24 DEC 2013 by ideonexus
Think Bottom-Up
One of the most general shorthand abstractions that, if adopted, would improve the cognitive toolkit of humanity is to think bottom up, not top down. Almost everything important that happens in both nature and society happens from the bottom up, not the top down. Water is a bottom-up, self-organized emergent property of hydrogen and oxygen. Life is a bottom-up, self-organized emergent property of organic molecules that coalesced into protein chains through nothing more than the input of energ...Michael Shermer on how understanding the world in terms of emergence can help us better understand it.
12 JAN 2012 by ideonexus
Science Must Remain Apolitical
The traditional boundaries between various fields of science are rapidly disappearing and what is more important science does not know any national borders. The scientists of the world are forming an invisible network with a very free flow of scientific information - a freedom accepted by the countries of the world irrespective of political systems or religions. ... Great care must be taken that the scientific network is utilized only for scientific purposes - if it gets involved in political...According to Nobel Laureate Sune K. Bergström, if science is to maintain its status as a force for development that builds networks of people from all over the world.