10 FEB 2018 by ideonexus
Game Play Informs Real World Play
For Molly, computer play in a simulated world connected strongly with off-line play. It reinforced her desire to create fictional worlds of her own. And it helped sharpen her understanding of that creative endeavor. In evaluating the imaginative and creafive worth of childhood activities, of course, this is the gold standard: that reading or watching television, that trips to the theater, to art and science ce museuns, an and id yyes, that play with computer games should stimulate personal en... 1 
notes
notesThis is like how Sagan incorporates game rules in his imaginative play or how playing Skyrim inspired me to go hiking.
25 OCT 2017 by ideonexus
Children's Art Has Its Own Logic
Even simple scribbles are meaningful. While it was once thought that kids only scribbled to experience the physical sensation of moving their arm along the page, “now it’s been shown that when children are scribbling … they’re representing through action, not through pictures,” said Boston College’s Winner. “For example, a child might draw a truck by making a line fast across the page and going ‘zoom, zoom,’ and so it doesn’t look like a truck when the child is done, but i... 1 notes
notesThis reminds me of Sagan's pumpkin-carving, where he made random cuts and took out chunks to make it scarier with more "bloody guts."
03 MAR 2014 by ideonexus
The Great Demotions and the Promotion of the Human Race
Sagan had talked of the “great demotions.” Humanity had learned, painfully, that it did not live on a planet at the center of the universe, and further demotions followed. We were not (in Sagan’s view) the purpose of the Creation, not specially chosen by a divine authority, and were in fact just one evolutionary twist in a complicated biosphere shaped by the mindless process of natural selection. If we were ever to make contact with another intelligent species, those aliens would in all...Folksonomies: environmentalism perspective
Folksonomies: environmentalism perspective
1 notes
notesHistory has shown us how small and insignificant we are, but it has also revealed the profound impact we have on our own little world.
28 JAN 2013 by ideonexus
"Sagan" as a Unit of Measurement
Carl Sagan was an American cosmologist, astronomer, and absolute tireless champion of the sciences in the public sphere. He was the author, co-editor, or editor of almost two dozen science books, and the host the award-winning 1980 television series Cosmos. Sagan was well known for his excitement in talking about science, especially cosmological issues, and would strongly enunciate the M sound in millions and the B sound in billions to emphasize just how big the numbers were and properly diff... 1 notes
notesFrom the trademark "Billions and Billions." "Billions" is plural, meaning greater than two, so billions and billions at minimum equals four.
01 JAN 2012 by ideonexus
Sagan's Positive View of Advance Alien Civilizations
It is at this point that the ultimate significance of dolphins in the search for
extraterrestrial intelligence emerges. It is not a question of whether we are
emotionally prepared in the long run to confront a message from the stars. It is
whether we can develop a sense that beings with quite different evolutionary
histories, beings who may look far different from us, even "monstrous," may,
nevertheless, be worthy of friendship and reverence, brotherhood and trust. We
have far to go; while th... 1 notes
notesWe need to understand animal minds as practice for understanding alien ones.
12 SEP 2011 by ideonexus
Asimov on Believing Fantastic Things
I believe in evidence. I believe in observation, measurement, and reasoning, confirmed by independent observers. I'll believe anything, no matter how wild and ridiculous, if there is evidence for it. The wilder and more ridiculous something is, however, the firmer and more solid the evidence will have to be.Folksonomies: empiricism
Folksonomies: empiricism
1 notes
notesVery similar to Sagan's "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence."
