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gwern comments on LessWrong Help Desk - free paper downloads and more (2014) - Less Wrong Discussion

30 Post author: jsalvatier 16 January 2014 05:51AM

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Comment author: gwern 21 November 2014 09:44:14PM 2 points [-]

This claims to be a version from 1980. It appears to have scans of the illustrations from 1980, but retyped text.

Thanks. That's sufficient for my curiosity: Good lays out the argument for lots of aliens (which is cogent enough and time has vindicated various beliefs such as planets being common), notes that galactic colonization is easy and highly certain on astronomical timescales, that there must be a stable governing structure (the Chief Entities, who may or may not be FAIs), and argues that the reason for the Great Silence is the 'zoo hypothesis' (just with FAIs).

Not too unreasonable for the time period - as he notes, the first SETI searches had just been done and parapsychology still seemed fairly credible then - but I'd say by this point it's pretty clear that there are no intelligent aliens whatsoever and the zoo hypothesis is untenable, and parapsychology likewise. So a historical piece of minimal general interest.

Comment author: Douglas_Knight 21 November 2014 11:01:27PM 2 points [-]

Speaking of parapsychology...

780. "The use of clones in experimental parapsychology", paraSCIENCE, 1, No. 1 (1971), p. 5.
882. "And Good Saw the it was God(d)", Parascience Research J. 1, No. 2 (Feb. 1975), 3-13. (See #1322.)
882A. A reprinting of #882, with minor changes, Parasc. Proc. 1973/77 (issued '79), pp. 55-66
1322. "Is there any scientific basis for parapsychology?" For the tenth annual meeting of the American Culture Association and the second annual meeting of the Popular Culture Association, Detroit, Michigan, April 16-19, 1980. Session on the Philosophy of Parapsychology, 8:30a.m. to 10:30a.m. April 19 to the Crystal Ballroom, Book Cadillac Hotel. (See #882.)
1322A. "Scientific speculations on the paranormal and the parasciences", a slight revision of #1322 for The Zetetic Scholar, No. 7 (1980, Dec.), 9-29. [Issued Feb. 1981] (See #s 882, 1460.)
1460. "Scientific speculations on the paranormal: introductory comments", for the workshop on "The demarcation between science and pseudo-science," at the Center for the Study of Science in Society, VPI&SU, 1982, April 30 to May 2. #1322A was invited. These introductory comments show the relevance to the workshop. In VA Tech Center for the Study of Science in Society, Working Papers, 2,No. 1 (April 1983), 107-112.

1322A is available here

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