24 DEC 2013 by ideonexus
The Mediocrity Principle
The reason this principle is so essential to science is that it’s the beginning of understanding how we came to be here and how everything works. We look for general principles that apply to the universe as a whole first, and those explain much of the story; and then we look for the quirks and exceptions that led to the details. It’s a strategy that succeeds and is useful in gaining a deeper knowledge. Starting with a presumption that a subject of interest represents a violation of the pr... 1 
notes
notesP. Z. Myers' explanation for how this principle means we cannot look to supernatural explanations for our origins, because there is no reason to think we are an exception to the rules of the universe.
14 JUN 2013 by ideonexus
Prediction Errors for the Information Age
Perhaps the best way to describe the flawed vision of fin de siecle futurists is to say that, with few exceptions, they expected the coming of an ''immaculate'' economy -- one in which people would be largely emancipated from any grubby involvement with the physical world. The future, everyone insisted, would bring an ''information economy'' that would mainly produce intangibles. The good jobs would go to ''symbolic analysts,'' who would push icons around on computer screens; knowledge, rathe...
2 Economists misunderstood the value of information and material goods in the information revolutions.
19 APR 2013 by ideonexus
The Birth of Political Science in Ancient Greece
With the Greeks, education was an important part of polity. Men were formed for
their country, much more than for themselves, or their family. This principle can only
be embraced by commonities little populous, in which it is more pardonable to
suppose a national interest, separate from the common interest of humanity. It is
practicable only in countries where the most painful labours of culture and of the arts
are performed by slaves. This branch of education was restricted almost entirely t...Folksonomies: history political science
Folksonomies: history political science
1 notes
notesIt is also the study of human beings.
08 APR 2013 by ideonexus
Wizardry Violates the Conservation of Energy
“You turned into a cat! A small cat! You violated Conservation of
Energy! That’s not just an arbitrary rule, it’s implied by the form of
the quantum Hamiltonian! Rejecting it destroys unitarity and then you
get ftl signaling! And cats are complicated! A human mind can’t just
visualize a whole cat’s anatomy and, and all the cat biochemistry, and
what about the neurology? How can you go on thinking using a catsized
brain?”
McGonagall’s lips were twitching harder now. “Magic.”... 1 notes
notesWhen rational Harry Potter sees a woman turn into a cat, he cannot believe the violation of the laws of physics.
23 APR 2012 by ideonexus
Fact Can Impede the Progress of Science
It surely can be no offence to state, that the progress of science has led to new views, and that the consequences that can be deduced from the knowledge of a hundred facts may be very different from those deducible from five. It is also possible that the facts first known may be the exceptions to a rule and not the rule itself, and generalisations from these first-known facts, though useful at the time, may be highly mischievous, and impede the progress of the science if retained when it has... 1 notes
notesBecause they are the first-known, and taint the understanding of later facts discovered.
16 SEP 2011 by ideonexus
Mammals Produce Useless Yolks
Vestigial genes can go hand in hand with vestigial structures. We
mammals evolved from reptilian ancestors that laid eggs. With the
exceptions of the “monotremes” (the order of mammals that includes
the Australian spiny anteater and duck-billed platypus), mammals have
dispensed with egg-laying, and mothers nourish their young directly
through the placenta instead of by providing a storehouse of yolk. And
mammals carry three genes that, in reptiles and birds, produce the
nutritious protein...Because they evolve from egg-laying reptiles, they have dead genes for producing yolks and even produce yolks in the placenta.
09 JUN 2011 by ideonexus
The Unique Properties of Ice
By the standard of other substances, the properties of ice are bizarre, yet ice is so perfectly suited to our purpose that if it didn't exist we should have to invent it. With few exceptions, the solid phase of matter is more dense than the liquid phase; water. alone among common substances, violates the rule. As water begins to cool, it first contracts and becomes more dense, in the typical way. But about four degrees above the freezing point, something peculiar happens. It ceases to contrac...Frozen water works so perfectly for life on Earth.
