Sublime

Liberalism and science are systems—not just neat little theories—because they are self-skeptical rather than self-certain, by design. This is a reasoned—not a radical—skepticism. They put the empirical first, rather than the theoretical. They are self-correcting. Liberal systems like regulated capitalism, republican democracy, and science resolve

By physics, I mean approximation, compression, mechanism, optimization. Data science is not that. Data science is not science. I think it’s important that we make that statement.

It should not be surprising that the facts of human progress confound the major -isms. The ideologies are more than two centuries old and are based on mile-high visions such as whether humans are tragically flawed or infinitely malleable, and whether society is an organic whole or a collection of individuals.43 A real society comprises hundreds of

My idea of science diverges with that of the people around me walking around calling themselves scientists. Science is mere speculation, mere formulation of conjecture.

‘science’ is a process and that existing scientific theories ought to remain open to reassessment and revision, and even be abandoned should new evidence be discovered that refutes their assertions; the evidence is primary.

Ce qu’il nous faut, c’est compter sur tout le pouvoir des sciences, mais sans l’idéologie de la « nature » qui lui a été attachée. Il nous faut être matérialistes et rationnels mais en déplaçant ces vertus sur le bon terrain.