Comments on: Sociology’s Final Frontier

By: Dr. Gene Ray

Dr. Gene Ray — Tue, 29 Jun 2004 18:38:26 +0000

Hey stupid – are you too dumb to know there are 4 different simultaneous 24 hour days within a single rotation of Earth? Greenwich 1 day is a lie. 4 quadrants = 4 corners, and 4 different directions. Each Earth corner rotates own separate 24 hour day. Infinite days is stupidity.

By: Chris Martin

Chris Martin — Mon, 28 Jun 2004 23:21:04 +0000

Your quip about social psychology doesn’t make sense btw

By: Matt Weiner

Matt Weiner — Mon, 28 Jun 2004 21:43:45 +0000

Hey, no fair asking me to look at the “Monster Java Zombie Nightmare Website from Beyond 1996.” But I do admit that, if the man had any class at all, he would have begun his proposal “In considering this strangely neglected topic….”

By: maria

maria — Mon, 28 Jun 2004 15:09:54 +0000

“all human behaviors related in some way to outer space; a neglected area of sociological inquiry.” Does the moon count as outer space? i.e. will topics such as menstruation and werewolves be included? Come to think of it, how about practices related to solistices, equinoxes, and so on?

By: Baptiste

Baptiste — Mon, 28 Jun 2004 08:19:15 +0000

Not only is he (Jim Pass) asking for PayPal donation, but he put ads on google : see http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&q=astrosociology or http://www.coulmont.com/blog/index.php?p=88

By: Matt Brown

Matt Brown — Mon, 28 Jun 2004 07:48:28 +0000

Feyerabend beat Tessier to the argument about the respectability of astrology by decades.

By: rea

rea — Sun, 27 Jun 2004 14:57:45 +0000

Well, but consider the sociology of a Mars mission—a minature society of 6 or 8 individuals, confined together in close quarters for a period of several years, dealing with the boredom and enforced inactivity of interplanetary travel . . . Of course, that situation is a staple for science fiction novels, in which sex, violence or both invariably result.

By: Danyel

Danyel — Sun, 27 Jun 2004 09:25:22 +0000

dsquared, today (according to Astrology.com) my horoscope was: “You’ve been saving it all up for a chance like this one, so it’s natural to be exuberant. Other people might be alarmed at your excitement, however. Tone it down just a tiny bit.” If I can find a way to convince myself that this somehow applies to today, then it is probably not falsifiable. Otherwise, it is false. (Quick note: today, I sat around at home and worked on my dissertation. Same as yesterday. Same as tomorrow. Yes, I’m pretty boring these days. Exuberant is not the way to describe me.)

By: John

John — Sun, 27 Jun 2004 05:13:02 +0000

DD, astrology is actually a nice instance of verificationist methodology in action, particularly in its character assessment as opposed to predictive mode. Most predictions (descriptions of individual character based on star signs) work pretty well, and this is robust to minor errors like getting your birthdate wrong.

By: tina

tina — Sat, 26 Jun 2004 23:21:32 +0000

Are there other subfields of sociology that ask for donations through PayPal? I feel like we’re missing out on a big fundraising opportunity here.

By: Kieran Healy

Kieran Healy — Sat, 26 Jun 2004 23:04:14 +0000

Isn’t the dude talking about the sociology of NASA and such-like? That doesn’t seem obviously ridiculous to me, though the name he’s chosen for his field certainly sucks. Yeah, he is—and there’s already quite a few people who study that (e.g. Dianne Vaughn’s excellent book The Challenger Launch Decision). But I mean, look at that web site. I ask you. Cheney, bunker. Venus, obscured by clouds. Well? You have a point there, lance.

By: Ophelia Benson

Ophelia Benson — Sat, 26 Jun 2004 21:51:18 +0000

“Lingua Franca, thou shouldst be living at this hour…” Er…

By: Lance Boyle

Lance Boyle — Sat, 26 Jun 2004 20:45:36 +0000

“…by the fact that, at any one time, there are are perhaps three or four people in outer space…” Three or four people that we know about. Cheney, bunker. Venus, obscured by clouds. Well? The “exploration” of Mars is a feint. Cheney’s clad’s dug in on Deimos, waiting. Funding and a modicum of professional respect will make it all much clearer.

By: Matt Weiner

Matt Weiner — Sat, 26 Jun 2004 20:36:39 +0000

Isn’t the dude talking about the sociology of NASA and such-like? That doesn’t seem obviously ridiculous to me, though the name he’s chosen for his field certainly sucks.

By: lago

lago — Sat, 26 Jun 2004 20:23:21 +0000

When I first saw that paper on the program, I thought it was another project from “transmodern critical realist” Mark Foster.