy/ In an episode of BBC's "Chain reaction", where noteworthy people, mainly comedians, get to interview each other (A interviews B, in next program B interviews C, and so on. It's a chain reaction.) John Lloyd - legendary  producer of things funny - suggested to his interviewee Phil Jupitus - comedy-quiz ... http://david.brax.nu/blog/the-next-doctor/ I'm sure every reader has his/her way of working her/his way through a book or paper with the help of a pen, underlining and making notes in the margin. The ”notes in the margin”, for me, has settled on a quite restricted number of expressions. There's ”qb”, of course, for ... http://david.brax.nu/blog/what-modesty-forbids/ "Does it contain any experimental reasoning, concerning matter of fact and existence?" - David Hume In last weeks installment of the notorious radio show that I've haunted recently, I spoke to the lovely lady on my left on the picture below about the use of empirical methods in moral philosophy. The ... http://david.brax.nu/blog/what-did-you-quine-today/ Around 50 pages before the end of a Richard Powers novel, I pause and hesitate and fret a bit. Once again, I'm heading towards that unenviable state of having nothing by Richard Powers left to read. "Generosity" is highly recognisable, veering towards the parodically Powerisian ("Powerful"? The New Yorker ought ... http://david.brax.nu/blog/science-fiction-when-the-science-is-not-fictitious/ Tonights episode of the chockingly popular radio show ”Filosofiska Rummet” (The Philosophical Room) features Yours Truly, the philosopher, translator and allround splendid person Jeanette Emt and the multitalented David Polfeldt, managing director at Ubisoft Massive and author of children's books. We will talk about the value of pleasure. I will ... http://david.brax.nu/blog/radio-days/ My first all too serious philosophical essay was on Heidegger (well, actually, I did a number on the ”positionality” concept in the work of Sartre earlier still, but it would take an insane amount of scholarly obsession for anyone to ever dig that up). The nicest thing said about was ... http://david.brax.nu/blog/stop-reading-start-writing/