25 OCT 2017 by ideonexus
Blockchains
Ownership on the Bitcoin blockchain is determined by a pair of cryptographic keys. The first, called the public key, resides in the blockchain for anyone to see. The second is called the private key, and its owner keeps it safe from view. The two keys have a special mathematical relationship that makes them useful for signing digital messages. Here’s how that happens: Helmut takes a message, combines it with his private key, does some calculations, and ends up with a long number. Anyone who...Folksonomies: technology blockchains
Folksonomies: technology blockchains
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notes19 JAN 2016 by ideonexus
The Tragedy of Never Understanding Our Children
You must face the fact that yours is the last generation of homo sapiens. As to the nature of that change, we can tell you very little. All we have discovered is that it starts with a single individual—always a child—and then spreads explosively, like the formation of crystals around the first nucleus in a saturated solution. Adults will not be affected, for their minds are already set in an unalterable mould.
In a few years it will all be over, and the human race will have divided in tw...Folksonomies: parenting generations
Folksonomies: parenting generations
1 30 JAN 2015 by ideonexus
Science Does Not Rob Life of Purpose
Presumably there is indeed no
purpose in the ultimate fate of the cosmos, but do any of us really tie our
life's hopes to the ultimate fate of the cosmos anyway? Of course we don't;
not if we are sane. Our lives are ruled by all sorts of closer, warmer,
human ambitions and perceptions. To accuse science of robbing life of
the warmth that makes it worth living is so preposterously mistaken, so
diametrically opposite to my own feelings and those of most working scientists, I am almost driven to... 1 notes
notes09 MAY 2012 by ideonexus
The Life of a Horticulturist
I have always liked horticulturists, people who make their living from orchards and gardens, whose hands are familiar with the feel of the bark, whose eyes are trained to distinguish the different varieties, who have a form memory. Their brains are not forever dealing with vague abstractions; they are satisfied with the romance which the seasons bring with them, and have the patience and fortitude to gamble their lives and fortunes in an industry which requires infinite patience, which raise ...Folksonomies: botany horticulture
Folksonomies: botany horticulture
A wonderful quote from David Fairchild. Reference unknown.
01 JAN 2012 by ideonexus
The Message Aboard Pioneer 10 as a "Cosmic Rorschach Test"
The message aboard Pioneer 10 has been good fun. But it has been more than
that. It is a kind of cosmic Rorschach test, in which many people see reflected
their hopes and fears, their aspirations and defeats – the darkest and the most
luminous aspects of the human spirit. 1 notes
notesIn which people see what they want to see, hopes and fears.
21 SEP 2011 by ideonexus
Man is Noble...
Man may be excused for feeling some pride at having risen, though not through his own exertions, to the very summit of the organic scale; and the fact of his having thus risen, instead of having been aboriginally placed there, may give him hopes for a still higher destiny in the distant future. But we are not here concerned with hopes or fears, only with the truth as far as our reason allows us to discover it. I have given the evidence to the best of my ability; and we must acknowledge, as it... 1 notes
notes...but still "bears in his bodily frame the indelible stamp of his lowly origin." A quote from Charles Darwin.
02 JUN 2011 by ideonexus
Einstein on Being Raise Religious
When I was a fairly precocious young man I became thoroughly impressed with the futility of the hopes and strivings that chase most men restlessly through life. Moreover, I soon discovered the cruelty of that chase, which in those years was much more carefully covered up by hypocrisy and glittering words than is the case today. By the mere existence of his stomach everyone was condemned to participate in that chase. The stomach might well be satisfied by such participation, but not man insofa... 1 notes
notesWe are programmed by our parent's religion, and are freed from the burden of a personal god through rationalism and exploring nature.
18 MAY 2011 by ideonexus
We Must Apply the Scientific Method to Ourselves
If it is to be applied consistently, science imposes, in exchange for
its manifold gifts, a certain onerous burden: we are enjoined, no
matter how uncomfortable it might be, to consider ourselves and
our cultural institutions scientifically and not to accept uncritically
whatever we're told; to surmount as best we can our hopes,
conceits and unexamined beliefs; to view ourselves as we really
are. Can we conscientiously and courageously follow planetary
motion or bacterial genetics wherever th... 1 notes
notesSkepticism must extend to ourselves, our culture, and our institutions.
13 APR 2011 by ideonexus
The Circle of the Brain cannot be Squared
A Circle round divided in four partsHath been great Study 'mongst the men of Arts;Since Archimed's or Euclid's time, each BrainHath on a Line been stretched, yet all in Vain;And every Thought hath been a Figure set,Doubts Cyphers were, Hopes as Triangles met;There was Division and Subtraction made,And Lines drawn out, and Points exactly laid,But none hath yet by Demonstration foundThe way, by which to Square a Circle round:For while the Brain is round, no Square will be,While Thoughts divi...
1 A poem about the brain, quantification, and human curiosity.
Summaries of comments made during the science art session by artists and audience members:
- Hawks – interested in reconstruction, detailed realism, Neanderthal terminator, there is a tradition in anthropology of illustrating, Neanderthal are reconstructed to look doomed and confused, like it when illustrators and artists bring humanity into them, humor, Kenise Brothers give smiles to them, pose them, which isn’t scientific because we don’t know these things, but also more scientific because it isn’t so clinical
- Orr – orogenic.blogspot.com geometric, abstract illustrations of birds
- Links ot other artists on the wiki page: Carl Buell, etc http://scio11.wikispaces.com/Science-Art
- Radiohead/Nine Inch Nails Model: put a lot free stuff online in hopes of eventually being hired to do something custom, people expect images for free
- Criticism of Mellow's Darwin painting: the steps were too linear, it should have been a bush growing out of his head
- Svpow.wordpress.com – fantasy images of brachiosaurs, not scientifically accurate, but memorable. Brian Ang.
- My Favorite Anthropology Sculpture of Homo Erectus at the Hall of Human Origins - post a link to this image in the wiki.
- The monkey rising to become man iconic image is really wrong and hurts evolution’s image outside of the field. Mitochondria is another example, in cells they are not blobs, but are networked.
