The Art of Measurement

I just finished reading an article by Ian Welsh on "The Art of Measurement". He is writing about measuring the productivity of people in the work force. He points out that some kinds of measurements are very helpful. He also shows ways that measurements can be misused. Poorly designed measurements can turn against the very objective that people aim to achieve. He mentions that the larger the group involved the more obstructive ill designed measurement can become.

A the present, the USA is concerned with rewriting regulations to control productive activities of Americans with special emphasis on financial matters. Some of Welsh's idea's of what to do and what not to do could be very helpful. His article is well written, not too long, and has the optimum number of examples. I added it to my list of things worth keeping.

I am eager to read more of Welsh's web site to see if there are other articles I like.

Science and Ethics

This morning I was cajoled into editing a piece by my son on ethics in science. The piece argues that ethics is not simply a side concern of science, but that ethics is the beating heart of the discipline.

My view is that at every stage of scientific development, the genuine scientist holds and maintains high rational values as standards. These rational values are the underlying ethics of science. They establish what a scientist should do. And to a large extent, this is what most actually do do.

New Image

Coco, the dog, recently jumped up and down and asked me to help edit her blog: The Wisdom of Coco.

This blog contains the philosophical musings of a canine.

To help in this task, I upgraded my old blogspot blog to the new Google Account style blog and gave this blog a new look.

You can read the philosophical musings of a human on the site plusroot.com.

Plusroot Blog

The Plusroot Blog will follow the developing of The Roots of Sound Rational Thinking, a work on the foundations of peaceful progress through reason. As with most blogs, the first posts will be about trying to figure out how to use the blogging software. Thank you for your patience in this initial effort.