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Category: language

Paul Graham’s ‘Geeks eye’ View of Philosophy…

Plato

Paul Graham’s essay on “How to do Philosophy” deserves a serious response. And there have been some, here, here, and here. Like many who begin studying philosophy, he’s disappointed that he didn’t find any magical, universal truths. And in reaction plays “gotcha” philosophy, trying to show why the history of philosophy is filled with wrong ideas. He ends up with a combination of early Wittgenstein and Utilitariansim. But this is clearly a geek’s eye view of philosophy. It doesn’t conform, so it must be bent and shaped into a reasonable algorithm. I’d suggest that Graham read more widely in late Wittgenstein and the work of Richard Rorty on Utilitarianism. Philosophy is more often about deepening a question, than the kind of fixed answers he seems to be searching for.

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The Voice of Yeats

The sound of William Butler Yeats reciting “The Lake Isle of Innisfree.” Voices from the past, time flows forward and backward on my Variety Show. I will arise and go now…

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Common Craft: What is RSS?

Common Craft does an excellent job of explaining stuff. Or at least I think they do. My problem is I already understand the stuff they’re explaining, so of course it makes sense to me. I like this explanation of RSS, and next time someone asks me about it, I’ll point them to this screencast.

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