Frank Popper

In so many ways technology and Google has simplified people’s lives. Technology has become a necessity for just about everyone. All the information people need is at the tip of their fingers, directly on their phones. So, because of the easy access to Google and technology, individuals should be smarter, right? The fact is technology and Google makes people stupid, and this can be seen in a series of ways. First of all, Google alters the way people’s brains operate, and as a result they become increasingly dependent on the internet for knowledge. James Olds acknowledged this fact when he said, “The brain has the ability to reprogram itself on the fly, altering the way it functions” (Carr 95). This is exactly what is happening to many people that have fallen into Google’s ruthless grasp. Their brains have been reprogramed; they have allowed Google to control them and become their method of thinking. Their brains are becoming more like machines and less like humans. Whenever most individuals want to know something they do not spend time pondering the question, trying to figure out an answer, but instead their immediate reaction is to simply search it on Google and the answer will pop right up. Maybe some people wouldn’t mind living that way, having Google do their thinking for them, but let’s say there is suddenly no Google or technology. People will hardly be able to function, because their brains have been altered to be almost utterly dependent on Google for information.…

Technology has dramatically changed our society. An endless number of people all around the world are using and benefit from modern technology. Technology is playing a significant role in almost all the fields of human life. We have simplified technology to make it easier for us to access many necessary tools people need in the industry, medicine, communication, transportation, education, et cetera. However, there are excessive usages of technology that has its drawback as well. Though in some…

Black Mirror - Series 1 Retrospective For those of you who don’t know, Black Mirror is an anthology series which originally aired on Channel 4 almost five years ago. It has been heralded as a “Twilight Zone with iPhones”, but in reality it is much more than that. Through the lens of speculative science fiction, the stories in Black Mirror play with the intersection of advanced technologies and the basal instincts of humans, especially in the modern world when we are supposed to be “better”…

Plato more explicitly says that no person can challenge another’s position or role in the Kallipolis because if someone is suited to the role of ruling or shows leadership, no individual can interfere in their duty to do so (Popper, 1962) and if for any reason these roles are conflated or practised by the wrong individual than this will have dangerous consequences for society (Kallipolis). Not only is this approach extremely problematic because it completely diminishes he idea of any meritocracy…

In the collection of essays, In Search of a Better World, Karl Popper, in which he is most know for rejecting the scientific method, embraces the idea of empirical science. His disagreement stemmed from the notion that science can never be proven, but it may be falsified. These ideas are reflection of previous noted philosophers such as Plato and Socrates with respect to academics, which are expanded upon and are implemented in today’s science society. Popper also explains the concept of an…

Lord of the Flies, a novel written by William Golding, is an allegory for the political reality of the time it was written in: the 1950s. During the 1950s, World War II and the Cold War, wars that concerned liberal democracy and totalitarianism, transpired. This novel is an allegory that examines these two opposing political ideologies. Liberal democracy, a democracy based on the recognition of individual rights and freedoms (governmentvs.com), is symbolized by Ralph, a predominantly equitable…

Firstly, collectivism can in fact lead to egoism and selfishness, and indeed Popper asserts that a class will often times put its selfish needs above the other classes, a fact that even Plato was well aware of. Individualism need not be selfishly motivated; indeed, America places high emphasis on having a strong sense of individuality while demonstrating altruism. With the definition of justice proved wrong and the foundational pillar of Plato’s “city of speech” failing, the tripartite harmony…

Falsificationism Karl Popper asserts that the scientific status of a theory is derived from that theories potential for refutation. Theories outlining experimental results that (if observed) could refute the theory are classified as scientific. Theories that lack this content are classified as pseudoscience. Popper uses this distinction to preface his scientific view: falsificationism. Under this view, science exists as a system through which we can logically falsify theories. This stands as…

Despite key differences in their solutions, both Karl Popper and Paul Feyerabend noticed issues with the positivist system of scientific discoveries and attempted to develop new methods for understanding science. Popper developed new understandings surrounding the theory dependence of observation, and the flaws of induction. His system of falsificationism was a key factor in the development of sociology of science as a whole and of Feyerabend’s system of Epistemological anarchism. Feyerabend…

During Professor McAdams dinner party Havel and John Stuart Mill begin to disagree over what type of government compels citizens to live in the truth. According to Havel, a post-totalitarian government gives more chance to compel its citizens to live within the truth. Havel goes on to say that the citizens in a liberal democracy create their own lie and chose to live within it. While John Stuart Mill states that in a liberal democracy gives you the most access to live within the truth. Between…