10 FEB 2018 by ideonexus
Why Kids Abandon Creative Play
The observation that play gets short shrift as children come of age in the Western world is surely as old and as perennial as that civilization itself. The Bible puts it thus: "When I was a child, I spake as a child, I felt as a child, I thought as a child: now that 1 am become a man, I have put away childish things." Turning their attention to the phenomenon, psychologists have asked what might be the causal factors.
In the early 1900s, for instance, G. Stanley Hall argued that as children... 1 
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notes03 JUN 2016 by ideonexus
"No Man's Sky" as Humanist Adventure
The true value of No Man’s Sky lies in something both incredibly simple and breathtaking. The point of the game is to discover and share knowledge with the other inhabitants of the universe. It’s almost as if the developers took the Enlightenment-era Encycloédie and turned it into a science fiction video game; a true testament to the best qualities and powers of the Information Age. While the sheer size may overwhelm some or risk boredom for others, players shouldn’t ignore the larger... 1 notes
notes24 DEC 2013 by ideonexus
The Connections in the Brain
Two neurons can communicate with each other at a synapse, which is the computational unit in the brain. The typical cortical synapse is less than a micron in diameter (10-6 meter), near the resolution limit of the light microscope. If the economy of the world is a stretch for us to contemplate, thinking about all the synapses in your head is mind-boggling. If I had a dollar for every synapse in your brain, I could support the current economy of the world for ten years. Cortical neurons on ave...Folksonomies: neurology
Folksonomies: neurology
1 notes
notesTerrence Sejnowski on the incredible three-pound universe.
08 APR 2013 by ideonexus
Harry Potter and the Fundamental Attribution Error
“You saved them from You-Know-Who,” McGonagall said. “How
should they not care?”
Harry looked up at McGonagall and sighed. “I suppose there’s no
chance that if I said fundamental attribution error you’d have any idea
what that meant.”
McGonagall shook her head. “No, but please explain.”
“Well...” Harry said, trying to figure out how to describe that particular
bit of Muggle science. “Suppose you come into work and see your
coworker kicking his desk. You think, ‘...Folksonomies: rationality cognitive bias
Folksonomies: rationality cognitive bias
1 notes
notesRational Potter explains to McConagall that people are projecting onto him powers he does not have.
23 MAR 2012 by ideonexus
Untouched Forests as Temples
Among the scenes which are deeply impressed on my mind, none exceed in sublimity the primeval forests undefaced by the hand of man; whether those of Brazil, where the powers of Life are predominant, or those of Tierra del Fuego, where Death and Decay prevail. Both are temples filled with the varied productions of the God of Nature: no one can stand in these solitudes unmoved, and not feel that there is more in man than the mere breath of his body. 1 notes
notesDarwin remarks on the wonders filling untouched forests he explored in his voyages.
28 JAN 2012 by ideonexus
Don't Be Discouraged by the Complexity of Nature
Far from becoming discouraged, the philosopher should applaud nature, even when she appears miserly of herself or overly mysterious, and should feel pleased that as he lifts one part of her veil, she allows him to glimpse an immense number of other objects, all worthy of investigation. For what we already know should allow us to judge of what we will be able to know; the human mind has no frontiers, it extends proportionately as the universe displays itself; man, then, can and must attempt al... 1 notes
notesMaintain the enthusiasm that investigation will reveal all her secrets.
12 JAN 2012 by ideonexus
The Pursuit of Truth Puts One in Contact With the Infinite
The fascination of any search after truth lies not in the attainment, which at best is found to be very relative, but in the pursuit, where all the powers of the mind and character are brought into play and are absorbed by the task. One feels oneself in contact with something that is infinite and one finds joy that is beyond expression in sounding the abyss of science and the secrets of the infinite mind. 1 notes
notesFlorence Bascom quoted.
11 JAN 2012 by ideonexus
Newton's Discovery of Gravity as an Example of Induction ...
All the knowledge we possess of external objects is founded upon experience, which furnishes facts; and the comparison of these facts establishes relations, from which induction, the intuitive belief that like causes will produce like effects, leads to general laws. Thus, experience teaches that bodies fall at the surface of the earth with an accelerated velocity, and with a force proportional to their masses. By comparison, Newton proved that the force which occasions the fall of bodies at t... 1 notes
notesHe extended the force pulling everything down to the Earth out to the Moon, then to the Sun, and then the planets to see how our solar system really works.
03 JAN 2012 by ideonexus
The "Powers" in Vernor Vinges' Universe
Marketing calls our current visitor ‘Old One.’” He smiled. “That’s something of a joke, but true even so. We’ve known it for eleven years.” No one really knew how long Transcendent beings lived, but it was a rare Power that stayed communicative for more than five or ten years. They lost interest, or grew into something different—or really did die. There were a million explanations, thousands that were allegedly from the Powers firsthand. Ravna guessed that the true explanation...Folksonomies: singularity otherness
Folksonomies: singularity otherness
1 notes
notesThey have transcended our kind of existence, but they disappear after just a few years... possibly for the flexibility of their intelligence and ability to rapidly transform themselves, much like Kurtzweil's singularity.
02 JAN 2012 by ideonexus
Davy Poem on Growing Old
Davy was now forty, and like every man of science and every poet, he hoped against hope that original work and ‘powers of inspiration’ still lay ahead in his maturity. His description of these longings was nakedly Romantic, and surely recalled his moonlit walks along the banks of the Avon some twenty years before.
Though many chequered years have passed away
Since first the sense of Beauty thrilled my nerves,
Yet still my heart is sensible to Thee,
As when it first received the flood of ... 1 notes
notesAnd hoping he still had discoveries ahead of him.
