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I just found this video about open-mindedness, evidence based argument and common mistakes made when “moving between” thoughts in a discussion:

I like its succinct presentation of what I was up to when I read for my philosophy degree: arguing a position and revising in the light of evidence.

I get a real buzz from this sort of thing, whether it be in a debate, writing an essay or when reading well written philosophy. I try to engage with an argument by poking holes in it – and I love how good authors / debaters will poke back.

Unfortunately, there is an abundance of spaghetti philosophy: like spaghetti code in software engineering it is badly presented, too complex, opaque and not quite fit for purpose.

This video is a great example of what good philosophy should be: well presented, no more complex than it needs to be, inviting scrutiny and encouraging the audience to engage and to think.

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I spent an hour this evening watching the video below. I really enjoyed it because it explores the amazing potential that collaborative, networked and open medium offer.

However, what I find most exciting is that we’ve only just scratched the surface of what and how such “mechanisms” can change.

Oh yeah… two blog posts in the same day Nicholas! What is the world coming to..?

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I’ve just found out that we had a photographer in the audience of the recent concert we did at the Derngate. Both Mary and I had a fantastic time and we’re both looking forward to the next concert (although I’m not so busy in that one – only in the Dvorak symphony).

Here are some of my favourites from the set (click to see the full size picture):

It was pretty much a full house:

Alex in full flow:

The “hit” squad:

Unfortunately, the only shot with Mary in it shows the back of her head and her desk partner… :-(

Yours truly at full blast…

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“In such cases, the existence of the institution enables individuals or groups of individuals to impose on objects functions that the objects cannot perform in virtue of their physical structure alone, but only in virtue of the collective recognition of the object as having a certain status, and with that status, a special function.”

Rationality in Action by John Searle

Pass it on:

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open it to page 56.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.
5. Don’t dig for your favorite book, the cool book, or the intellectual one: pick the CLOSEST.

(The book was next to my computer because it’s what I’m reading on the train at the moment when going into work. Oh, and I promise to be better at updating this blog from now on.)

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It has just come to my attention that someone actually wrote a review of my performance of the Vaughan-Williams concerto.

When I sat down to perform I noticed a chap sitting right on the front row, “in the line of fire” with the business end of my tuba pointing right at him. I asked him if he would like to move, but he declined.

It turns out he’s a local music fanatic (his words) called Andrew Wardle and he wrote the following on his Band Club blog:

“The highlight of the evening was surely Ralph Vaughan Williams’s Tuba Concerto in F Minor. The other pieces would have made the event well worth attending, but this made it a must attend. I was lucky enough to have the very best seat in the house (you’d be amazed how often that happens) as Nicholas Tollervey gave his excellent rendition of this all too rarely performed work. He read it off the sheet as well, unusually for a soloist. They can usually just get away with playing a piece of music, and leave the hard work to the orchestra!”

It’s a good job he wasn’t reading the score over my shoulder otherwise he’d have spotted my “deliberate” mistake that only myself and Graham (the conductor) noticed. :-)

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