To get us going on the cool cats starter pack (aka intellectual mavericks), post one cool and unusual paper that you like. I can’t choose just one, so I’m not going first this time. - ThreadSky

duhe.bsky.social • 90 days ago

To get us going on the cool cats starter pack (aka intellectual mavericks), post one cool and unusual paper that you like.

I can’t choose just one, so I’m not going first this time.

Comments

veniceevodevo.bsky.social•90 days ago

Isn't being on a starter pack a sure sign that you are *not* an intellectual maverick?

Asking for one of our organizers...
@yoginho.spore.social.ap.brid.gy

duhe.bsky.social•90 days ago

No.

veniceevodevo.bsky.social•90 days ago

We may have a different definition of the concept here. Difficult to say.

Anyway: just googled "maverick intellectuals starter pack" and, oh my...

duhe.bsky.social•90 days ago

That’s not its official name ;)
See also the description etc.

https://bsky.app/profile/duhe.bsky.social/post/3lbomm7dolk22

dingemansemark.bsky.social•90 days ago

Only one!?

I'll pick Gaia and Philosophy by Sagan and Margulis, just because there's a beautiful new Terra Ignota edition of it with a new intro by Dorion Sagan

dingemansemark.bsky.social•90 days ago

Another one:

Bateson, A Theory of Play and Fantasy (1955)

Smorgasbord of semiotics, cybernetics, psychiatry, ethology

duhe.bsky.social•90 days ago

Axelrod’s 1997 classic paper, The Dissemination of Culture: A Model with Local Convergence and Global Polarization, uses a minimalist toy model to show that local processes of harmonization can end up leading to social polarization. https://www.jstor.org/stable/174371

duhe.bsky.social•90 days ago

Enumerating Turing Machines to study communication with aliens. http://bit.ly/1NOJ7xl

duhe.bsky.social•90 days ago

Ok,ok, fine I’ll go first… here’s a paper that’s well known in some circles but perhaps not so much in others, and worthy of admission for the title alone (the discussion is nice too, though I can quibble with the analysis if I must). https://www.cell.com/cancer-cell/fulltext/S1535-6108%2802%2900133-2

epiguy.bsky.social•90 days ago

For 10 years I told students in my lecture on Real-world study designs that nobody would do a randomised study on the efficacy of parachutes when jumping out of a plane including a placebo control. Then this was published (and I cursed myself I had not thought of it):

https://www.bmj.com/content/363/bmj.k5094

bramatti.bsky.social•90 days ago

😁 love it

duhe.bsky.social•90 days ago

Leibovici, Leonard. “Effects of Remote, Retroactive Intercessory Prayer on Outcomes in Patients with Bloodstream Infection: Randomised Controlled Trial.” BMJ 323, no. 7327 (December 22, 2001): 1450–51. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.323.7327.1450

epiguy.bsky.social•90 days ago

Great! Didn‘t know this one 😇

duhe.bsky.social•90 days ago

The correspondence is wild.

epiguy.bsky.social•90 days ago

I was thinking to look for citations. Could imagine a retrospective study, comparing the effectiveness of prayers to different gods. That should resolve the question about the „true religion“ for good. 😈

multiplicityct.bsky.social•90 days ago

Mine would have to be Jessica Riskin’s article on Vaucanson’s defecating duck.

If anything could convince me I should be doing material/intellectual history instead of philosophy, this would be it. Plus, lots of pictures!

duhe.bsky.social•90 days ago

Yes, it’s excellent.

zsuzsannachappell.bsky.social•90 days ago

There's also this guy, a clear descendant of the Duck. He repeats what you say, you can feed him colourful playsand, then he sings "oh, oh, I've got to go" before pooping the playsand out. He also has a little toy potty.

multiplicityct.bsky.social•90 days ago

Ha! We have seen those in the stores and I never thought about the connection.

zsuzsannachappell.bsky.social•90 days ago

Have you read Mason and Dixon by Pynchon? The Duck is an important secondary character for a while.

multiplicityct.bsky.social•90 days ago

I haven't! I read The Crying of Lot 49 in college but haven't read any Pynchon since. Is it worth checking out?

zsuzsannachappell.bsky.social•90 days ago

I like it. Lot 49 is really short, everything else I've read by him is really long. It is relaxing and whimsical. I actually like the audiobooks.

multiplicityct.bsky.social•90 days ago

I’ll add it to the list!

benspky.bsky.social•90 days ago

I love this essay!

multiplicityct.bsky.social•90 days ago

It is so good! This essay really has tempted me into a side project. We will see if it comes together or not.

benspky.bsky.social•90 days ago

I continue to believe the basic question behind the defecating duck--"Do machines shit?"--was way ahead of its time.

multiplicityct.bsky.social•90 days ago

100 percent!

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