31 MAY 2015 by ideonexus
Perception of Time
“Do not squander time,” said Benjamin Franklin, “for that is the stuff life is made of.” Our consciousness, even more than it is posted in space, unrolls in time. I can imagine abolishing space from my awareness—if, say, I were floating in a sensory deprivation tank or became blind and paralyzed—while still continuing to think as usual. But it’s almost impossible to imagine abolishing time from one’s awareness, leaving the last thought immobilized like a stuck car horn, while ...Folksonomies: perception time
Folksonomies: perception time
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notes24 JAN 2015 by ideonexus
Manchester and the Birth of the Industrial Revolution
What was so exciting about Manchester? Disraeli with his acute political and historical instinct understood that Manchester had done something unique and revolutionary. Only he was wrong to call it science. What Manchester had done was to invent the Industrial Revolution, a new style of life and work which began in that little country town about two hundred years ago and inexorably grew and spread out from there until it had turned the whole world upside down. Disraeli was the first politicia...Folksonomies: academia revolution
Folksonomies: academia revolution
1 notes
notes14 NOV 2014 by ideonexus
Concepts from Accelerando
agalmics: A form of economics concerning the "study and practice of the production and allocation of non-scarce goods," primarily via free-market trading, open-source initiatives, and flexible standards for intellectual property. Consult Robert Levin's "The Marginalization of Scarcity" for more information.
anarcho-capitalism: A political philosophy which proposes the replacement of governments with the free market. For more information see wikipedia:anarcho-capitalis... 1 notes
notes07 NOV 2014 by ideonexus
Expanding the Scope of School Subjects
We should not retreat to a curriculum advisory
committee and ask, “Now where should
we fit this topic into the already overloaded
curriculum?” Although we cannot discard all
the fragmented subjects in our present school
system and start from scratch, we can and
should ask all teachers to stretch their subjects
to meet the needs and interests of the whole
child. Working within the present subject-centered
curriculum, we can ask math and science
teachers as well as English and social studie...Folksonomies: education whole child
Folksonomies: education whole child
1 notes
notes13 OCT 2013 by ideonexus
The Clock, Icon of Science
Philosophers were always looking for new handles on the universe—new
similes, new metaphors, new analogies. Despite their scorn for those who
cast the Creator of the Universe in man's image, the theologians never
ceased to scrutinize man's own handiwork as their clues to God. Now man
was a proud clockmaker, a maker of self-moving machines. Once set in
motion, the mechanical clock seemed to tick with a life of its own. Might
not the universe itself be a vast clock made and set in motion by t... 1 notes
notesThe first icon to replace religous icons in Western culture.
11 OCT 2013 by ideonexus
The Problem of Philosophy
At least mathematicians try not to contradict one another. Not so philosophers! They are all "great"... and all in total disagreement! "Studying philosophy" really means gorging yourself on a stew of every idea imaginable. A Platonist thinks appearance is but a bad copy of reality... While an Aristotelian puts all his faith in its observation! Are mental concepts innate or acquired? "Innate" says the great Kant! "Aquired" says the great Hume! Is there an opposition between mind and matter? Ye... 1 notes
notesA myriad of "great" minds produce an equal number of contradictory positions. Only science can say who's right.
19 APR 2013 by ideonexus
Outline of the Natural Sciences Pt. I
The heavens are enriched for the man of science with new stars, and he applies his knowledge to determine and foretel with accuracy their positions and movements. Natural philosophy, gradually delivered from the vague explanations of Descartes, in the same manner as it before was disembarrassed from the absurdities of the schools, is now nothing more than the art of interrogating nature by experiment, for the parpose of afterwards deducing more general facts by computation.
The weight of the... 1 notes
notesFrom Condorcet's Ninth Epoch. A survey of the world of science and a call for the need for the different sciences to find points where they touch in order to strengthen.
19 APR 2013 by ideonexus
Man Becomes Acquainted With the Laws of the Universe
Rational mechanics soon became a vast and profound science. The true laws of the collision of bodies, respecting which Descartes was deceived, were at length known.
Huyghens discovered the laws of circular motions; and at the same time he gives a method of determining the radius of curvature for every point of a given curve. By uniting both theories, Newton invented the theory of curve-lined motions, and applied it to those laws according to which Kepler had discovered that the planets descr... 1 notes
notesWhen we learned and understood the motions of bodies in space.
19 APR 2013 by ideonexus
Bacon, Galileo, Descartes
The transition from the epoch we have been considering to that which follows, has been distinguished by three extraordinary personages, Bacon, Galileo, and Descartes. Bacon has revealed the true method of studying nature, by employing the three instruments with which she has furnished us for the discovery of her secrets, observation, experiment and calculation. He was desirous that the philosopher, placed in the midst of the universe, should, as a first and necessary step in his career, renou... 1 notes
notesCondorcet considers the last the most important of the era.
08 JUN 2012 by ideonexus
There is No Scientific Basis for Prejudice
Break the chains of your prejudices and take up the torch of experience, and you will honour nature in the way she deserves, instead of drawing derogatory conclusions from the ignorance in which she has left you. Simply open your eyes and ignore what you cannot understand, and you will see that a labourer whose mind and knowledge extend no further than the edges of his furrow is no different essentially from the greatest genius, as would have been proved by dissecting the brains of Descartes ...Folksonomies: prejudice
Folksonomies: prejudice
1 The brains of laborers and geniuses are anatomically identical.
