Jamesian Philosophy Refreshed

As I believe I've mentioned, my day-by day calendar displays a different Dilbert cartoon strip each day. Here is the text from two recent such strips. Day 1. Three characters: Dilbert, Personnel director Catbert (who is a cat, because they love to treat people as toys) and another cat. CATBERT: "This is Wulf. He used to work for a famous physicist named Schrodinger. He escaped before the experiment was finished and now he's both alive and dead at the same time." DILBERT: "Like a zombie?" CATBERT: "uh-oh." WULF: "Wow. I have half a mind to be offended by that." Day 2. Wulf is sitting with Wally in the break room. WULF: "I was Schrodinger's car back in the day. That's why I'm alive and dead at the same time. I know the truth about the afterlife because my dead half  told my living half all about it. Do you want to know what happens?" WALLY: "Stop projecting your curiosity on me." [Drinks co...

  Scott Adams, the cartoonist who created Dilbert, has said that there are only nine news stories, constantly re-written. Every year at about this time I like to check the newspaper with his list in mind, to see if he is right. I'll start with his wording unmodified by examples. 1. EXTREME WEATHER BATTERS SOMEPLACE 2. IDIOTS KILL INNOCENT PEOPLE 3. POLITICIAN DOES SOMETHING ILLEGAL 4. PRIMATE ATTEMPTS INAPPROPRIATE SEX 5. EXPERT WARNS OF FINANCIAL CALAMITY 6. BIG COMPANY BUYS ANOTHER BIG COMPANY 7. FAMOUS PERSON DOES SOMETHING INTERESTING 8. A SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY MIGHT BE USEFUL IN TEN YEARS 9. GOVERNMENT FAILS TO ACHIEVE A GOAL I surveyed the news on one day (a few days back as it happens). Just by convenience, these headlines are all from January 19th. Well, actually, I cheated a little with one of them, but I'll let you dear reader do the work of figuring out which one that is. Without further ado.... 1. EXTREME WEATHER BATTERS SOMEPLACE Catastrophic flo...

Scott Adams, the cartoonist who created Dilbert, likes to say that there are only nine news stories, constantly re-written. Every year at this time I check recent stories with his list in mind to see if he is right. I'll start with his wording unmodified by examples.  1. EXTREME WEATHER BATTERS SOMEPLACE 2. IDIOTS KILL INNOCENT PEOPLE 3. POLITICIAN DOES SOMETHING ILLEGAL 4. PRIMATE ATTEMPTS INAPPROPRIATE SEX 5. EXPERTS WARN OF FINANCIAL CALAMITY 6. BIG COMPANY BUYS ANOTHER BIG COMPANY 7. FAMOUS PERSON DOES SOMETHING INTERESTING 8. A SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY MIGHT BE USEFUL IN TEN YEARS 9. GOVERNMENT FAILS TO ACHIEVE A GOAL I did the research for what follows a couple of weeks ago, in mid-January. I'm too lazy to do the updating -- feel free to play along yourself if you like. But the point stands, these stories are the same ones that are in all the papers all the time. I'll try for some geographical diversity as we go along. 1. Extreme weather? ...