25 JAN 2024 by ideonexus
Forgotten Best Sellers
Social values ebb and flow over decades, but the values expressed in a book are fixed. It may be that science fiction is more affected by values dissonance than other genres by nature of being (often) set in the future. A book written and set in the 1950s might have quaint expectations regarding the proper roles of men and women (not to mention the assumption that those are only two choices), but they would be the quaint expectations of the era in which the book is set. A novel written in the...Folksonomies: popculture
Folksonomies: popculture
25 JAN 2024 by ideonexus
Computers are Associated with Precision, but Really They ...
In physics, too, where computers were used to relieve the tedium of data collection and plotting, relatively mundane applications had significant effects. When calculation was automated and its results instantaneously translated into screen visualizations, patterns in data became more apparent. Physics students described feeling “closer to science†and “closer to theory†when their laboratory classes began to use software for visualization and analysis. As in chemistry...Folksonomies: simulation computation
Folksonomies: simulation computation
23 SEP 2023 by ideonexus
I and Thou Thinking
In his 1923 book I and Thou, the philosopher Martin Buber draws a distinction between what he calls I-It and I-Thou ways of seeing. In I-It, the other (a thing or a person) is an “it†that exists only as an instrument or means to an end, something to be appropriated by the “I.†A person who only knows I-It will never encounter anything outside himself because he does not truly “encounter.†Buber writes that such a person “only knows the feverish world...Folksonomies: mindfulness
Folksonomies: mindfulness
28 FEB 2021 by ideonexus
Humanity is Fortunate to Have a Variety of Energy Sources...
Humanity is fortunate in having such a variety of energy resources at its disposal. In the very long run we shall need energy that is unpolluting; we shall have sunlight. In the fairly long run we shall need energy that is inexhaustible and moderately clean; we shall have deuterium. In the short run we shall need energy that is readily usable and abundant; we shall have uranium. Right now we need energy that is cheap and convenient; we have coal and oil. Nature has been kinder to us than we h...02 MAR 2019 by ideonexus
Scientific Laws Mean That God has No Freedom
he one remaining area that reHgion can now lay claim to is the origin of the universe, but even here science is making progress and should soon provide a definitive answer to how the universe began. I published a book that asked if God created the universe, and that caused something of a stir. People got upset that a scientist should have anything to say on the matter of religion. I have no desire to tell anyone what to believe, but for me asking if God exists is a valid question for science...02 MAR 2019 by ideonexus
Science Poem
The worm drives helically through the wood And does not know the dust left in the bore Once made the table integral and good; And suddenly the crystal hits the floor. Electrons find their paths in subtle ways, A massless eddy in a trail of smoke; The names of lovers, light of other days Perhaps you will not miss them. That's the joke. The universe winds down. That's how it's made. But memory is everything to lose; Although some of the colors have to fade, Do not believe ...Folksonomies: science poetry
Folksonomies: science poetry
06 JAN 2018 by ideonexus
The Personal Equation
Sounds like a "fuzzy set." Which comes into play when you try to categorize things that vary continuously into discrete groups. Can't be done without ambiguruity and bias. As a geneficist by the name of Pearl demonstrated when he had 15 scienfists sort the same 532 com kernels into yellow-starchy, yellow-sweet, white-starchy or whitesweet groupings. Each scientist came up with a different count. Instead of objectivity. Pearl discovered "personal equation," the slight nuance in perception each...Folksonomies: perception
Folksonomies: perception
07 NOV 2017 by ideonexus
Scientists in New Atlantis
"These are (my son) the riches of Salomon's House. "For the several employments and offices of our fellows; we have twelve that sail into foreign countries, under the names of other nations, (for our own we conceal); who bring us the books, and abstracts, and patterns of experiments of all other parts. These we call Merchants of Light. "We have three that collect the experiments which are in all books. These we call Depredators. "We have three that collect the experiments of all mechanical...21 APR 2017 by ideonexus