30 DEC 2016 by ideonexus
Magnus Speaks on Knowledge
Magnus turned from Mortarion and walked to the centre of the amphitheatre, lifting his hands out to his sides and slowly turning on the spot as he spoke.
“Imagine the Imperium of the future, a golden Utopia of enlightenment and progress, where the scientist and the philosopher are equal partners with the warrior in crafting a bounteous future. Now imagine the people of that glorious age looking back through the mists of time to this moment. Think what they will know and what they would mak...Folksonomies: enlightenment knowledge
Folksonomies: enlightenment knowledge
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notes29 JAN 2015 by ideonexus
Loss of Hope Accelerates the Death of Trantor
"The fall of Trantor," said Seldon, "cannot be stopped by any conceivable
effort. It can be hastened easily, however. The tale of my interrupted
trial will spread through the Galaxy. Frustration of my plans to lighten
the disaster will convince people that the future holds no promise to them.
Already they recall the lives of their grandfathers with envy. They will
see that political revolutions and trade stagnations will increase. The
feeling will pervade the Galaxy that onl... 1 notes
notes12 JAN 2015 by ideonexus
The Futility of Linguistic Prescription
When we see men grow old and die at a certain time one after another, from century to century, we laugh at the elixir that promises to prolong life to a thousand years; and with equal justice may the lexicographer be derided, who being able to produce no example of a nation that has preserved their words and phrases from mutability, shall imagine that his dictionary can embalm his language, and secure it from corruption and decay, that it is in his power to change sublunary nature, and clear ...
1 25 AUG 2012 by ideonexus
Prayer is Silent Observation
Learning to pray, then as I understand it, is learning to listen with the mind and the heart – making oneself attentive to each exquisite detail of the world. It is a fearsome exhilarating task, best suited to solitude and silence. Such prayers are answered not with miracles tagged with our names, or those of our loved ones, but with beauty and terror. For the prayerful listener, the world becomes the sublime scripture, full of stories of structure and chaos, law and chance, complexificatio...Folksonomies: observation prayer
Folksonomies: observation prayer
1 notes
notesSimply looking at the world for what it is and what it has to tell us.
21 JUN 2012 by ideonexus
Happiness Comes from Finding Balance
I do not believe that science per se is an adequate source of happiness, nor do I think that my own scientific outlook has contributed very greatly to my own happiness, which I attribute to defecating twice a day with unfailing regularity. Science in itself appears to me neutral, that is to say, it increases men's power whether for good or for evil. An appreciation of the ends of life is something which must be superadded to science if it is to bring happiness, but only the kind of society to... 1 notes
notesBertrand Russell's observations in his old age.
23 MAR 2012 by ideonexus
Untouched Forests as Temples
Among the scenes which are deeply impressed on my mind, none exceed in sublimity the primeval forests undefaced by the hand of man; whether those of Brazil, where the powers of Life are predominant, or those of Tierra del Fuego, where Death and Decay prevail. Both are temples filled with the varied productions of the God of Nature: no one can stand in these solitudes unmoved, and not feel that there is more in man than the mere breath of his body. 1 notes
notesDarwin remarks on the wonders filling untouched forests he explored in his voyages.
22 MAR 2012 by ideonexus
Neutrinos
Neutrinos were first predicted to exist as the result of a puzzle related to the decay of neutrons. While neutrons are stable inside atomic nuclei, free neutrons are observed to decay, in an average time of about 10 minutes, into protons and electrons. The electric charge works out fine, because a neutron is electrically neutral, while a proton has a positive charge and an electron an equal and opposite negative charge. The mass of a proton plus an electron is almost as much as the mass of a ... 1 notes
notesAn explanation of a fascinating particle that is the byproduct of the production of proton and electrons.
28 MAY 2011 by ideonexus
Can a Machine Die?
"Die? Can a machine die?"
"I can cease to exist, sir. Call it by whatever word you wish. I am old. Not one sentient being in the Galaxy that was alive when I was first given consciousness is still alive today; nothing organic; nothing robotic. Even I myself lack continuity."
"In what way?"
"There is no physical part of my body, sir, that has escaped replacement, not only once but many times. Even my positronic brain has been replaced on five different occasions. Each time the contents of m... 1 notes
notesNot in the sense in which humans die, but a machine will eventually become so overwhelmed with ideas that it will cease to function through indecision.
20 MAY 2011 by ideonexus
Predators Prevent Their Prey from Suffering
The appointment of death by the agency of carnivora, as the ordinary termination of animal
existence, appears therefore in its main results to be a dispensation of benevolence; it deducts much
from the aggregate amount of the pain of universal death; it abridges, and almost annihilates,
throughout the brute creation, the misery of disease, and accidental injuries, and lingering decay;
and imposes such salutary restraint upon excessive increase of numbers, that the supply of food
maintains per...Stephen Jay Gould quoting the Reverend William Buckland.
