05 FEB 2016 by ideonexus

 Anarchism Extends from Socialism

Rudolf Rocker describes modern anarchism as “the confluence of the two great currents which during and since the French revolution have found such characteristic expression in the intellectual life of Europe: Socialism and Liberalism.” The classical liberal ideals, he argues, were wrecked on the realities of capitalist economic forms. Anarchism is necessarily anticapitalist in that it “opposes the exploitation of man by man.” But anarchism also opposes “the dominion of man over man....
Folksonomies: socialism anarchism
Folksonomies: socialism anarchism
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31 MAY 2015 by ideonexus

 Summary of "Sirius"

Fifty years ago, the philosopher Olaf Stapledon published a novel, Sirius, which explores some of the depths of loneliness and alienation to which genetic engineering might lead. Stapledon knew nothing of DNA and molecular biology, but he foresaw the possibility of genetic engineering and saw that it would give rise to severe dilemmas. His hero, Sirius, is a dog endowed with a brain of human capacity by doses of nerve-growth hormone given to him in utero. His creator raised him as a member of...
Folksonomies: science fiction
Folksonomies: science fiction
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31 MAY 2012 by ideonexus

 The Impossibility of Continental Drift

Even more difficult to explain, than the breaking-up of a single mass into fragments, and the drifting apart of these blocks to form the foundations of the present-day continents, is the explanation of the original production of the single mass, or PANGAEA, by the concentration of the former holosphere of granitic sial into a hemisphere of compressed and crushed gneisses and schists. Creep and the effects of compression, due to shrinking or other causes, have been appealed to but this is hard...
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It does sound crazy on the face of it.

18 JAN 2012 by ideonexus

 Descriptions of the Atom are Poetry

We must be clear that when it comes to atoms, language can be used only as in poetry. The poet, too, is not nearly so concerned with describing facts as with creating images and establishing mental connections.
Folksonomies: metaphor physics atom poetry
Folksonomies: metaphor physics atom poetry
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A quote from Niels Bohr on the impossibility of describing this object accurately.

28 MAY 2011 by ideonexus

 Hollywood's Anti Science

"REALITY ENDS HERE." IT'S THE UNOFFICIAL MOTTO OF THE UNIVERSITY OF Southern California School of Cinematic Arts, cast in concrete at the entranceway to the Robert Zemeckis Center for Digital Arts and, in Latin, at the South entryway of a new complex building. As scientist-turned-filmmaker and use film school graduate s Randy Olson explained to us, the slogan: is not a joke. It's a bold, challenging statement—r-a basic "screw you" to the outside world who thinks that accuracy and reality ...
Folksonomies: science entertainment
Folksonomies: science entertainment
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A saying found at the entrance to a film school puts down science.