09 NOV 2015 by ideonexus
America's Political Future Could Look Like France's
Consider what it would look like for America to follow the path of France, devolving toward a new two-party system which has on the one hand a center-left / technocratic party, full of elites with shared pedigrees of experience and education, and on the other a nativist right/populist party, which represents a constant reactive force to the dominant elite.
In France, the École Nationale d’Administration produces the political elite. In America, we have a more diversified but still as domi...Folksonomies: politics cognitive bias
Folksonomies: politics cognitive bias
1 01 APR 2015 by ideonexus
Evolution of French Prescriptivism
Prescriptive attitudes to language seem to be more deeply engrained in France than in many other speech-communities. This article traces their development between the sixteenth century and the present day within the model of language standardization proposed by E. Haugen and in the light of the notion of ‘standard ideology’ proposed by J. and L. Milroy. It will be argued that early definitions of what was considered ‘the best French’ were based simply on the observed usage of ‘the b...Folksonomies: prescriptivism
Folksonomies: prescriptivism
Sounds as though it has often been used for discrimination.
21 JUN 2014 by ideonexus
There is a mass exodus into the virtual world
The real world just doesn’t offer up as easily the carefully designed pleasures,
the thrilling challenges, and the powerful social bonding afforded by
virtual environments. Reality doesn’t motivate us as effectively. Reality isn’t
engineered to maximize our potential. Reality wasn’t designed from the bottom
up to make us happy.
And so, there is a growing perception in the gaming community:
Reality, compared to games, is broken.
In fact, it is more than a perception. It’s a phenom...Folksonomies: education gamification
Folksonomies: education gamification
1 
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notes25 FEB 2014 by ideonexus
The ITER Project
Years from now—maybe in a decade, maybe sooner—if all goes according to plan, the most complex machine ever built will be switched on in an Alpine forest in the South of France. The machine, called the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, or iter, will stand a hundred feet tall, and it will weigh twenty-three thousand tons—more than twice the weight of the Eiffel Tower. At its core, densely packed high-precision equipment will encase a cavernous vacuum chamber, in which a s... 1 notes
notesDescription of a multi-national effort to produce a fusion reactor. Something some refer to as a "non-optional" technology for the human race to survive.
20 DEC 2013 by ideonexus
The Death of Technocracy
What we are witnessing is the beginning of the final breakup of industrialism and, with it, the
collapse of technocratic planning. By technocratic planning, I do not mean only the
centralized national planning that has, until recently, characterized the USSR, but also the
less formal, more dispersed attempts at systematic change management that occur in all the
high technology nations, regardless of their political persuasion. Michael Harrington, the
socialist critic, arguing that we have rej... 1 notes
notesThis is not a dichotomy--there can be degrees of planning and emergence--but the problems with technocracy are true challenges.
13 OCT 2013 by ideonexus
The Importance of Mathematics in Seafaring
Before there was an accurate seafaring clock, the sailor seeking his bearings
had to be a trained mathematician. The accepted way to find longitude
at sea was by precise observations of the moon, which required refined
instruments and subtle calculations. An error as small as 5' in observing the
moon meant an error of 2V2. degrees of longitude, which on the ocean could
be as much as 150 miles—enough to wreck a ship on treacherous shoals.
Fatal miscalculation might come from a crude instrume...
1 Sailors had to be mathematicians in order to keep their bearings on the ocean.
30 JUN 2013 by ideonexus
The Past and Who Has Access to It
What we know about the past—and who has access to such knowledge—has changed dramatically with each such change. The changes run far deeper than the mere proliferation of data points. As written records of large estates held in monasteries in France achieved legal and social dominance, the role of women as the tellers of the past fell into decline (Geary, 1994): The technological and the social were deeply intertwined. The outcome was that different kinds of records were kept. With the in... 1 notes
notesThe past was once only available through memory, then only available to those who had access to records, and now available to everyone.
19 APR 2013 by ideonexus
How the American Revolution Sparked the Enlightenment
The simple dictates of good sense had taught the inhabitants of the British colonies, that men born on the American side of the Atlantic ocean had received from nature the same rights as others born under the meridian of Greenwich, and that a difference of sixty-six degrees of longitude could have no power of changing them. They understood, more perfectly perhaps than Europeans, what were the rights common to all the individuals of the human race; and among these they included the right of no...Folksonomies: enlightenment revolution
Folksonomies: enlightenment revolution
1 notes
notesThe war between two enlightened nations spread to France.
19 APR 2013 by ideonexus
The Splits in Christianity Led to Religious Toleration
The spirit which animated the reformers did not introduce a real freedom of sentiment. Each religion, in the country in which it prevailed, had no indulgence but for certain opinions. Meanwhile, as the different creeds were opposed to each other, few opinions existed that had not been attacked or supported in some part of Europe. The new communions had beside been obliged to relax a little from their dogmatical rigour. They could not, without the grossest contradiction, confine the right of e... 1 notes
notesWhen there were many sects of Chrisianity, Europe had to grow tolerant of them.
21 JUN 2012 by ideonexus
Benjamin Franklin Discovers Electricity
As every circumstance relating to so capital a discovery as this (the greatest, perhaps, that has been made in the whole compass of philosophy, since the time of Sir Isaac Newton) cannot but give pleasure to all my readers, I shall endeavour to gratify them with the communication of a few particulars which I have from the best authority. The Doctor [Benjamin Franklin], after having published his method of verifying his hypothesis concerning the sameness of electricity with the matter lightnin... 1 notes
notesAn account of his kite experiment.
