I tend to disagree. Science is simply the systematic, criticizable pursuit of knowledge. The nature of experience is a kind of knowledge, and separation is not the right way. Vipassana may have a scientific and a practical and a cultural aspect.
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Dennett comes across as a huge jerk in person (I've met him a couple of times) so you'll have to forgive his personality when judging his ideas. Same with Dawkins. Similar personality issues. Well mannered jerks. Pinker is at minimum an actually nice person (or LARPs it well).
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My criticism of them isn't that they are nice/mean, they are just plain wrong once you understand the Talebean perspective on risk. Pinker is actually too nice. I find him hypocritical for being for free speech, but never actually saying anything risky or offensive.
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he's said plenty of risky/controversial things lately. insofar as it's become controversial to pro-actively defend Western enlightenment (i.e. science and reason and secularism and liberalism) in left-wing academic settings in this current political clusterfuck.
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he's also argued against the "blank slate" view of mind (he has a whole book about this topic called The Blank Slate) which is a very controversial topic. it seems uncontroversial to us, perhaps, because it's just obvious that biology influences behavior. but there it is.
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Taleb has a lot of great insights too but I think there's a trap there. He's got a great framework for coming up with risk management positions in high uncertainty environments. He's not an endless font of wisdom though. His paleo-conservatism gets in the way a lot.
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I don't see paleoconservativism in him. And I don't see what he's getting in the way of.
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you don't? his constant obsession on ancient religion, "Mediterranean" identity, genealogy, traditionalism, and basing his ethics on a mixture of classical stoicism and "tough guy" macho bullshit?
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That's a shallow interpretation. Essentially what he's really describing in these things you mentioned above is the history of multilevel selection. You have to offend some open to rip apart the modern myth of universalism.
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