10 FEB 2018 by ideonexus
Computer Models as Play
There is, indeed, an "art" to worldplay in the social sciences that fuses narrative with analytical technique. There is also a kinship with the arts in the relationship between imagined world and reality, a point brought home by political scientist and ellow Robert Axelrod. In the early 1960s the teenage Axelrod won the Westinghouse kience Talent Search for a very simple computer simulation of hypothetical lifeforms behaving in an artificial environment. Ever since, he has worked on the appli... 1 
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notes06 JAN 2018 by ideonexus
Considering Art Creative but Engineering Not as a Questio...
In retrospect, Cohen and MacKeith made a number of questionable assumptions that undermine that conclusion. To be fair, these assumptions were quite common among psychologists at the time and still persist to a significant degree among the public. One of these assumptions is that some activities, such as the arts, are inherently creative, whereas others, such as science or engineering, are not. Another assumption is that creativity is a function of one's ability to fantasize, which is to say,... 1 notes
notes06 JAN 2018 by ideonexus
Mental Illness is Not Correlated with Genius
What madness may have to do with creativity and genius has continued to intrigue down to this day, with scholars arguing for and against the association, its benefits and its deficits. In 1995, in a large scale and statistically convincing study of 1,004 eminent individuals of the 20th century, psychiatrist Arnold Ludwig argued that no necessary or sufficient correlation, hence no causal connection, between mental illness and creative achievement was to be found. Individuals in artistic profe... 1 notes
notes01 SEP 2014 by ideonexus
Opinion is Not Necessarily a Good Thing
We live in a civilization that believes that opinion per se is good. This can be seen in the very derivation of the word, which comes from the Latin opinari, meaning to think. It is a fundamental tenet of our civilization that thinking is good, a noble process which is one of the few things separating us from the base animal world. I too believe that thinking is a noble calling and that it is necessary to have opinions for the sake of the kind of thinking that can lead us to a better world.
... 1 notes
notes01 SEP 2014 by ideonexus
Consider Eliminating the Humanities
To stop teaching literature and the other arts on the grounds that they're bad for us would be like refusing to study diseases because they're bad for us. However, maybe there should be a moratorium on requiring those who don't really want to, to take courses in the "humanities." We first have to figure out where we are. Then if we decide that every college student should be exposed to the "humanities," let us also insist that every one of them be exposed to the sciences, social sciences, and... 1 notes
notesWhy must all college students study the humanities, but are given a free pass for the sciences?
19 APR 2013 by ideonexus
Outline of the Natural Sciences Pt. II
The circulation of the blood was long since known; but the disposition of the vessels which conveyed the chyle to mix with it, and repair its losses; the existence of a gastric fluid which disposes the elements to the decomposition necessary to separate from organised matter, that portion which is proper to become assimilated with the living fluids; the changes undergone by the various parts and organs in the interval between conception and birth, and afterwards during the different ages of l... 1 notes
notesFrom Condorcet's Ninth Epoch. A survey of the world of science and a call for the need for the different sciences to find points where they touch in order to strengthen.
23 MAR 2013 by ideonexus
The Watson/Holmes Modes of Thought
As Holmes reminds us,
“Like all other arts, the Science of
Deduction and Analysis is one which can
only be acquired by long and patient study
nor is life long enough to allow any mortal
to attain the highest possible perfection in
it.” But it’s also more than mere fancy. In
essence, it comes down to one simple
formula: to move from a System Watson–
to a System Holmes–governed thinking
takes mindfulness plus motivation. (That,
and a lot of practice.) Mindfulness, in the
sense of cons...Folksonomies: mindfulness
Folksonomies: mindfulness
1 notes
notesWatson is on autopilot, Holmes is mindfulness.
18 JAN 2013 by ideonexus
Chinese Cultural Innovations Turned to Ritual
When Europeans first arrived in China, three hundred years a^ago, they found that almost all the arts had reached a certain degree of perfection there, and they were surprised that a people which had attained this point should not have gone beyond it. At a later period they discovered traces of some higher branches of science that h had been lost. The nation was absorbed in productive industry; the greater part of its scientific processes had been preserved, but science itself no longer exist...
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1 An account of the amazing art and inventions found in China, but how these had turned into unquestioned rituals--performed exactly over and over again through the ages without alteration or innovation. The culture had stagnated.
16 JAN 2012 by ideonexus
Science is a Social Act
The sciences are of a sociable disposition, and flourish best in the neighborhood of each other; nor is there any branch of learning but may be helped and improved by assistance drawn from other arts. 1 notes
notesThat benefits from interactions with other fields.
31 AUG 2011 by ideonexus
The Sciences the Miner Must Know
There are many arts and sciences of which a miner should not be ignorant. First there is Philosophy, that he may discern the origin, cause, and nature of subterranean things; for then he will be able to dig out the veins easily and advantageously, and to obtain more abundant results from his mining. Secondly there is Medicine, that he may be able to look after his diggers and other workman ... Thirdly follows astronomy, that he may know the divisions of the heavens and from them judge the dir... 1 notes
notesPhilosophy, Medicine, Astronomy, Surveying, Arithemetic, Architecture, and Law
