Various web links I found to be of interest recently:
Attempts to exempt speculative theories of the Universe from experimental verification undermine science, argue George Ellis and Joe Silk.
This year, debates in physics circles took a worrying turn. Faced
with difficulties in applying fundamental theories to the observed
Universe, some researchers called for a change in how theoretical
physics is done. They began to argue -- explicitly -- that if a
theory is sufficiently elegant and explanatory, it need not be tested
experimentally, breaking with centuries of philosophical tradition
of defining scientific knowledge as empirical. We disagree. As
the philosopher of science Karl Popper argued: a theory must be
falsifiable to be scientific.
...
This battle for the heart and soul of physics is opening up at a
time when scientific results -- in topics from climate change to the
theory of evolution -- are being questioned by some politicians and
religious fundamentalists. Potential damage to public confidence
in science and to the nature of fundamental physics needs to be
contained by deeper dialogue between scientists and philosophers.
Several years ago, during a lecture on Science-Based Medicine, I noted that if there were one medical pseudoscience that was vulnerable to extinction it was homeopathy. Homeopathy is perhaps the most obviously absurd medical pseudoscience. It is also widely studied, and has been clearly shown to not work. Further, there is a huge gap in the public understanding of what homeopathy is; it therefore seems plausible that the popularity of homeopathy can take a huge hit just by telling the public what it actually is.
Western journalists claim that the big lesson they learned from their key role in selling the Iraq War to the public is that it's hideous, corrupt and often dangerous journalism to give anonymity to government officials to let them propagandize the public, then uncritically accept those anonymously voiced claims as Truth. But they've learned no such lesson. That tactic continues to be the staple of how major U.S. and British media outlets "report," especially in the national security area. And journalists who read such reports continue to treat self-serving decrees by unnamed, unseen officials -- laundered through their media -- as gospel, no matter how dubious are the claims or factually false is the reporting.
And according to security expert Bruce Schneier
Do countries like China and Russia have copies of the Snowden documents?
I believe the answer is certainly yes,
but that it's almost certainly not Snowden's fault.
...
I believe that both China and Russia had access to all the files
that Snowden took well before Snowden took them because they've
penetrated the NSA networks where those files reside.
Why in the documents related to the September 11 attacks are 29 out of 30 pages about Issues Relating to Saudi Arabia redacted?
A country's income is the sum of the output produced by each worker. To increase income, we need to increase worker productivity. Evidently, "something in the water," other than education, makes people much more productive in some places than in others. A successful growth strategy needs to figure out what this is.
Most of us like to be associated with "idealistic" groups that claim that they are doing good, i.e., making the world better. However, this is usually not our strongest motive in choosing to associate with such groups. Instead, we more strongly want to make ourselves look good, and gain good-looking associations. Most idealistic groups quickly learn to cater to this demand
There is a related Julia Galef Rationally Speaking podcast with Robin Hanson discussing his signaling theory.
Psychotherapists, in an understandable desire to help their suffering patients, could quite naturally be led to over-interpret what is rather weak evidence.
I empathize with these patients, and with their therapists, but I feel obliged to report the consensus that has emerged from decades of scientific studies: There is no link between creativity and mental illness. There may be a link between an undiagnosed tendency toward mental illness and elevated creativity; but we don't really know, because that's almost impossible to study (how do you study an undiagnosed tendency?). The jury is still out on that issue, and the Kyaga studies represent a contribution to that continuing debate. I'm impressed by the massive volume of data used in the Kyaga studies, and the patterns revealed are interesting, and worthy of further exploration. -- Keith Sawyer
While it's true that some guards and prisoners behaved in alarming ways,
it's also the case that their environment was designed to encourage--and,
in some cases, to require--those behaviors.
...
The lesson of Stanford isn't that any random human being is capable
of descending into sadism and tyranny. It's that certain institutions
and environments demand those behaviors--and, perhaps, can change them.
Notice the may.
A study at Oregon State University indicates that both a high-fat and
a high-sugar diet, compared to a normal diet, cause changes in gut
bacteria that appear related to a significant loss of "cognitive
flexibility," or the power to adapt and adjust to changing situations.
This effect was most serious on the high-sugar diet, which also showed
an impairment of early learning for both long-term and short-term memory.
I'd bet this is a publicity seeking news release and the results will not hold up (even though I do think gut bacteria are important).