Typechecking is undecideable when 'type' is a type (1989) [pdf]

https://dspace.mit.edu/bitstream/handle/1721.1/149366/MIT-LCS-TR-458.pdf

#HackerNews #Typechecking #undecidability #type #theory #1989 #MIT #research #pdf

Good news for everyone who’s been following this unfolding of “Nomadology,” or trying to, who would prefer the convenience of a single long piece: I’ve now published Part I of Notes on “Nomadology” as a free post on my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/notes-on-part-i-142961660

Feel free to share the link with friends, or anyone else you think might be interested!

#deleuze #guattari #deleuzeandguattari #nomadology #athousandplateaus #theory #philosophy

Good news for everyone who’s been following this unfolding of “Nomadology,” or trying to, who would prefer the convenience of a single long piece: I’ve now published Part I of Notes on “Nomadology” as a free post on my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/notes-on-part-i-142961660

Feel free to share the link with friends, or anyone else you think might be interested!

#deleuze #guattari #deleuzeandguattari #nomadology #athousandplateaus #theory #philosophy

I recently read @djnavarro 's 2021 paper "If Mathematical Psychology Did Not Exist We Might Need to Invent It: A Comment on Theory Building in Psychology" (https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691620974769).

It's a gem on the role and use of theory in cognitive psychology (and related fields, by extension) and the relation of theory to statistics. As expected, the footnotes are a joy. For my extra reading pleasure, I imagined the paper written in Danielle's sweary-blog style.

#theory #CognitivePsychology #CogPsych #MathematicalPsychology #MathPsych #MetaScience #paper #paper

I was raised by an anthropologist to be an anthropologist*, with all that entails.

She also raised me to be christian, I suppose, though never with much enthusiasm. And though she tried, disability and intermittent poverty meant that what science education she was able to provide was spotty.

I never told her I was an atheist. I think it's possible she was one, too.

When I was a young college student in the 1990s, I encountered postmodernism. I flirted with it. It was seductive. A professor I respected warned me to be careful with it. I was.

When I was a young mother in the 1990s and into the new millennium, I scoured every children's book purporting to be about science before I brought it home. Creationism was seeping into the world my children inhabited.

The resurgence of creationism in education in the 2000s—and the resistance to it—became one of the defining cultural battles to play out during my young adulthood.

I thought I understood where the resurgence came from. I had, to my horror, brushed up against reactionary christianity as a teenager. I had seen these people in their own environment. So I thought I could see the bulk of the iceberg under the wedge at the surface.

But what I was able to see didn't quite explain the anti-vaxxers.

That particular branch of anti-science sentiment was as likely to be embraced by "progressive" hippy homesteaders as reactionary christian natalists. Where did the anti-vaxxers come from?

What lead to denial of reality across the political spectra?

I did not know about the science wars in the 1990s. I did not know the role postmodernism played in driving anti-science sentiment on the right. I want to understand.

I'm reading Did the Science Wars Take Place? by William Gillis @rechelon . There are pieces missing in my understanding, and I want to slot them in. I want to understand the whole. Reading this book is part of that.

I'm going to share quotes and thoughts as I make my way through the book. You're welcome to join me. Scroll down in the linked thread. Let's try to work this one out.

Here's the thread: https://kolektiva.social/@calendsofapril/115169983053251178

*I am not an anthropologist. By the standards of the academy, I am not anything. I am an anarchist.

#realism #postmodernism #creationism #anthropology #anarchism #theory#amReading #reflections

Look what came today!

Did the Science Wars Take Place, by William Gillis @rechelon

More info: https://mastodon.social/@rechelon/115096303102083094

https://store.c4ss.org/index.php/product/did-the-science-wars-take-place-the-political-ethical-stakes-of-radical-realism-preorder

And I had things to do this afternoon other than reading, we'll see if any of that happens..

#anarchism #book #realism #theory#amReading

Look what came today!

Did the Science Wars Take Place, by William Gillis @rechelon

More info: https://mastodon.social/@rechelon/115096303102083094

https://store.c4ss.org/index.php/product/did-the-science-wars-take-place-the-political-ethical-stakes-of-radical-realism-preorder

And I had things to do this afternoon other than reading, we'll see if any of that happens..

#anarchism #book #realism #theory#amReading

Fingerspitzengefühl: IP vs process knowledge.

' But here's the thing: while "IP" can be bought and sold by the capital classes, process knowledge is inseparably vested in the minds and muscle-memory of their workers. '

' The exaltation of "IP" over process knowledge is part of the ancient practice of bosses denigrating their workers' contribution to the bottom line. It's key to the myth that workers can be replaced by AI: an AI can consume all the "IP" produced by workers, but it doesn't have their process knowledge. It can't, because process knowledge is embodied and enmeshed, it is relational and physical. It doesn't appear in training data. '

From Cory Doctorow @pluralistic

https://pluralistic.net/2025/09/08/process-knowledge/#dance-monkey-dance

' Fingerspitzengefühl [ˈfɪŋɐˌʃpɪtsənɡəˌfyːl] is a German term, literally meaning "finger tips feeling" and meaning intuitive flair or instinct.** It describes a great situational awareness**... '
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fingerspitzengef%C3%BChl

@dna #Architecture#Design#Techne#Theory

Fingerspitzengefühl: IP vs process knowledge.

' But here's the thing: while "IP" can be bought and sold by the capital classes, process knowledge is inseparably vested in the minds and muscle-memory of their workers. '

' The exaltation of "IP" over process knowledge is part of the ancient practice of bosses denigrating their workers' contribution to the bottom line. It's key to the myth that workers can be replaced by AI: an AI can consume all the "IP" produced by workers, but it doesn't have their process knowledge. It can't, because process knowledge is embodied and enmeshed, it is relational and physical. It doesn't appear in training data. '

From Cory Doctorow @pluralistic

https://pluralistic.net/2025/09/08/process-knowledge/#dance-monkey-dance

' Fingerspitzengefühl [ˈfɪŋɐˌʃpɪtsənɡəˌfyːl] is a German term, literally meaning "finger tips feeling" and meaning intuitive flair or instinct.** It describes a great situational awareness**... '
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fingerspitzengef%C3%BChl

@dna #Architecture#Design#Techne#Theory

Stefano’s Courier Theorem: The punctuality and promptness of a courier are inversely proportional to how much you actually need your package.

#Theory#Theorem#Fact