Saturday, May 3, 2014

What Happens When You Ask NIST for Answers about WTC7?

Professor Kurtis Hagen asked the National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST) three questions about the collapse of World Trade Center 7, the third building that fell on 9/11. I agree with his assessment "that NIST is either unwilling or unable to adequately answer questions that really ought to be answered."

6 comments:

JDB said...

This is only vaguely on topic due to Hagen's research interests, but have you ever explored the philosophical literature on conspiracy theories? David Coady is one of the leading figures in that literature:
http://www.utas.edu.au/humanities/people/philosophy-profiles/David-Coady

The 2006 edited volume mentioned there would probably be of interest to you.

JDB said...

Anyway, the pdf you posted is a nice resource.

Bilbo said...

The title certainly looks interesting. Have you read any of his stuff on conspiracy theories?

Bilbo said...

His book is a little pricey. I guess I would try a library.

JDB said...

That price is so dumb.

Haven't gotten into the conspiracy book, though I've looked at his "applied epistemology" book called What to Believe Now. If I remember correctly, the conspiracy book has a variety of views, but Coady's view is actually friendly to conspiracy theories in general - I think he defends the thesis that they are an important epistemic contribution to society, and that marginalizing them decreases the rationality of commonly held beliefs. But I'm not sure about the details.

Bilbo said...

Fascinating. I'm curious if he mentions 9/11.