13 NOV 2015 by ideonexus
Technology Enables IA, but Culture Must Evolve for It
Look at what intellect would be without writing or the printing press—these primitive technologies already make such a difference. Just think of what the latest computer technology will be able to do to further augment the intellect!
But this is a non-sequitur: what makes writing and paper powerful is technology to some extent, but it is mostly the rich culture that grew up around it.
Let’s look at writing first. The earlies extant samples of writing are Babylonian clay tablets contai... 1 
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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
notes24 JAN 2014 by ideonexus
Geometry Sets the Mind Right
Geometry enlightens the intellect and sets one's mind right. All its proofs are very clear and orderly. It is hardly possible for errors to enter into geometrical reasoning, because it is well arranged and orderly. Thus, the mind that constantly applies itself to geometry is not likely to fall into error. In this convenient way, the person who knows geometry acquires intelligence. It has been assumed that the followmg statement was written Upon Plato's door: 'No one who is not a geometrician ...Folksonomies: mathematics meditation
Folksonomies: mathematics meditation
1 Makes me think about mindfulness meditation, which is fine, but there are meditative practices that are proactive as well.
18 JUL 2013 by ideonexus
Art as an Evolutionary Fitness Indicator
To be reliable, fitness indicators must be difficult for low-fitness individuals to produce. Applied to human art, this suggests that beauty equals difficulty and high cost. We find attractive those things that could have been produced only by people with attractive, high-fitness qualities such as health, energy, endurance, hand-eye coordination, fine motor control, intelligence, creativity, access to rare materials, the ability to learn difficult skills, and lots of free time. Also, like bow... 1 notes
notesThe artwork must connect to the potential mate and communicate the fitness of the artist, but it cannot be too errudite, or it becomes elite art and the communication becomes noise.
11 MAY 2013 by ideonexus
Plato's Theory of Forms and Object Oriented Programming
In the theory of forms, Plato posits that there were these things called "forms," and a form is basically an abstract concept that represents some sort of object that exists. Then these objects were basically some sort of particular thing that has form-ness of some kind. So you can almost think of this as like a class and an instance basically, where you have the general definition and then the specific one. And then those objects also have attributes, which is some sort of quality.
Whenever...Plato's idea of forms and objects with that formness is very similar to the concept in OOP, with classes and objects.
19 APR 2013 by ideonexus
Post-Modernism in Ancient Thought
In the midst of the decline of Greece, Athens, which, in the days of its power, had honoured philosophy and letters, owed to them, in its turn, the preserving for a longer period some remains of its ancient splendour. In its tribune, indeed, the destinies of Greece and Asia were no longer decided; it was, however, in the schools of Athens that the Romans acquired the secrets of eloquence; and it was at the feet of Demosthenes’ lamp that the first of their orators was formed.
The academy, t... 1 notes
notesWith the idea that nothing is knowable, philosophy fell into a rut. Aristotle came along with the brilliant idea that everything we know comes through our senses, but failed to take that idea anywhere useful.
19 APR 2013 by ideonexus
The Death of Socrates
The burning of the Pythagorean school had already signalized the war, not less ancient, not less eager, of the oppressors of mankind against philosophy. The one and the other will continue to be waged as long as there shall exist priests or kings upon the earth; and these wars will occupy a conspicuous place in the picture that we have still to delineate.
Priests saw with grief the appearance of men, who, cultivating the powers of reason, ascending to first principles, could not but discover...Folksonomies: history philosophy
Folksonomies: history philosophy
1 notes
notesRetaliation from the priesthood.
16 MAR 2013 by ideonexus
Zero is Freedom
It is also clear that beginning with Plato's pupil Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) and the latter's practical philosophy, the geocentric concept of the celestial system was, after 200 B.C., becoming more and more formally adopted by the "world's" flat-minded power-structure "authorities," despite contradic¬ tory complexities. The difficultly explained geocentric cosmic systems' plan¬ etary behaviors and Sun motion was not considered by the authorities to be an objection since, as they rationalized... 1 notes
notesThe emptiness allowed for freedom of calculations that would usurp the authoritarian powers.
28 MAR 2012 by ideonexus
Euthyphro
Yet the divine trump card is not fully effective in the way religious parents may expect. This was shown a long time ago by Plato in his dialogue, Euthyphro. In that dialogue Socrates asks what the holy is. After several failed efforts to answer the question, Euthyphro offers the suggestion that the holy is doing what the gods love. Socrates then asks, “Is it holy because the gods love it, or do the gods love it because it is holy?”
We can translate Socrates’s famous question into the ... 1 notes
notesIs something good because god commands it, or does god command it because it's good?
10 AUG 2011 by ideonexus
Looking at the Shadows in the Cave
“Yes,” Dr. Malone went on, “they know we’re here. They answer back. And here goes the crazy part: you can’t see them unless you expect to. Unless you put your mind in a certain state. You have to be confident and relaxed at the same time. You have to be capable- Where’s that quotation …”
She reached into the muddle of papers on her desk and found a scrap on which someone had written with a green pen. She read:
” ‘… Capable of being in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, ... 1 notes
notesA computer named "the cave" where users look into the shadows displayed on it and it reflects their thinking. Named for Plato's Cave, it also sounds like Tarot readings; however, in the context of the story, there is something supernatural at work too.
