[Interview]: Get to know Lazar

[victorxstc]

someone's into Carl Jung around here...

Yep, and badly

 

[bugman]

Hi Lazar,

rugby union? rugby league? afl? or dont care?

Also, nice to learn a bit about you. I know its not your disipline, but are you familiar with or even met Murray Logan? He is a biologist at Monsah and wrote the Biology package for R. Just curious!

 

[derksheng]

Any view on evolutionary psychology?

 

[Lazar]

Thank you for the prompt response

Congratulations again for the other aspect of your success, your numerous articles I really enjoy hearing about it

Considering your clear sharpness, do you know what is your IQ score?

I have no idea. As a psychologist I had a license to give them so learned about them but never took one seriously.

If life doesn't have a particular meaning, what might be its purpose in your opinion? [well I think that Camus book tells about your idea on the purpose of life: possibly nothing except to struggle without any goals - but your life style indicates that you are actually full of purpose and rich goals ]

What I meant was that I dont believe in a meta-physical purpose. When you move from the purpose of the univerise to what gives my life purpose there is no shortage of candidates. In the words of Tim Minchin

Isn’t this enough?
Just this world?
Just this beautiful, complex
Wonderfully unfathomable world?
How does it so fail to hold our attention
That we have to diminish it with the invention
Of cheap, man-made Myths and Monsters?...
I am a tiny, insignificant, ignorant lump of carbon.
I have one life, and it is short
And unimportant…
But thanks to recent scientific advances
I get to live twice as long as my great great great great uncles and auntses.
Twice as long to live this life of mine
Twice as long to love this wife of mine
Twice as many years of friends and wine

As someone quite familiar with logical thinking and statistics, don't you agree that failure to find evidence does not mean the absence of evidence? Maybe our test power is too low?

There could be all sorts of things that I dont have evidence for that are true and as a good scientist one should always keep an open mind and follow the evidence where it leads. I think the difference here is that it is not that I believe god/s do not exist rather I find a lack of evidence to believe (if the difference is clear).

 

[victorxstc]

Thank you Lazar I'm glad I know you a little more now

By the way, what does Lazar mean? Is it a person name> or comes from laser for example?

Thanks for sharing your meaning of life I meant something like that, not something metaphysical

 

[Lazar]

Hi Lazar,

rugby union? rugby league? afl? or dont care?

Also, nice to learn a bit about you. I know its not your disipline, but are you familiar with or even met Murray Logan? He is a biologist at Monsah and wrote the Biology package for R. Just curious!

I like all football codes though I lean toward league.

p.s. dont know Murry Logan.

 

[Lazar]

Any view on evolutionary psychology?

I have mixed feelings (I am currently reading Evolution in Four Dimensions). Obviously we are the products of evolution but current Evolutionary Psychology (note the capitals) leaves a lot to be desired. This is a good article http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S136466130500104X. Jerry Coyne's "Why Evolution is True" has a good section at the end.

 

[derksheng]

Evolution in Four Dimensions

I'm thinking of buying this ... Is the content a bit crack-potty or is there good science behind the book's material?

 

[Lazar]

I'm not really sure. I have only read the first few chapters and it seems a little over blown.

 

[Lazar]

By the way, what does Lazar mean? Is it a person name> or comes from laser for example?

I have been on forums and moderating forums for many years and Lazar has always been the name I use. I believe my wife got it from a book but I cannot remeber which one.

 

[Dragan]

Lazar: There has been (obviously) an increase in the use of qualitative research methods over the past – say – 15 years. In view of this, I would ask you; Is this rise in qualitative research methods attributed to traditional quantitative research methods (e.g. ANOVA , Regression, Factor Analysis, PCA) not being able to answer the questions that social scientists ask, or, is it that students/researchers (in the social sciences) do not understand – and/or cannot correctly perform – the statistical (i.e. quantitative) procedures?

 

[Lazar]

Lazar: There has been (obviously) an increase in the use of qualitative research methods over the past – say – 15 years. In view of this, I would ask you; Is this rise in qualitative research methods attributed to traditional quantitative research methods (e.g. ANOVA , Regression, Factor Analysis, PCA) not being able to answer the questions that social scientists ask, or, is it that students/researchers (in the social sciences) do not understand – and/or cannot correctly perform – the statistical (i.e. quantitative) procedures?

I dont really know, most likely a question for tr moreso than me. I think qual folks would argue that quant is bad at getting at the meaning that occurs with a particular context.

Note. I am very very bad at qual research which may colour my view.