[Announcement] Institute for Science and Philosophy of Science

I am pleased to announce that an anonymous donor has contacted me to set up a non-profit institute to further the pursuit of theoretical science and philosophy of science in New Eden and has asked me to head the institute as the CEO and Director of Research. We will be looking for promising scientists, whether inexperienced or experienced, that are focused on expanding the boundaries of scientific knowledge without regard to whether there are potential technological or commercial applications of such knowledge.

We will also be looking for promising philosophers of science, whether inexperienced or experienced, who are or will become scientific experts but whose primary interest is exploring the broader conceptual foundations, assumptions and implications of our scientific endeavors.

We will provide support and resources to further these pursuits. We understand there will be limited interest in the institute but think these activities are important notwithstanding their lack of practical application.

We do not have a specific agenda. Please feel free to submit applications for membership or informal affiliation, proposals for funding or other support for research projects, research papers, philosophical papers, etc.

Cheers.

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Well … it’s intriguing at the very least. Learning for its own sake is one of those things that not everyone seems to see as important or worthwhile, but it’s really good to see initiatives like this one popping up even among our kind.

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I’m happy to be involved in this, science is my main interest, and the philosophy behind it always fascinates me.

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Pleased to see that someone other than me and my tightknit group of friends has an interest. PM me. Since we are at the early stages of the project, I’m very flexible and open to ideas about how to go about this.

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I’ve shared this on an internal corporate channel. In Origin, we like pushing boundaries.
I’m not sure if I feel young or expertly enough to have any part in this.

Cheers.

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“Young” was not the most precise choice of words and I will edit my post. It was intended to convey that one need not already be a scientific expert to participate, not chronological age. I was also not intending to exclude older capsuleers or expert scientists. I guess I was implicitly assuming they have already found a niche but if they are interested in participating, they are more than welcome.

Given there may be more interest in this endeavor than I originally thought and that I don’t have a specific agenda I am trying to push, I am happy to entertain proposals and requests for funding grants for a variety of scientific and philosophical activities that are consistent with the above principles and that can include formal membership in the institute or simply an informal affiliation. I am generally thinking of research projects, such as this one, research reports or other papers of scientific or philosophical interest. For now contact me directly. Our advisors are in the process of creating the corporation to house the institute, which should be complete shortly.

Cheers.

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Grant proposals should include a description of the project, up front funding request, sample or description of deliverables/formatting, safeguards to ensure the integrity of the research or data and prevent scamming (e.g., contracting bookmarked data drops from the area of the data collection), interim funding upon completion of specific milestones for larger projects or for example for submission of an abstract and then a final paper, and final funding request upon completion and final submission. We will take steps to police plagiarism. We are not interested in funding activities that already provide their own financial rewards but in funding activities that do not currently provide an inherent financial benefit (e.g., no proposals for lunar surveying). We do not have unlimited funding from our anonymous donor so please keep your funding requests reasonable in order to receive favorable consideration.

Cheers.

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I’m not a girl for big words but doing things in the name of science and for a benefit is always a great thing. I’ll poke you.

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May I volunteer?

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Excellent decision Kim, I think they will benefit from more than your Mensa level IQ, a sample of your fighting DNA would be invaluable to develop the next generation of Caldari uber soldiers.:microscope::trophy::medal_sports::crossed_swords::syringe::atom_symbol::white_check_mark::cool:

Diana Kim, you are welcome to participate provided you understand that we are interested in peaceful scientific and philosophical activities. We have no interest in the military or in becoming a research arm for militaristic activities. There are plenty of other organizations that have those areas covered.

As a general note, I will be traveling to a planetside resort for the weekend with family and therefore my posts and PM responses may be delayed for the next few days. While on holiday I will finalize plans for some initial research proposals to make public sometime next week.

Cheers.

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Announcing a number of data collection projects being offered for public participation by scientists and explorers:

  1. Collecting data from planets in order to create a database of scientific information and statistics. Primary data submission should look like this with a visual image, attributes information visible as well as results of a resource scan of the planet. Secondary data submission should be by contracting an supplemental report from a station located in the system or by contracting a bookmarked location inside the system. Contracts should be labelled: Report [system name]. One report per system is sufficient. Paying 400K per planet for low sec and 500k per planet for null and 600k for J space. First person to post the name of a system in this thread has dibs on that system so check before collecting data on a system to make sure it has not already been claimed. Can only claim one system at a time and must wait until data is provided for that system before claiming the next system.

  2. Collecting data from moons without commercial potential in J space. Primary data submission should look like this with a visual image and attributes information visible. Secondary data submission should be by contracting a bookmarked location inside the system. Contracts should be labelled: Report [system name]. One report per system is sufficient. Paying 300k per moon for J space. First person to post the name of a system in this thread has dibs on that system so check before collecting data on a system to make sure it has not already been claimed. Can only claim one system at a time and must wait until data is provided for that system before claiming the next system.

  3. Data processors who are willing to enter all the data from the above projects into a public Google spreadsheet that can be accessed by the entire scientific community for analysis. Will pay the same rates per planet and moon as above for data entry. Contact me to receive data for entry. Also interested in someone to set up initial spreadsheets for a TBD fee.

  4. We also have reports of certain passing cosmic objects that are extremely difficult to find using d-scan and that take significant time and patience to find. If you have an interest in finding these objects and contracting any data you are able to collect to me for a TBD fee please let me know and I will provide information regarding the current location of any available signals.

We are considering other projects and still open to other ideas and grant proposals. I will process data receipts and make payments as timely as I am able but unable to promise a specific turn around until I see what volume, if any, these projects generate.

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I will look into providing information of the Eugales system in Placid, as the UNF has an established local presence there. It may take a few days for proper data collection due to the pendulum activity there.

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Great Sterling.

Also I know we need to start developing a galnet site for the institute. I could put something basic together but if anyone is interested in designing a proper galnet site for the institute and its various projects and publications, please let me know and we can work out the details, including an appropriate reward for the effort. Cheers.

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As one of the greatest, if not the greatest archaeotheologists in New Eden, I feel it is only right and proper that I offer my considerable expertise in assistance to more junior scientists.

Some time ago, I did indeed write “Doctor Valate’s Guide To Science” which was aimed at the then Arek’jaalan audience, as well as anyone else interested in furthering scientific knowledge.

http://wiki.eve-inspiracy.com/index.php?title=Doctor_Valate's_Guide_To_Science

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Valerie,

Thank you for your interesting post. I hope you will agree your guidelines belong in the Philosophy of Science side of the house because they are not addressing a scientific question but rather the question of how science should be done.

I would like to reciprocate and offer my suggestions for how philosophy of science should be done by encouraging you to make explicit your assumptions and reasoning for why your approach to science is the proper approach. Relying upon your position as an accomplished archaeologist to suggest that we should accept your implicit assumptions and rationale without a thorough examination is not in keeping with the objectives of the Institute.

My rationale for this approach to philosophy of science is that our assumptions and conclusions should be made explicit and supported by logical arguments because I think that methodology reduces the risk of error and I believe but cannot prove it is more likely that we can collectively make progress and achieve results that are correct or at least less incorrect, in the sense of corresponding to objective reality, if such a thing exists.

We are happy to fund or otherwise support efforts by you or anyone else to address these points or to put forward alternative approaches to how science or philosophy of science should be done. There is also the unaddressed question whether the same methodology should necessarily apply to social sciences, such as archaeology, and to physical sciences, such as physics and chemistry, which are more relevant to our current projects.

To the extent it is helpful to clarify the objectives and philosophical underpinings of our initial set for projects, we are seeking to collect and publicly disseminate a database of reliable, verifiable empirical datapoints about certain planets and moons, not in order to advance a particular hypothesis, thesis or analytical methodology but in order to provide a common set of data for me and others to develop and test hypotheses, theories and analytical methodologies in the future.

As for my principal philosophical assumptions, they are that the collected datapoints will remain constant over time and that different persons can agree as to what those datapoints are. My rationale is that I and from what I can gather others have found through past experience that those basic propositions have apparently held true. As a result, we will assume that is correct as to the past and will continue to be correct in the future and the database therefore will represent a source of agreed upon, consistent empirical data.

In this regard, once we begin to publish such data, we will offer generous rewards to anyone who finds mistakes in the database so that it will be as error free as possible.

Cheers.

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The Three C’s that I mentioned are the key, because they greatly help the communication of any findings.

Now, you’ve already got at least one of them in place, with your suggestion of a standard method of recording the data. That is excellent.

You’ve mentioned that your initial objective is building a database of information. Constructing a dataset for yourself and others to then use to test hypotheses and so on.

So the guidelines I’ve mentioned will help with that. Consistency of data recording helps build the dataset quickly and without error.

One might also add a couple more C’s to it - Comprehensiveness maybe - record as much data as possible, because someone might find that useful, even if you don’t initially see a use for it.

Now, once you have your dataset, and people are beginning to make use of it, then a set of guidelines to establish a common format for people to present their findings in is helpful, as it allows others to more easily understand what it is that has been discovered.

Many scientists are pressed for time, so a consistent format for presentation of findings helps people to assimilate the current state of knowledge, which might reduce needless duplication of work as well.

So, good luck with your endeavours.

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Thanks. Cheers.

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Speaking of research projects, here is a transmission I picked up in J120252.

…oard our newest starship. The Caille University nymphology team is currently on a task to discover new ways to promote healthy style of living and spaceship propuls… WE ARE STRANDED ON AN ASTEROID AND EXOTIC DANCERS ARE RIOTING, PLEASE SEND HELP… ion for every capsuleer…

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I am a new capsuleer but this project seems interesting. I may take part in this endeavour in the near future.

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