If scientific fraud represents five per cent of scientific papers, surely we should expect at least as much philosophic fraud. But how can we detect philosophy’s fraudsters? Here’s a first attempt at some rules of thumb.
This is a long post. So here’s the short version: this post argues that an unknown but non-zero portion of philosophical work is likely to be fraud. That is to say, some philosophical work knowingly offers fake wisdom rather than genuine insight. I use Jacques Lacan as a possible example.
As the US presidential election count continues, it becomes increasingly likely that Donald Trump will win. It appears that the majority of Americans believe that Trump is more trustworthy than Kamala Harris on economic issues, and they say that the economy is their principal concern.
The irony in this belief is that it is the opposite of the real situation, at least if we assume that Trump will carry out the promises that he has made.
The possibility of one or more Very Fast Train (VFT) lines for Australia has been debated for more than 40 years, most often being treated as a complete joke. However, perhaps that’s about to change.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has long been a supporter of VFT transport for Australia, and his government is now putting its money where its mouth is. As this article in The Conversation notes:
There’s a strong gerontocratic tinge to US politics of late — the youngest of Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Bernie Sanders, Donald Trump, Elizabeth Warren and Mitch McConnel is Chuck at 73.
Many a theory has been propounded to explain this phenomenon, but a simple one shall be put to the test in a couple of days: Trump is the last of the political candidates borne of the media monoculture and so Trump will win the election comfortably.
What is the Media Monoculture and What Does is Have to Do with a Gerontocracy?
As I argued in a recent article, the election of Donald Trump as President would be disastrous for climate change compared with the current Democrat administration of President Biden. The situation is quite different in Australia. The election of a Coalition government federally next year, even under Peter Dutton, would not be all that much worse than the situation under the current Labor administration of Anthony Albanese.
Cameron Murray’s The Great Housing Hijack is self-recommending. You certainly don’t need a review of any sort to tell you to go read it if you have any interest in the peculiar case of the housing market. Nevertheless, here I supply my own review of sorts and extrapolate on what I consider a couple of Murray’s core points.
The Great Housing Hijack in Miniature
As you can see we’ve adopted a new WordPress theme. Many thanks to our web guru Tony Sarhanis. What do you think? I really like it, although I have one reservation.You can’t scroll down the main posts column until the cursor gets to the bottom of the comments column. I suspect that’s a deliberate feature rather than a bug, because it forces the eye to look at the comments first.
Four years ago today, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation abolished its 15-minute 7.45am news bulletin.
The 7.45 bulletin was first broadcast in December 1939, at the outset of the Second World War. I have been unable to find the exact date.
Citing cost factors and a declining audience, the ABC announced in 2020 that the 7.45 bulletin would be abolished, 80 years after it began.
The Worlds I See. Curiosity, Exploration, and the Discovery at the Dawn of AI—Fei-Fei Li (New York, NY, USA: Flatiron Books, 2023, 322 pp.)
When this blog started almost twenty years ago, Josh Frydenberg was an ambitious political staffer challenging for Liberal preselection against the sitting MP for Kooyong, Petro Georgiou. Today, Josh Frydenberg is trying to undermine both the federal MP for Kooyong and the preselected Liberal candidate for Kooyong - who for the first time in almost 80 years are not the same person - and Josh is neither of them.
When this blog started almost twenty years ago, Josh Frydenberg was an ambitious political staffer challenging for Liberal preselection against the sitting MP for Kooyong, Petro Georgiou. Today, Josh Frydenberg is trying to undermine both the federal MP for Kooyong and the preselected Liberal candidate for Kooyong - who for the first time in almost 80 years are not the same person - and Josh is neither of them.
When Labor fails Palestine it fails its own members, and ultimately it fails itself.
So, the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has announced he is seeking an arrest warrant for five people given there is substantial evidence to say they have committed war crimes. Two from the Israeli regime and three from Hamas. One of those Israeli’s is Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
If you’ve spoken out against the Israeli genocide, you’ve probably been called an antisemite. Welcome to the industry.
I’ll start off by saying that I’m sure there has been a rise in antisemitism in Australia since Israel’s retaliation for the October 7 attacks by Hamas.
A genocide will always result in negative sentiment for those carrying it out, and those seen as aligned with it, either by defending it, or seeking to avert attention from it.
When standing up against a slaughter sees you branded as a “hater”, while those supporting a genocide paint themselves the victims.
Being a student in Australia these days has got to be tough.
Courses are tough to get into, you compete with overseas students for positions, the courses are ridiculously expensive, to survive you need to work crappy jobs for even crappier pay, and at the end of it all you start your adulthood with a debt that would have brought your grandparents that house that you’ll probably never afford on your own.
The Reserve Bank of Australia has left rates on hold, following its Board meeting over the past two days.
The cash rate remains at 4.35%. The rate was last changed in November 2023.
This is the statement issued by the Reserve Bank: