[MD] Beyond the Hoax

[Krimel]

[Platt]
For all those interested in postmodernism a review of a book entitled 
"Beyond the Hoax" will be of interest. The author of the book is Alan Sokal 
who exposed postmodernist thought when he wrote a parody of it that was 
accepted as genuine by the journal Social Text. The review also has some 
interesting insights into the nature of belief. The web site is:

http://www.nysun.com/arts/fight-for-the-life-of-the-mind/76744/

[Krimel]
Thanks for the tip, Platt. I especially enjoyed the final paragraph:

"There is progress in science, and some views really are superior to others,
regardless of the color, gender, or country of origin of the scientist
holding that view. Despite the fact that scientific data are "theory laden,"
science is truly different than art, music, religion, and other forms of
human expression because it has a self-correcting mechanism built into it.
If you don't catch the flaws in your theory, the slant in your bias, or the
distortion in your preferences, someone else will, usually with great glee
and in a public forum - for example, a competing journal! Scientists may be
biased, but science itself, for all its flaws, is still the best system ever
devised for understanding how the world works."