Imre Lakatos

2 posts

Ayurveda is not a science – but what does that mean?

5 min read
Analysis Science allopathy authoritarianism Ayurveda bhakts Bharatiya Janata Party far right hospital care Imre Lakatos Karl Popper knowledge systems modern science nationalism Paul Feyerabend pseudoscience reason for state social science state Thomas Kuhn view from nowhere welfare welfare state welfarism

This post has benefited immensely with inputs from Om Prasad. Calling something 'not a science' has become a pejorative, an insult. You say Ayurveda is not a science and suddenly, its loudest…

The calculus of creative discipline

5 min read
Culture Op-eds classical mechanics creative discipline critical points Dan Shechtman differential calculus EPR paradox fantasy fiction Imre Lakatos JK Rowling Karl Popper literary criticism M John Harrison Malazan Book of the Fallen mathematical analysis nerdism Niels Bohr Paul Feyerabend Philosophy of Science quasicrystals replication crisis smooth functions Steven Erikson Thomas Kuhn Viriconium world-building

Every moment of a science fiction story must represent the triumph of writing over world-building. World-building is dull. World-building literalises the urge to invent. World-building gives an unnece…