06 JAN 2018 by ideonexus
World-Play as Self-Apprenticeship
...worldplay can be studied as a kind of self-apprenticeship in creative practice, rather than prodigious application in discipline or craft. The childhood inventor of imaginary lands often elaborates his or her world in multiple ways at once. He or she may write stories and compose music, draw maps and build models, design games, and possibly construct a secret language—all within the context of play. It is likely, therefore, that childhood woridplay confers benefits that differ substantia... 1 
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notes24 JAN 2015 by ideonexus
Intellectual Exploration as Geographical Exploration
My own field of physics is passing today through a phase of exuberant freedom, a phase of passionate prodigality. Sometimes as I listen to the conversation of my young colleagues at Princeton, I feel as if I am lost in a rain forest, with insects and birds and flowers growing all around me in intricate profusion, growing too abundantly for my sixty-year-old brain to comprehend. But the young people are at home in the rain forest and walk confidently along trails which to me are almost invisib...
1 24 JAN 2015 by ideonexus
Religion and Science are Alike
When I talk about religion, I speak for myself alone. Any statement which attempted to express a consensus of scientists about religious and philosophical questions would miss the main point. There is no consensus among us. The voice of science is a Babel of diverse languages and cultures. That is to me the joy and charm of science. Science is a free creation of the human mind, and at the same time it is an international club cutting across barriers of race and nationality and creed. Many fir... 1 notes
notes29 MAY 2014 by ideonexus
When Science Became a Profession
The possibilities of modem technology were first in practice realised in England by the energy of a prosperous middle class. Accordingly, the industrial revolution started there. But the Germans explicitly realised the methods by which the deeper veins in the mine of science could be reached. In their technological schools and universities progress did not have to wait for the occasional genius or the occasional lucky thought. Their feats of scholarship during the nineteenth century were the ... 1 notes
notesRising from the prosperous classes and the reliance on occasional genius to a methodology for producing consistent results.
18 JAN 2014 by ideonexus
Parents are Different for Each Child
We Are Different Parents With Each Child
As the parent, you remember your first child well: They were the one you watched to make sure they were breathing in their crib, the baby you breastfed and/or sterilized bottles for and carried most of the time. That child is the only child that will ever have his or her parents completely to his/her self; all other children have to share.
If you think about it, firstborn children enter a family of adults who are proud of their every progress and frigh...Folksonomies: parenting birth order
Folksonomies: parenting birth order
1 notes
notesThe state of the family changes with the birth of the first child, and continues to change with the subsequent children so that each child experiences a different parenting style in the same family.
02 JAN 2014 by ideonexus
Ultra-Democracy
Education in democracy must be carried on within the Party so that members can understand the meaning of democratic life, the meaning of the relationship between democracy and centralism, and the way in which democratic centralism should be put into practice. Only in this way can we really extend democracy within the Party and at the same time avoid ultra-democracy and the laissez-faire which destroys discipline.
"The Role of the Chinese Communist Party in the National War" (October 1938), ... 1 notes
notesAn interesting concept from the perspective of Mao's socialism, a democracy that goes too far and becomes corrupt under its own (greed?).
01 SEP 2011 by ideonexus
"Natural Philosophy" Renamed "Science"
We should remember that there was once a discipline called natural philosophy. Unfortunately, this discipline seems not to exist today. It has been renamed science, but science of today is in danger of losing much of the natural philosophy aspect. 1 notes
notesHannes Alfvén pointing out the increasing specialization of science during the century to explain the resistance to his ideas
04 JUN 2011 by ideonexus
Tolerance for Ambiguity
I have a tolerance for ambiguity. It's clear to me that there's some questions that humans don't have the answers to and what arrogance to imagine we have answers to all questions. Science is sometimes, I know, attacked for supposed arogance, but I think it's the most humble occupation and discipline around. Because, instead of trying to impose our preconceptions, our predispositions on the Universe, we are open before the Universe to see what the Universe has to offer. Science is in the busi...Carl Sagan on the humility of science in not imposing its preconceptions on reality.
29 MAR 2011 by ideonexus
The Need for a Scientific Monastary
In the Dark Ages, the religious orders of monasteries were the bearers of our culture. Much of this knowledge was contained in books, and the monks took care of them and read them as part of their discipline. Sadly, science is no longer a calling where scientists are the guardians of knowledge, but rather has become a narrowly specialized employment. Apart from a few isolated institutions, like the National Center for Atmospheric Research, science has no equivalent of the monasteries. So, who... 1 notes
notesThere needs to be an essential science book cataloging the most basic principles of science and some kind of order of monks to treasure it.
01 JAN 2010 by ideonexus
Cybernetics Extending Human Perception
And man's relationship to his environment has changed. As a result of cybernetic efficiency, he finds himself becoming more and more predominantly a Controller and less and Effecter. The machine, largely self-regulating and highly adaptive, stands between man and his world. It extends his perception in furthest space and deep into the finest particles of matter; physical labour is replaced by accurate, tireless automata; in many situations teh machine can gather required information, store, p...Folksonomies: new media
Folksonomies: new media
1 notes
notesThis passage appears under a sub-section titled "Science and a Discipline for Art", where the author is arguing for artists to pay attention to progress being made in science for inspirations to enhance their artistic endeavors.
