03 MAR 2014 by ideonexus
The Scientific Bias Against Promotion
I agree that a dreary comprehensive litany of who made what suggestion and which project official rejected it would be tedious (although me fact that the same idea arose in the minds of many different people - both in the science and the engineering teams - is worth noting), while at least some indication of the resistance to "nonscientific" data might be quite interesting. The battle is, of course, being played out again with regard to the two Galileo Earth encounters, where there was partic... 1 
notes
notesCarl Sagan recounting the resistance to having Voyager take a photo of Earth from deep space because it had no scientific value.
29 DEC 2013 by ideonexus
Making Forced Connections
The basic process for making forced connections, as outlined by Koberg and Bagnall, is simple and sound.
List possible features of the object you are trying to creatcte, one le feature per column. For example, the features might include cololor, size, anc shape.
2. In the column under each feature variable, list as many values for that variable as you can. For example, under color you might list all the colors of the rainbow, as well as black, white, gold, and silver.
3. Finally, random...Folksonomies: ideas creativity
Folksonomies: ideas creativity
1 A technique for coming up with new ideas. This could be done with the mxplx rand() function, using it to find random memes and then forcing onseself to find connections between the ideas.
16 FEB 2012 by ideonexus
Copernicus' Hypothesis
After I had addressed myself to this very difficult and almost insoluble problem, the suggestion at length came to me how it could be solved with fewer and much simpler constructions than were formally used, if some assumptions (which are called axioms) were granted me. They follow in this order.
There is no one center of all the celestial circles or spheres.
The center of the earth is not the center of the universe, but only of gravity and of the lunar sphere.
All the spheres revolve about... 1 notes
notesThat the Earth revolves around the Sun.
23 JAN 2012 by ideonexus
Einstein Saw No Point in Exploring Non-Beautiful Theories
What I remember most clearly was that when I put down a suggestion that seemed to me cogent and reasonable, Einstein did not in the least contest this, but he only said, 'Oh, how ugly.' As soon as an equation seemed to him to be ugly, he really rather lost interest in it and could not understand why somebody else was willing to spend much time on it. He was quite convinced that beauty was a guiding principle in the search for important results in theoretical physics. 1 notes
notesQuoting Sir Hermann Bondi. I would argue that an ugly theory becomes beautiful as you explore it.
03 JAN 2012 by ideonexus
Primitive Aliens Encountering a Laptop
“I have a suggestion,” said Scriber. His voice was slurred from the effort of concentrating over Scrupilo’s thoughts. “When you touch the four/three square and say”—he made the alien sounds; they were all very easy to do—“the screen shows a collection of pictures. They seem to match the squares. I think we … we are being given choices.”
Hm. “The box could end up training us.” If this is a machine, we need some new definitions. “ … Very well, let’s play with it....Folksonomies: technology magic
Folksonomies: technology magic
1 notes
notesVinge describes a clan of alien wolflike being with mideval technology encountering a computer carried by a human alien visitor.
16 SEP 2011 by ideonexus
Hen's Teeth
Some atavisms can be produced in the laboratory. The most amazing
of these is that paragon of rarity, hen’s teeth. In 1980, E. J. Kollar and
C. Fisher at the University of Connecticut combined the tissues of two
species, grafting the tissue lining the mouth of a chicken embryo on top
of tissue from the jaw of a developing mouse. Amazingly, the chicken
tissue eventually produced tooth-like structures, some with distinct roots
and crowns! Since the underlying mouse tissue alone could not prod... 1 notes
notesAn experiment from 1980 that stimulated hens to grow teeth by triggering a gene holdover from their ancient reptilian ancestors.
31 JUL 2011 by ideonexus
Join a Community as Parents
For evolutionary reasons, human babies were never meant to be born and raised in isolation from a group. Psychotherapist Ruth Josselson believes it is especially important for young mothers to create and maintain an active social tribe after giving birth. There are two big problems with this suggestion: 1) Most of us don’t live in tribes, and 2) we move around so much that most of us don’t even live near our own families, our natural first tribal experience. The result is that many new pa... 1 notes
notesIncludes a great idea for cooking 50 meals for parents of a new baby.
17 JUN 2011 by ideonexus
Death is Nothing to Us
Equally vain is the suggestion that the spirit is immortal because it is shielded by life-preserving powers: or because it is unassailed by forces hostile to its survival; or because such forces, if they threaten, are somehow repelled before we are conscious of the threat. <Common sense makes it obvious that this cannot be the case:> apart from the spirit's participation in the ailments of the body, it has maladies enough of its own. [80] The prospect of the future torments it with f... 1 notes
notesA state of non-being, we won't care about it because we won't be there to care.
03 JAN 2011 by ideonexus
Why Scientists Don't Tackle Social Problems
From time to time, people suggest to me that scientists ought to give more consideration to social problems--especially that they should be more responsible in considering the impact of science upon society. This same suggestion must be made to many other scientists, and it seems to be generally believed that if the scientists would only look at these very difficult social problems and not spend so much time fooling with the less vital scientific ones, great success would come of it.
It seems... 1 notes
notesScientists are as dumb as anyone else at tackling non-scientific problems, that's why they stick to science.
