06 APR 2015 by ideonexus
The Need for an Internal Skeleton
The need for an internal skeleton stems largely from the nature of muscle tissue, which can exert force only by contracting and is therefore much more effective with a good lever system to work with. I belittle neither the intelligence nor the strength of the octopus; but in spite of Victor Hugo and most other writers of undersea adventure, the creature's boneless tentacles are not all that effective as handling organs. I don't mean that the octopus and his kin are helpless hunks of meat; but... 1 
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notes18 OCT 2014 by ideonexus
Eternitas: Transforming Data into Architecture
There is a little local exomemory that opens up while Isidore studies the structure. It describes Eternitas as an ‘experiment in transforming exomemory data directly into architecture and livable spaces.’ The Oubliette is full of similar art projects – indeed, many of Isidore’s fellow students work on considerably stranger things – but clearly there is something deeper here, something that is or has been important to the thief.
On impulse, he takes out his magnifying glass. He gasp... 1 notes
notes24 OCT 2013 by ideonexus
Better to Believe and Be Wrong Than Not Believe Anything
He who says “Better to go without belief forever than believe a lie!” merely shows his own preponderant private horror of becoming a dupe. . . . It is like a general informing his soldiers that it is better to keep out of battle forever than to risk a single wound. Not so are victories either over enemies or over nature gained. Our errors are surely not such awfully solemn things. In a world where we are so certain to incur them in spite of all our caution, a certain lightness of heart se... 1 notes
notesIf you believe a thing and are wrong, you can improve your beliefs in light of new evidence.
25 JUL 2013 by ideonexus
Nature is Intrinsically Probabilistic
Here are the circumstances: source, strong light source; tell me, behind which hole will I see the electron? You say, 'Well, the reason you can't tell through which hole you're going to see the electron is, it's determined by some very complicated things back here: if I knew enough about that electron - it has internal wheels, internal gears, and so forth - and that this is what determines through which hole it goes. It's 50/50 probability because, like a die, it's set sort of at random - and...Folksonomies: quantum physics probability
Folksonomies: quantum physics probability
1 notes
notesThe light as a particle/wave duality make it impossible to predict where an electron will emerge in an experiment.
19 APR 2013 by ideonexus
The Importance of Language to Science
There is another species of progress, appertaining to the sciences in question, equally
important; I mean, the improvement of their language, at present so vague and so
obscure. To this improvement must they owe the advantage of becoming popular,
even in their first elements. Genius can triumph over these inaccuracies, as over other
obstacles; it can recognise the features of truth, in spite of the mask that conceals or
disfigures them. But how is the man who can devote but a few leisure mome... 1 notes
notesAn imperfect language communicates vaguely. In science, we require exact and precise terminology to prevent misunderstanding.
21 JUN 2012 by ideonexus
Do What All Good Scientists Do
You all have learned reliance
On the sacred teachings of Science,
So I hope, through life, you will never decline
In spite of philistine Defiance
To do what all good scientists do.
Experiment.
Make it your motto day and night.
Experiment.
And it will lead you to the light. Folksonomies: experiment
Folksonomies: experiment
1 notes
notesExperiment.
11 JUN 2012 by ideonexus
Evolution is Like a Rolling Snowball
Evolution is a blind giant who rolls a snowball down a hill. The ball is made of flakes—circumstances. They contribute to the mass without knowing it. They adhere without intention, and without foreseeing what is to result. When they see the result they marvel at the monster ball and wonder how the contriving of it came to be originally thought out and planned. Whereas there was no such planning, there was only a law: the ball once started, all the circumstances that happened to lie in its ...
1 With the flakes it picks up being circumstances that amass onto it.
26 APR 2012 by ideonexus
Interest in Genetics of "Lesser" Animals Betrays our Conn...
Genetics has enticed a great many explorers during the past two decades. They have labored with fruit-flies and guinea-pigs, with sweet peas and corn, with thousands of animals and plants in fact, and they have made heredity no longer a mystery but an exact science to be ranked close behind physics and chemistry in definiteness of conception. One is inclined to believe, however, that the unique magnetic attraction of genetics lies in the vision of potential good which it holds for mankind rat... 1 notes
notesIf we were not related to them, then there would be little scientific interest in exploring them.
01 JAN 2012 by ideonexus
Thinking About Aliens Stretches the Imagination
The virtue of thinking about life elsewhere is that it forces us to stretch our
imaginations. Can we think of alternative solutions to biological problems already
solved in one particular way on Earth? For example, the wheel is a comparatively
recent invention on the planet Earth. It seems to have been invented in the ancient
Near East less than ten thousand years ago. In fact, the high civilizations of Meso-
America, the Aztecs and the Mayas, never employed the wheel, except for children's t... 1 notes
notesThe possible life that could evolve in other environments is an imaginative treasure chest.
(TODO: The wheeled organisms described here appear in the Amber Spyglass by Pullman)
14 SEP 2011 by ideonexus
William Edward Ayrton Predicts the Cell Phone
Professor Ayrton said that we were gradually coming within thinkable distance of the realization of a prophecy he had ventured to make four years before, of a time when, if a person wanted to call to a friend he knew not where, he would call in a very loud electromagnetic voice, heard by him who had the electromagnetic ear, silent to him who had it not. “Where are you? ” he would say. A small reply would come, “I am at the bottom of a coalmine, or crossing the Andes, or in the middle of... 1 notes
notesAnd an important culture shift of always being in touch with our friends as we have with social networking.
