29 SEP 2017 by ideonexus
Roman Arithmetic
...basic Roman arithmetic is largely rather simple, even for those of us spoiled by Arabic notation. Addition is no sweat, because complex Roman numbers already use what math pros call additive notation, with numerals set beside one another to create a larger number. VI is just V plus I, after all. To add large numbers, simply pile all the letters together, arrange them in descending order, and there’s your sum. CLXVI plus CLXVI? CCLLXXVVII, or CCCXXXII. And one of the advantages of the Rom... 1 
notes
notes13 NOV 2015 by ideonexus
Artificial Intelligence VS Intelligence Augmentation
IA, or Intelligence Augmentation, is all about empowering humans with tools that make them more capable and more intelligent, while traditional AI has been about removing humans fully from the loop. The traditional torch bearer for IA is Douglas Engelbart, who laid the seeds for much of the Personal Computer revolution with his famous Mother of All Demos in 1968, where he demoed the computer mouse, hypertext, windowing, videoconferencing, and more for the first time. Douglas Engelbart was foc... 1 notes
notes29 MAY 2014 by ideonexus
Sages VS Astrologers
Someone asked whether a sage could make divination. [Yang Hsiung] replied that a sage could certainly make divination about Heaven and Earth. If that is so, continued the questioner, what is the difference between the sage and the astrologer (shih)l [Yang Hsiung] replied, 'The astrologer foretells what the effects of heavenly phenomena will be on man; the sage foretells what the effects of man's actions will be on the heavens'. Folksonomies: history perspective
Folksonomies: history perspective
1 notes
notesFa Yen (Model Discourses) ca 5 AD. Transi J Needham Science and Civilization in China 1956
Yang Hsiung 51 bc-ad 18
23 JUN 2012 by ideonexus
Paradox of the Universe
I am afraid all we can do is to accept the paradox and try to accommodate ourselves to it, as we have done to so many paradoxes lately in modern physical theories. We shall have to get accustomed to the idea that the change of the quantity R, commonly called the 'radius of the universe', and the evolutionary changes of stars and stellar systems are two different processes, going on side by side without any apparent connection between them. After all the 'universe' is an hypothesis, like the a...
1 It's radius VS the behavior of stars and stellar systems. Makes one think of the paradox of an expanding universe and one in which galaxies are drawn together through gravity.
22 JUN 2012 by ideonexus
What Might Be VS What Is
It has hitherto been a serious impediment to the progress of knowledge, that is in investigating the origin or causes of natural productions, recourse has generally been had to the examination, both by experiment and reasoning, of what might be rather than what is. The laws or processes of nature we have every reason to believe invariable. Their results from time to time vary, according to the combinations of influential circumstances; but the process remains the same. Like the poet or the pa...Folksonomies: observation
Folksonomies: observation
1 notes
notesLooking for one is less productive than observing the other.
25 APR 2012 by ideonexus
Seeing VS Observing
I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his process of deduction. 'When I hear you give your reasons,' I remarked, 'the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled, until you explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good as yours.'
'Quite so,' he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing himself down into an arm-chair. 'You see, but you d...Folksonomies: observation mindfulness
Folksonomies: observation mindfulness
1 Sherlock Holmes explains the difference between taking your world for granted and observing it scientifically.
17 MAR 2012 by ideonexus
"Big Bucks" VS "Small Bucks" University Research
Basic research at universities comes in two varieties: research that requires big bucks and research that requires small bucks. Big bucks research is much like government research and in fact usually is government research but done for the government under contract. Like other government research, big bucks academic research is done to understand the nature and structure of the universe or to understand life, which really means that it is either for blowing up the world or extending life, whi... 1 notes
notesAmusing and insightful.
24 FEB 2011 by ideonexus
Science VS Belief
Science seeks the truth. And it does not discriminate. For better or worse it finds things out. Science is humble. It knows what it knows and it knows what it doesn’t know. It bases its conclusions and beliefs on hard evidence -- evidence that is constantly updated and upgraded. It doesn’t get offended when new facts come along. It embraces the body of knowledge. It doesn’t hold on to medieval practices because they are tradition. If it did, you wouldn’t get a shot of penicillin, yo...Ricky Gervais on the virtue of science.
