In search of clarity about parity

In Search of Clarity about Parity

Gravity, entropy, and cosmology: in search of clarity

I discuss the statistical mechanics of gravitating systems and in particular its cosmological implications, and argue that many conventional views on this subject in the foundations of statistical mechanics embody significant confusion; I attempt to provide a clearer and more accurate account. In particular, I observe that (i) the role of gravity in entropy calculations must be distinguished fr...

Cosmology and entropy: in search of further clarity

The concept of cosmic entropy, and the purported need to explain the initial conditions of Friedmann-Robertson-Walker ‘Big Bang cosmology’, continue to cause confusion within the scientific community. David Wallace’s 2010 paper went some way towards disentangling this confusion, but left a number of significant issues unaddressed. The purpose of this paper is to define and resolve these issues....

Clarity about concessive knowledge attributions: reply to Dodd

1 Clarity about Concessive Knowledge Attributions: Reply to Dodd Trent Dougherty Patrick Rysiew Recently, Dylan Dodd has tried to clear up what he takes to be some of the many confusions surrounding concessive knowledge attributions (CKAs) -i.e., utterances of the form “S knows that p, but it’s possible that q” (where q entails not-p) (Rysiew 2001). We agree with Dodd that there are a lot of mi...

Search Platforms: Showrooming and Price Parity Clauses

We provide a model in which consumers search for firms directly or through platforms. Platforms lower search costs but charge firms for the transactions they facilitate. Platform fees raise the possibility of showrooming, in which consumers search on a platform but then switch and buy directly to take advantage of lower direct prices. In settings like this, search platforms like Amazon’s market...