27 DEC 2016 by ideonexus
History of the Concept of Art
Nowadays when someone speaks of "art" you probably think first of "fine arts" such as painting and sculpture, but before the twentieth century the word was generally used in quite a different sense. Since this older meaning of "art" still survives in many idioms, especially when we are contrasting art with science, I would like to spend the next few minutes talking about art in its classical sense.
In medieval times, the first universities were established to teach the seven so-called "liber... 1 
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notes12 APR 2015 by ideonexus
Go make that stuff manifesto
Go make that stuff
The manifesto is this: Draw the art you want to see, start the business you want to run, play the music you want to hear, write the books you want to read, build the products you want to use - do the work you want to see done. 1 notes
notes19 MAR 2015 by ideonexus
Defining "Posthuman"
I shall define a posthuman as a being that has at least one posthuman capacity. By a posthuman capacity, I mean a general central capacity greatly exceeding the maximum attainable by any current human being without recourse to new technological means. I will use general central capacity to refer to the following:
healthspan – the capacity to remain fully healthy, active, and productive, both mentally and physically
cognition – general intellectual capacities, such as memory, deductive an...Folksonomies: transhumanism
Folksonomies: transhumanism
1 notes
notesFrom Nick Bostrom's "Why I Want to be a Posthuman When I Grow Up"
30 JAN 2015 by ideonexus
Barcodes in Nature
I have used the barcode as a
symbol of precise analysis, in all its beauty. Mixed light is sorted into its
rainbow of component colours and everybody sees beauty. That is a first
analysis. Closer detail reveals fine lines and a new elegance, the elegance
of detection, of the bringing of order and understanding. Fraunhofer
barcodes speak to us of the exact elemental nature of distant stars. A
precisely measured pattern of stripes is a coded message from across the
parsecs. There is grace in th... 1 notes
notes12 AUG 2014 by ideonexus
Judy Seltz on Education
I believe to my core that education--that is, access to quality learning--is the only way we can be a true democracy and the only way that nations will thrive both individually and in a global community. Education is the best route out of poverty; it is how children learn how to be part of a civil society. I believe that education opens doors to words, to language, to reading, to music, to drama, to science, and to exploration. That makes teachers the heroes and heroines of our society. Every...Folksonomies: education human progress
Folksonomies: education human progress
1 notes
notes23 MAR 2013 by ideonexus
Sherlock Holmes Guards His Mind
Holmes and Watson don’t just differ in
the stuff of their attics—in one attic, the
furniture acquired by a detective and selfproclaimed
loner, who loves music and
opera, pipe smoking and indoor target
practice, esoteric works on chemistry and
renaissance architecture; in the other, that
of a war surgeon and self-proclaimed
womanizer, who loves a hearty dinner and
a pleasant evening out—but in the way
their minds organize that furniture to begin
with. Holmes knows the biases of his attic...
1 He is keenly aware of how emotions can doom him, and is ever vigilant against letting corrupt memories into his mind to corrupt his judgement.
26 JAN 2013 by ideonexus
Sturgeon's Law
I repeat Sturgeon’s Revelation, which was wrung out of me after twenty years of wearying defense of science fiction against attacks of people who used the worst examples of the field for ammunition, and whose conclusion was that ninety percent of SF is crud.[1] Using the same standards that categorize 90% of science fiction as trash, crud, or crap, it can be argued that 90% of film, literature, consumer goods, etc. are crap. In other words, the claim (or fact) that 90% of science fiction is... 1 notes
notes90% of everything is crap, be it film, literature, music, etc.
12 JUN 2012 by ideonexus
Natural Selection is Not Chance
Even today a good many distinguished minds seem unable to accept or even to understand that from a source of noise natural selection could quite unaided have drawn all the music of the biosphere. Indeed natural selection operates upon the products of chance and knows no other nourishment; but it operates in a domain of very demanding conditions, from which chance is banned. Folksonomies: natural selection chance
Folksonomies: natural selection chance
1 notes
notesIt is an algorithm, a set of rules.
03 JAN 2012 by ideonexus
Why Not Creative Commons with a Caveat?
I realize the whole point is to get a lot of free content out there, especially content that can be mashed up, but why won’t Creative Commons provide an option along the lines of this: Write to me and tell me what you want to do with my music. If I like it, you can do so immediately. If I don’t like what you want to do, you can still do it, but you will have to wait six months. Or, perhaps, you will have to go through six rounds of arguing back and forth with me about it, but then you can... 1 notes
notesWhy not a license that requires you to contact the artist and pitch your mashup idea? Why not allow the artist to put a disclaimer that they don't approve of your mashup?
03 MAY 2011 by ideonexus
If Nurture, Why Not More Variation in Human Culture?
Humanity is, of course, morally free to make and remake itself infinitely, but we do not do so. We stick to the same monotonously human pattern of organizing our affairs. If we were more adventurous, there would be societies without love, without ambition, without sexual desire, without marriage, without art. without grammar, without music, without st smiles—and with as many unimaginable novelties as are in that list. There would be societies in which women killed each other more often than... 1 notes
notesIf humans have free will, then there should be cultures without love, musics, and other social norms.
