02 MAR 2019 by ideonexus
Entropy in our Everyday Lives: Active Stability
Because things naturally move to disorder over time, we can position ourselves to create stability. There are two types of stability: active and passive. Consider a ship, which, if designed well, should be able to sail through a storm without intervention. This is passive stability. A fighter jet, in contrast, requires active stability. The plane can’t fly for more than a few seconds without having to adjust its wings. This adjustment happens so fast that it’s controlled by software. Ther... 1 
notes
notes29 DEC 2016 by ideonexus
Presidents Have Less Impact On Our Lives Than Those Aroun...
Presidents are royalty and we measure our lives by their reigns, but their effect on the country in general is greatly exaggerated. Take me, for example. Mr. Lyndon Johnson’s Selective Service System more or less governed my 20s, and now that I’m old and shaky, his Medicare is very helpful, but for most of us, presidents are part of the scenery, like the great stone heads on Easter Island. Millions of words have been written about Richard Nixon but his effect on my life was minuscule comp...Folksonomies: politics priorities
Folksonomies: politics priorities
1 notes
notes29 NOV 2016 by ideonexus
Earthseed 36-40
36. We give our dead
We give our deadTo the orchardsAnd the groves.We give our deadTo life.
∞ = Δ
37. Darkness gives shape
DarknessGives shape to the lightAs lightShapes the darkness.DeathGives shape to lifeAs lifeShapes death.The universeAnd GodShare this wholeness,EachDefining the other.GodGives shape to the universeAs the universeShapes God.
∞ = Δ
38. Chaos
ChaosIs God’s most dangerous face—Amorphous, roiling, hungry.Shape Chaos—Shape God.Act.
Alter the speedOr the direction o...Folksonomies: earthseed
Folksonomies: earthseed
1 notes
notes15 JUN 2016 by ideonexus
The Noosphere
Under the impact of this passage from simple to squared numbers, we all become aware that the entrance is open for the hominised consciousness into a new inner world: the world of the Universe as thought. But do we sufficiently notice that simultaneously, in the realm of the measurable and tangible, another form of ' generalisation '—also as the result of reflexion — becomes possible and outlines itself: no longer simply for our knowledge, the systematised perception of total time and tot... 1 notes
notes02 JAN 2012 by ideonexus
How Ballooning Changed Our Perspective of the Earth
Ballooning produced a new, and wholly unexpected, vision of the earth. It had been imagined that it would reveal the secrets of the heavens above, but in fact it showed the secrets of the world beneath. The early aeronauts suddenly saw the earth as a giant organism, mysteriously patterned and unfolding, like a living creature. For the first time the impact of man on nature was clearly revealed: the ever-expanding relationship of towns to countryside, roads to rivers, cultivated fields to fore... 1 notes
notesThe same way the "Earthrise" photo changed our perspective, ballooning revealed the Earth to be a dynamic, interconnected organism.
08 JUN 2011 by ideonexus
Food Stamps Improves Quality of Life for Children
Seizing on yet another natural experiment, Almond examined the impact of the introduction of the food-stamp program in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The program was rolled out on a state-by-state basis, allowing Almond to compare birth outcomes for poor women who received food assistance during pregnancy to those who did not. His results, published in The Review of Economics and Statistics, found that women who were enrolled in the program three months before they gave birth delivered babie...
1 Babies born after the introduction of food stamps were healthier.
23 JAN 2011 by ideonexus
A Reason Not to Use Bookmarks
The plural of anecdotes is not data — but anecdotes are all I have. We don’t yet understand how we think or what it means to change the way we think. Scientists are making inroads and ultimately hope to understand much more. But right now all I and my fellow contributors can do are make observations and generalize.
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Someone pointed out to me once that he, like me, never uses a bookmark in a book. I always attributed my negligence to disorganization and laziness — the few times I atte...Folksonomies: internet technology
Folksonomies: internet technology
1 notes
notesA bookmark is an artificial place in a book, without which we return to the last point in a book that made an impact on your brain.
03 JAN 2011 by ideonexus
The Importance of Enjoying Science
Another value of science is the fun called intellectual enjoyment which some people get from reading and learning and thinking about it, and which others get from working in it. This is a very real and important point and one which is not considered enough by those who tell us it is our social responsibility to reflect on the impact of science on society.
Is this mere personal enjoyment of value to society as a whole? No! But it is also a responsibility to consider the value of society itself...While the personal enjoyment does not contribute to society, expressing this enjoyment, organizing it for others to enjoy benefits society.
03 JAN 2011 by ideonexus
Why Scientists Don't Tackle Social Problems
From time to time, people suggest to me that scientists ought to give more consideration to social problems--especially that they should be more responsible in considering the impact of science upon society. This same suggestion must be made to many other scientists, and it seems to be generally believed that if the scientists would only look at these very difficult social problems and not spend so much time fooling with the less vital scientific ones, great success would come of it.
It seems... 1 notes
notesScientists are as dumb as anyone else at tackling non-scientific problems, that's why they stick to science.
