Saturday, April 25, 2020

PLANS


I am making progress, I think, on the technical plans for the zoom-to-YouTube Hume lectures.  I thought, when I start in a week or two, that 2 p.m. Eastern time on Saturdays would be good – a weekend for those who work, 11 am on the West Coast, middle evening in Europe.  This would of course be impossible for Charles Pigden, should he be interested.

If only a half dozen or a few more sign in, I can unmute everybody and take comments and questions as I go, but if, by some miraculous combination of terminal boredom and philosophical interest, thirty or forty folks show up, I would have to mute everyone until a question period at the end.

How does that sound?

18 comments:

  1. Sounds good. YouTube might be preferable to Zoom, to prevent the trolls from potentially showing up and disrupting the lecture...and it is easy to do a youtube live and then leave the recording up for people to view later on at their leisure. But, the enhanced interaction of a Zoom call could be nice if it works out.

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  2. Where and one can one register for these lectures? Are they open to the public?

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  3. I would love to join. Could you put out a syllabus what you will be covering so we can read up like a book club or college class?

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  4. I would love to join. Which you tube channel will they be on?

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  5. Whatever's best for you in the end good sir.
    I'm not sure time wise would be good for me in Japan; so finding it on YouTube would be most appreciated.
    If I then leave a comment, is there a portfolio you would reply to it? Or a least a higher probably than getting a reply here? I guess I'll see.

    Looking forward to whatever we'll have.

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  6. That sounds great, and change of plans I'll be EST by then so, anything goes. Thanks!

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  7. I'm looking forward to your Hume lectures.

    I don't have zoom and I don't have the slightest idea how it works.

    However, I'll follow your lectures on Youtube. Youtube also has the advantage that I can tune in when I want, stop in the middle of a lecture and then restart later, go back a few minutes in a lecture in order to repeat something if I don't completely understand it or if I'm momentarily distracted. It's been 50 years since I've sat down in a lecture and paid attention to it for an hour and I'm more than a bit out of practice.

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  8. Wow, who would have guessed a resurgence of interest in Hume? But skepticism of authority seems to be the order of the day--Trump's press-conferences compel a good part of it.---Is it"skepticism" or "scepticism"? Anyway, one longs for the days more septic than viral.

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  9. @wallerstein You don't need zoom. You can watch via a web connection. RPW can send out the meeting code and all you need do is click. Or you can download the zoom program and enter the same code into it. One reason it is popular is that it is ridiculously easy to use.
    The zoom session can be recorded and posted wherever one wants after.
    As to security, one can password protect or, more simply, set up the zoom session with a "waiting room". That means that the host has to individually let you in after you "arrive".

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  10. In this case, the host would have no idea who exactly should have the password or who should be let into the waiting room...unless and until someone shows up to try to be disruptive. The waiting room feature would probably need to be manned by someone else with RPF if used, so as not to disrupt his attention from lecturing.

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  11. @Anonymous 11:29 a.m.
    You seem to be concerned about the possibility of disruption, but what are the chances that a troll will want to disrupt Prof Wolff's Hume lectures? Maybe one in 10,000 or 1 in 100,000? I think there would be a greater likelihood of being struck by the proverbial bus while crossing the street than that an internet troll would want to disrupt some lectures on Hume. But I guess I could be wrong. There might be some people out there sufficiently bored, sufficiently educated, and sufficiently uncouth that their idea of a good time would be disrupting and heckling an 86-year-old retired professor's Hume lectures. Do such people exist? True, there was a troll of sorts in these comment threads recently, but if he tried to disrupt a zoom session I assume (although I don't know much of anything about zoom) that he could be muted immediately.

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  12. It's been a widespread issue with unsecured Zoom meetings lately.

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  13. i am beginning the treatise so very much interested. but i prefer youtube also

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  14. Followers of this excellent Blog and of Prof. Wolff's many text and video lectures (such as myself too) may be interested in knowing about this resource, for whatever reason.

    I also suggest that you look up Jonathan Bennett (philosopher) in Wikipedia for a sense of who he is.

    https://www.earlymoderntexts.com
    By Jonathan Bennett

    Early Modern Texts

    On this site you will find versions of some classics of early modern philosophy, and a few from the 19th century, prepared with a view to making them easier to read while leaving intact the main arguments, doctrines, and lines of thought.

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  15. I am no expert on Hume, but Can I throw this out here on Hume's philosophy and the current political climate? Hume seemed to give at least a thoughtful nod to all facets of an issue to avoid bias so I submit to you Trump is following Hume's philosophy at least a little? He is trying to look on the bright side of the terrible effect of the virus by saying its going to get better in the fall but he is also employing many, many scientists to tackle the problem. He is also using inductive reasoning by introducing outside the box remedies though also deferring to the scientists and Governers for active leadership for solutions. He isn't praying it away or concocting folk cures like other countries. Although Trump is rude, crass, impulsive, etc, he also understands what Hume means by cause and effect. Just an alternative way to look at things in a socratic traditionally way.

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  16. Hey, Anonymous, your English is almost as bad as Putin's.

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  17. I would love to join your Hume lectures as they take place, but am unsure if I can make it. It will be Saturday evenings here in Denmark.

    Best regards,
    trane

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