Logical fallacies abound in the business and self-help literature. Perhaps it is the way we humans are biologically programmed that makes us fall for voodoo, pseudo-science and other quackery, but I still find it amazing how supposedly smart people (even those with Ph.D after their names) still make these basic yet fundamental mistakes. One of [...]
Archive for October, 2009
Reminiscing About Our Last Ski Season
Thursday, October 22nd, 2009
Its almost 4 weeks to go until we move to Austria for the ski season. The last season we did was back in 2001/02 in Garmisch Partenkirchen which was truly magical. So Tina and I were watching youtube clips and reminiscing about ‘good ole times’ when I stumbled upon a clip from the Kandahar Downhill [...]
Can Six Sigma Work in Government Departments?
Wednesday, October 21st, 2009
Working with a Government client on a communications project, I’ve been observing an improvement project in another department employing six sigma and lean processes. Its reassuring to see such a commitment to efficiency within Government but a troubling thought continues to bother me – can processes like six sigma work in Government departments or non-profits? [...]
Problems with Probability
Tuesday, October 20th, 2009
One of the often used justifications for inductive reasoning, especially in science, is probability theory. If all observed swans in the past have been white, then there is a high probability that the next observed swan will be white. David Hume quite rightly criticised this reasoning in Enquiries Concerning Human Understanding, but today I’d like [...]
Anselm’s Ontological Argument for God
Friday, October 16th, 2009
I’m going through a number of ‘proofs of God’ at the moment and am really impressed with the logical ‘sleight of hand’ employed. I have to admit, I find it difficult to believe that anyone has come up with a sound a priori argument, otherwise the dominance of atheism in modern philosophy would not be [...]
Learning a New Language in 2 Months
Tuesday, October 6th, 2009
In a few weeks time, the family and I are moving overseas to spend 6 months skiing in Austria. While it may seem a little odd (or even scary) to jet off to the other side of the world with a mortgage and 15 month old daughter, the wife and I thought why the hell [...]