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If nothing else, interviews can be justified on the basis of trying to assess commitment. When a student drops out later in the course you can't simply replace them, so each drop out means one less potential doctor. Why would this be an issue? Consider that the elderly soak up most of our...

I'm curious to know what you mean by "his idea of Hilbert's Hotel is actually logical fallacy." His use of Hilbert's Hotel seems somewhat shakey to me because he only concludes that the idea is "absurd" not that it is logically impossible (the kind of claim which would be required to exclude...

The data so far: (Edit: Also, for the 'lol'-factor a feasibility study of Noah's ark)

The infectious disease / vector issue is probably a more significant issue for developing world nations. The last thing they need is an increased prevelance of vector bourne diseases...

... even some university medallists within medicine end up staying within medical science (thinking of at least one academic physiologist at UNSW) or somewhere other than medicine 'proper'. I've also been told that another past medicine medallist only studied medicine because she thought that it...

Do good manners still matter these days? I think that manners still matter in so far as they help to reduce conflict in social situations. For example, one might take the following as a general rule of etiquette 'avoid offending others unnecessarily'. It is fairly simple to see how following...

It may be the case that the concept of an infinite chain of preceeding causes describes a real possibility which is merely beyond our grasp. However, it doesn't seem too unreasonable to suppose that this causal chain bottoms out somewhere. The pertinent point for criticism of the cosmological...

In an empirical sense you can't - but it may be the case that the logical impossibility of an entity ensures that it cannot exist, in which can an impossibility proof may be available.

I'm actually a dual citizen and I intend to cast my vote in the primaries for Obama. A couple things I like about him: - His approach in debates. He often takes on arguments by trying to identify underlying premises which he can then debunk rather than sinking to relatively empty rhetoric. I...

I could be wrong, but I'm fairly sure the B Phil(Hons) program isn't aimed specifically at philosophy students (think of it like an undergrad PhD - doctor of philosophy - where 'philosophy' refers to the general academic approach to acquiring knowledge). I remember reading that it's aimed at...

ANU is relatively strong in philosophy for an Australian uni (rating higher than USyd, for what it's worth). Broad assessments may be worthwhile if someone is doing, say, a generalist arts degree, but I think it's a good idea to check out specific departments when you have a definite interest...

With a good interview you'll be sweet.

Yup, assuming honours your load would consist of: BA: - 9 english courses (54cp) - 2 history/politics courses (12cp) Honours year: - Thesis workshop + thesis - 3 upper level seminar courses

As you can probably tell from my signature, I'm in strong support of your desire to study arts along with medicine. As far as the UNSW/USyd debate goes, I think UNSW is a much more realistic option - you can work as hard as possible and still not make the marks needed for entry into the USyd...

The term 'optimization' should be taken with a grain of salt for a few reasons: (1) It's worth distinguishing between local and 'global' optimization. Suppose that the following graph represents, for some organism, some inheritable, variant trait (e.g. height) on the x-axis and evolutionary...

You could think about it in relation to the Socrates' question 'how should one live?'. When some manner of living is termed 'the good life' then it will often be a way of life which is seen to satisfy Socrates' question. In other words, I am saying that religions often have a lot to say about...

It is true that God forms the centerpiece of most organised religions, but it is worth keeping in mind that a further significant aspect of these religions is that they endorse a particular way of life and some brand of moral system. In other words, they provide an account of what constitues...

When looking at the TV guide the other night I noted that some dicey made-for-TV version of Pratchett's Hogfather was being shown. I looked up the book on wikipedia to remind myself what it was about (I read it some time ago) and came across an amusing, yet interesting, little bit of exposition...

Come on everyone. Embrace the truth: JC tames dinosaur.

It is firmly established that evolution accounts for some of the diversity we see around us - antiobiotic resistance in bacteria is a classic and relatively airtight example. While we can't claim with absolute certainty (as is generally the case in good science) that evolutionary theory accounts...