12 MAR 2015 by ideonexus
English Spelling Risks Becoming Like Chinese Ideograms
Indeed, the present tendency in the scools is to dis-
regard the fonetic basis of English spelling, and to
treat the written and printed words as ideografs like
Chinese the pupils being taught to recognize a word
by its appearance as a whole, rather than by a f util
attempt to analize the supposed sounds of the letters
composing it. Vast amounts of mony and incalculable
years hav been spent in efforts, never wholly success-
ful, to teach children to memorize the intricate and
unreaso...
1 21 JUN 2014 by ideonexus
Why hard work others ask us to do doesn't inspire us
In our real lives,
hard work is too often something we do because we have to do it—to make a
living, to get ahead, to meet someone else’s expectations, or simply because
someone else gave us a job to do. We resent that kind of work. It stresses us
out. It takes time away from our friends and family. It comes with too much
criticism. We’re afraid of failing. We often don’t get to see the direct impact
of our efforts, so we rarely feel satisfied.
Or, worse, our real-world work isn’t ...Folksonomies: gamification
Folksonomies: gamification
1 
notes
notes19 APR 2013 by ideonexus
The Philosopher's Solace
...how admirably calculated is this view of the human race, emancipated from its chains, released alike from the dominion of chance, as well as from that of the enemies of its progress, and advancing with a firm and indeviate step in the paths of truth, to console the philosopher lamenting the errors, the flagrant acts of injustice, the crimes with which the earth is still polluted? It is the contemplation of this prospect that rewards him for all his efforts to assist the progress of reason ... 1 notes
notesThe unstoppable perfectibility of the human race is almost a law of the Universe that no injustice in the present can undo.
09 JAN 2013 by ideonexus
Humanists Do Not Fear Technology
As humanists who value human creativity and human reason and who have seen the benefits of science and technology, we are decidedly willing to take part in the new scientific and technological developments around us. We are encouraged rather than fearful about biotechnology, alternative energy, and information technology, and we recognize that attempts to reject these developments or to prevent their wide application will not stop them. Such efforts will merely place them in the hands of othe...They are cautiously optimistic about scientific progress.
06 AUG 2012 by ideonexus
A Positive View of Human Progress
And how admirably calculated is this view of the human race, emancipated from its chains, released alike from the dominion of chance, as well as from that of the enemies of its progress, and advancing with a firm and indeviate step in the paths of truth, to console the philosopher lamenting the errors, the flagrant acts of injustice, the crimes with which the earth is still polluted? It is the contemplation of this prospect that rewards him for all his efforts to assist the progress of reason...Folksonomies: philosophy optimism
Folksonomies: philosophy optimism
If civilization is ever-improving, then the philosophe can take heart that all the wickedness and ignorance they witness in their lifetimes mean nothing, because the good works will survive and carry on into a better future.
21 JUN 2012 by ideonexus
Governments Can't Control Science
Faced with the admitted difficulty of managing the creative process, we are doubling our efforts to do so. Is this because science has failed to deliver, having given us nothing more than nuclear power, penicillin, space travel, genetic engineering, transistors, and superconductors? Or is it because governments everywhere regard as a reproach activities they cannot advantageously control? They felt that way about the marketplace for goods, but trillions of wasted dollars later, they have come...Folksonomies: science idea marketplace
Folksonomies: science idea marketplace
1 notes
notesIs that why they seek to control the uncontrollable?
12 JUN 2012 by ideonexus
Each Scientists Adds Their Own to What Came Before
The advancement of science is slow; it is effected only by virtue of hard work and perseverance. And when a result is attained, should we not in recognition connect it with the efforts of those who have preceded us, who have struggled and suffered in advance? Is it not truly a duty to recall the difficulties which they vanquished, the thoughts which guided them; and how men of different nations, ideas, positions, and characters, moved solely by the love of science, have bequeathed to us the u...Folksonomies: shoulders of giants
Folksonomies: shoulders of giants
A search for truth continuing from century to century.
08 JUN 2012 by ideonexus
We Cannot Extend Our Lives Forward, but We Can Backwards
The alchemists of past centuries tried hard to make the elixir of life: ... Those efforts were in vain; it is not in our power to obtain the experiences and the views of the future by prolonging our lives forward in this direction. However, it is well possible in a certain sense to prolong our lives backwards by acquiring the experiences of those who existed before us and by learning to know their views as well as if we were their contemporaries. The means for doing this is also an elixir of ...By reading the works of previous generations, absorbing their knowledge, we can age ourselves mentally.
18 MAY 2012 by ideonexus
Galileo on Empiricism
If experiments are performed thousands of times at all seasons and in every place without once producing the effects mentioned by your philosophers, poets, and historians, this will mean nothing and we must believe their words rather our own eyes? But what if I find for you a state of the air that has all the conditions you say are required, and still the egg is not cooked nor the lead ball destroyed? Alas! I should be wasting my efforts... for all too prudently you have secured your position...Folksonomies: philosophy empiricism
Folksonomies: philosophy empiricism
1 notes
notesLamenting the fact that if something philosophy asserts cannot be observed in nature, then why not abandon it?
25 APR 2012 by ideonexus
Science is More Than Lone Geniuses
The progress of science depends less than is usually believed on the efforts and performance of the individual genius ... many important discoveries have been made by men of ordinary talents, simply because chance had made them, at the proper time and in the proper place and circumstances, recipients of a body of doctrines, facts and techniques that rendered almost inevitable the recognition of an important phenomenon. It is surprising that some historian has not taken malicious pleasure in w... 1 notes
notesIt is mostly individuals in the right place at the right time and happy accidents.
