When -- as Alex Rosenberg did in Salon the other day -- you publish a piece with the title "Why Most Narrative History is Wrong”, and subtitle it “Even the best histories fail to identify the real causal forces that drive events. Science explains why”, you create certain expectations in a reader. To wit: You … Continue reading History is Bad for You. Science Told Me So
Matters of Faith
Tuesday brought news of the latest self-indulgent hoaxing of academic journals by a trio of "academic exiles" intent on establishing that the academy is a at once a hothouse of left-wing ideological orthodoxy and, at the same time, a credulous fantasy-land where anything couched in the language of "theory", however nonsensical, can get published. (How … Continue reading Matters of Faith
I Shall Return, No, Really
I didn't intend to take such a long break from writing this blog. (Sorry if anyone was waiting around.) But I've been working through a book manuscript slowly but surely, but slowly, and working on a new course, and tidying up various other larger and smaller writing and reading commitments -- a couple of articles, … Continue reading I Shall Return, No, Really
Perpetual Motion: Technology, Slavery, and History
Once we stop thinking of the past as a failed but noble attempt at the present, many of its inexplicable, repulsive, or ridiculous aspects take on a new colour. A good example is alchemical transmutation, an evident impossibility that nevertheless occupied -- and not just occupied, but motivated -- the likes of Newton or Boyle, … Continue reading Perpetual Motion: Technology, Slavery, and History
Merit, Luck, Privilege
A few days ago I wrote a thread on Twitter on the subject of the roles of luck and merit in getting academic work. I was prompted by, though I was not directly responding to, a blowup between a senior academic and others on the subject of the financial and personal sacrifices involved in taking … Continue reading Merit, Luck, Privilege
The University in a few years: some predictions
A few years from now, there will be two kinds of faculty member. Researchers will be hired, retained, and promoted based on a formula combining external funding amounts and bibliometrics. Instructors will be hired on a casual basis. A few years from now, faculty hires will be not only set and approved but also designed … Continue reading The University in a few years: some predictions
A Can of Worms
The hedgehog and the fox; lumpers and splitters; generalists and specialists: these are not all quite the same distinction, but they share a strong family resemblance. For some people, the world -- or, to put it in temporal terms, the past -- is simple. Either it carries a handful of clear lessons, or it reveals … Continue reading A Can of Worms
Since I was young, I have been curious
"Why does every PhD applicant start their essay with 'since I was young, I have been curious'?" This question, asked on Twitter today, is an interesting one. As a fairly frequent reader of applications, I will confess to believing that some application essays are too personal. This is not to say that childhood interests or family … Continue reading Since I was young, I have been curious
Galileo Hates Your “Campus Free Speech” Arguments
"Four centuries after Galileo was silenced", a headline blares, "UK students are still curbing free speech." (At issue was a student union's no-platforming of Julie Bindel and Milo Yiannopoulos.) "Whether it’s Galileo’s heretical rejection of geocentrism, Darwin’s godless theory of creation or the bravery of dissidents resisting oppression all over the world," a Telegraph op-ed against … Continue reading Galileo Hates Your “Campus Free Speech” Arguments
Reverence and Engagement
My office is filled with books. It's not an especially capacious room, but there are five large bookcases in it, university issue, as well as two smaller ones I bought myself. Each shelf is fully stocked from end to end, and rows of books line the top of each shelf near the ceiling, as well … Continue reading Reverence and Engagement
