10 MAR 2019 by ideonexus
How Computational Review of Chess Games Revealed Narrativ...
Paradoxically, when other top players wrote about games in magazines and newspaper columns they often made more mistakes in their commentary than the players had made at the board. Even when the players themselves published analyses of their own games they were often less accurate than when they were playing the game. Strong moves were called errors, weak moves were praised. It was not only a few cases of journalists who were lousy players failing to comprehend the genius of the champions, or... 1 
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notes27 JUL 2018 by ideonexus
All Failures are the Result of Insufficient Knowledge
Optimism (in the sense that I have advocated) is the theory that all failures—all evils—are due to insufficient knowledge. . . . Problems are inevitable, because our knowledge will always be infinitely far from complete. Some problems are hard, but it is a mistake to confuse hard problems with problems unlikely to be solved. Problems are soluble, and each particular evil is a problem that can be solved. An optimistic civilization is open and not afraid to innovate, and is based on traditi... 1 notes
notes10 FEB 2018 by ideonexus
Principles of Adult Behavior by John Perry Barlow
Be patient. No matter what.
Don’t badmouth: Assign responsibility, not blame. Say nothing of another you wouldn’t say to him.
Never assume the motives of others are, to them, less noble than yours are to you.
Expand your sense of the possible.
Don’t trouble yourself with matters you truly cannot change.
Expect no more of anyone than you can deliver yourself.
Tolerate ambiguity.
Laugh at yourself frequently.
Concern yourself with what is right rather than who is right.
Never forget that,... 1 notes
notes02 SEP 2016 by ideonexus
Learning Strengths: Map Readers and Explorers
I recognize Map Readers because they often like to work independently, but they are most comfortable when they have specifi c instructions or procedures to follow. Th ey often take more time and work deliberately, showing all their steps on homework or taking detailed notes in class or during group work. Explorers are the students who want to skip the detailed instructions and jump right into fi guring things out by trial and error. Th ese students are not likely to use estimation, even when ... 1 notes
notes24 JAN 2015 by ideonexus
Error Catastrophe
The central problem for any theory of the origin of replication is the fact that a replicative apparatus has to function almost perfectly if it is to function at all. If it does not function perfectly, it will give rise to errors in replicating itself, and the errors will accumulate from generation to generation. The accumulation of errors will result in a progressive deterioration of the system until it is totally disorganized. This deterioration of the replicative apparatus is called the "e...Folksonomies: biology replication
Folksonomies: biology replication
1 notes
notes24 JAN 2014 by ideonexus
Geometry Sets the Mind Right
Geometry enlightens the intellect and sets one's mind right. All its proofs are very clear and orderly. It is hardly possible for errors to enter into geometrical reasoning, because it is well arranged and orderly. Thus, the mind that constantly applies itself to geometry is not likely to fall into error. In this convenient way, the person who knows geometry acquires intelligence. It has been assumed that the followmg statement was written Upon Plato's door: 'No one who is not a geometrician ...Folksonomies: mathematics meditation
Folksonomies: mathematics meditation
1 Makes me think about mindfulness meditation, which is fine, but there are meditative practices that are proactive as well.
24 OCT 2013 by ideonexus
Better to Believe and Be Wrong Than Not Believe Anything
He who says “Better to go without belief forever than believe a lie!” merely shows his own preponderant private horror of becoming a dupe. . . . It is like a general informing his soldiers that it is better to keep out of battle forever than to risk a single wound. Not so are victories either over enemies or over nature gained. Our errors are surely not such awfully solemn things. In a world where we are so certain to incur them in spite of all our caution, a certain lightness of heart se... 1 notes
notesIf you believe a thing and are wrong, you can improve your beliefs in light of new evidence.
13 OCT 2013 by ideonexus
The Talent of Mechanics
Generally speaking, people have a very erroneous idea of the type of talent proper to the ideal mechanician. He is not a geometrician who, delving into the theory of movement and the categories of phenomena, formulates new mechanical principles or discovers unsuspected laws of nature.… In most other branches of science are to be found constant principles; a multitude of methods offer to the genius inexhaustible possibilities. If a scholar poses himself a new problem, he can attack it fortif... 1 notes
notesIt is highly intuitive and cannot be taught from a textbook. It sounds much like an art.
19 APR 2013 by ideonexus
Why There Cannot be a Language of Science
We may show that, as it was impossible to make the Latin a vulgar tongue common to
all Europe, the continuance of the custom of writing in it upon the sciences would
have been attended with a transient advantage only to those who studied them; that
the existence of a sort of scientific language among the learned of all nations, while
the people of each individual nation spoke a different one, would have divided men
into two classes, would have perpetuated in the people prejudices and errors, ... 1 notes
notesLatin could not become the language of science, common to all educated people, while the countries continued to speak different languages, would create a class division.
12 APR 2013 by ideonexus
The Early Days of the Printing Press was Like the Early WWW
As was the case during the early days of the World Wide Web, however, the quality of the information was highly varied. While the printing press paid almost immediate dividends in the production of higher quality maps,10 the bestseller list soon came to be dominated by heretical religious texts and pseudoscientific ones.11 Errors could now be mass-produced, like in the so-called Wicked Bible, which committed the most unfortunate typo in history to the page: thou shalt commit adultery.12 Meanw...
2 The glut of books produced a situation of "too much information" similar to the one produced by the world wide web.
