22 SEP 2017 by ideonexus
Algorithms are Subjective/Creative Things
he algorithm may be the essence of computer science – but it’s not precisely a scientific concept. An algorithm is a system, like plumbing or a military chain of command. It takes knowhow, calculation and creativity to make a system work properly. But some systems, like some armies, are much more reliable than others. A system is a human artefact, not a mathematical truism. The origins of the algorithm are unmistakably human, but human fallibility isn’t a quality that we associate with ...Folksonomies: programming computer science
Folksonomies: programming computer science
26 AUG 2012 by ideonexus
Empiricism in Buddhist Spirituality
Both Buddhism and neuroscience converge on a similar point of view: The way it feels isn’t how it is. There is no permanent, constant soul in the background. Even our language about ourselves is to be distrusted (requiring the tortured negation of anatta). In the broadest strokes then, neuroscience and Buddhism agree.
How did Buddhism get so much right? I speak here as an outsider, but it seems to me that Buddhism started with a bit of empiricism. Perhaps the founders of Buddhism were pre-...Buddhists recognize the impermanence of human existence, that we are perpetually changing. They discovered this truth, shared with neuroscience, because they gave up the ego of the self.
14 JAN 2012 by ideonexus
Devil's Definition of "Cartesian"
CARTESIAN, adj. Relating to Descartes, a famous philosopher, author of the celebrated dictum, Cogito, ergo sum—whereby he was pleased to suppose he demonstrated the reality of human existence. The dictum might be improved, however, thus: Cogito ergo cogito sum—'I think that I think, therefore I think that I am;' as close an approach to certainty as any philosopher has yet made. Folksonomies: philosophy humore
Folksonomies: philosophy humore
I think that I think, therefore I think that I am.
09 SEP 2011 by ideonexus
Earth Processes Take Place Gradually and Over Long Period...
But the whole vital process of the earth takes place so gradually and in periods of time which are so immense compared with the length of our life, that these changes are not observed, and before their course can be recorded from beginning to end whole nations perish and are destroyed.From Aristotle's "Meteorology". Most processes of the Earth take place over time periods longer than human lifetimes and even eras of human existence.
05 JUN 2011 by ideonexus
Humans Don't Have Roots
In the very largest way of looking at planet Earth's socioeconomic-evolution events, we must observe
that humans are designed with legs and not roots. Yesterday, humanity developed temporary roots as it
cultivated its life-support food root-grown on the land. The metals made possible metal canning of food
and mobilization of machinery. Today, all of human existence depends on the swift, world-around
intercommunication system operating at 186,000 miles per second. We have transformed reality f...Through science, we are evolving to become more free, free from biological roots and free from Capitalistic chains, where ownership of real estate holds us down.