12 DEC 2017 by ideonexus
Summary of Human Evolution
ABOUT 13.5 BILLION YEARS AGO, MATTER, energy, time and space came into being in what is known as the Big Bang. The story of these fundamental features of our universe is called physics. About 300,000 years after their appearance, matter and energy started to coalesce into complex structures, called atoms, which then combined into molecules. The story of atoms, molecules and their interactions is called chemistry. About 3.8 billion years ago, on a planet called Earth, certain molecules combi...Folksonomies: epic history
Folksonomies: epic history
21 JUN 2012 by ideonexus
Understanding Physics is Like Learning Chess
The physicist is like someone who's watching people playing chess and, after watching a few games, he may have worked out what the moves in the game are. But understanding the rules is just a trivial preliminary on the long route from being a novice to being a grand master. So even if we understand all the laws of physics, then exploring their consequences in the everyday world where complex structures can exist is a far more daunting task, and that's an inexhaustible one I'm sure.Quoting Sir Martin Rees: Learning the moves is the beginning, but there is still much to learn about the strategy.
11 JUN 2012 by ideonexus
We Must Become Comfortable with Large Numbers
Borel makes the amusing supposition of a million monkeys allowed to play upon the keys of a million typewriters. What is the chance that this wanton activity should reproduce exactly all of the volumes which are contained in the library of the British Museum? It certainly is not a large chance, but it may be roughly calculated, and proves in fact to be considerably larger than the chance that a mixture of oxygen and nitrogen will separate into the two pure constituents. After we have learned ...In order to understand why a million monkey on a million typewriters might produce a great work of art.
06 JUN 2012 by ideonexus
Natural Selection Works with Existing Material
It is natural selection that gives direction to changes, orients chance, and slowly, progressively produces more complex structures, new organs, and new species. Novelties come from previously unseen association of old material. To create is to recombine.Folksonomies: evolution natural selection
Folksonomies: evolution natural selection
Novelty arises from unseen association of old material.
19 SEP 2011 by ideonexus
Only Atoms are Immortal
... moving randomly through space, like dust motes in a sunbeam, colliding, hooking together, forming complex structures, breaking apart again, in a ceaseless process of creation and destruction. There is no escape from this process. ... There is no master plan, no divine architect, no intelligent design. All things, including the species to which you belong, have evolved over vast stretches of time. The evolution is random, though in the case of living organisms, it involves a principle of ...Folksonomies: classic
Folksonomies: classic
A fantastically accurate ancient description of the universe, complete with animals evolving from others.