24 JAN 2015 by ideonexus
Diversification in the Cosmos
The last of the five philosophical problems is the problem of final aims. The problem here is to try to formulate some {298} statement of the ultimate purpose of the universe. In other words, the problem is to read God's mind. Previous attempts to read God's mind have not been notably successful. One of the more penetrating of such attempts is recorded in the Book of Job. God's answer to Job out of the whirlwind was not encouraging. Nevertheless I stand in good company when I ask again the ... 1 
notes
notes07 FEB 2014 by ideonexus
The Century of Biology
The century of biology upon which we are now well embarked is no matter of trivialities. It is a movement of really heroic dimensions, one of the great episodes in man's intellectual history. The scientists who are carrying the movement forward talk in terms of nucleo-proteins, of ultracentrifuges, of biochemical genetics, of electrophoresis, of the electron microscope, of molecular morphology, of radioactive isotopes. But do not be fooled into thinking this is mere gadgetry. This is the depe... 1 notes
notesA visionary statement.
30 DEC 2013 by ideonexus
We Should Think of Ourselves as Atoms
we should consider ourselves but as atoms of organized matter, whose pleasure or whose pain, whose existence in a state of organization, or whose non-existence in that state, is a matter of no importance in the laws and operations of Nature; we should view ourselves with the same feelings, as we view the leaf which rises in the spring, and falls in the autumn, and then serves no further purpose but to fertilize the earth for a fresh production; we should view ourselves but as the blossoms of ... 1 notes
notesWe are like the leaves on trees that are green for a season and then return to the Earth.
12 JAN 2012 by ideonexus
The Universe is a Machine for Making Gods
Mankind lies groaning, half-crushed beneath the weight of its own progress. Men do not sufficiently realize that their future is in their own hands. Theirs is the task of determining first of all whether they want to go on living or not. Theirs the responsibility, then, for deciding if they want merely to live, or intend to make just the extra effort required for fulfilling, even on their refractory planet, the essential function of the universe, which is a machine for the making of gods. 
1 And we realize this when we realize we have the power of our future.
21 SEP 2011 by ideonexus
Humans Should be Proud
Evolution is neither moral nor immoral. It just is, and we make
of it what we will. I have tried to show that two things we can make of
it are that it’s simple and it’s marvelous. And far from constricting our
actions, the study of evolution can liberate our minds. Human beings
may be only one small twig on the vast branching tree of evolution,
but we’re a very special animal. As natural selection forged our brains,
it opened up for us whole new worlds. We have learned how to improve
ou...We are the one species of 3.5 billion years of evolution that has figured out how we got here.
21 SEP 2011 by ideonexus
A Noble and Enlightened Way to Spend our Short Time
After sleeping through a hundred million centuries we have
finally opened our eyes on a sumptuous planet, sparkling with
color, bountiful with life. Within decades we must close our eyes
again. Isn’t it a noble, an enlightened way of spending our brief
time in the sun, to work at understanding the universe and how
we have come to wake up in it? This is how I answer when I am
asked—as I am surprisingly often—why I bother to get up in the
mornings.Understanding the universe and how we have come to wake up in it.
28 AUG 2011 by ideonexus
Neil deGrasse Tyson on NASA Funding
First of all, let's clarify what the NASA budget is. Do you realize that the $850 billion dollar bailout, that sum of money is greater than the entire 50-year running budget of NASA?
And so when someone says, "We don't have enough money for this space probe," I'm asking, no, it's not that you don't have enough money, it's that the distribution of money that you're spending is warped in some way that you are removing the only thing that gives people something to dream about tomorrow.
You rem... 1 notes
notesThe economic bailout was more than the entire history of NASA's budget. America is prioritizing toward the next quarter instead of the future.
21 JUL 2011 by ideonexus
Hyperacuity and Obligatory Looking
Beginning about four months of age, the perception of detail takes another leap forward with the emergence of hyperacuity: the ability to discriminate features that are up to ten times finer than the size of the photoreceptors should theoretically permit. It is this ultrafine discrimination that allows us, for instance, to see a very slight glitch in an otherwise straight line. even though the size of the glitch is below our eyes' limit of resolution. It is not yet known how our brains perfor... 1 notes
notesTwo visual phenomena in the developing infant. One is the ability to make out visual details for which the eye does not appear physically capable of registering and the other is a conflict between the visual cortex and the brain stem that gets the baby stuck staring at something.
12 JUN 2011 by ideonexus
Looking One's Imminent Death with Curiosity
I like to remember the distinguished Swedish oceanographer, Otto Pettersson, who died a few years ago at the age of ninety-three, in full possession of his keen mental powers. His son has related in a recent book how intensely his father enjoyed every new experience, every new discovery concerning the world about him.
"He was an incurable romantic," the son wrote, "intensely in love with life and with the mysteries of the universe." When he realized he had not much longer to enjoy the earthl... 1 notes
notesAn oceanographer is curious as to what it will be like.
09 JUN 2011 by ideonexus
If the Stars Only Came Out One Night in 1,000 Years
If the Stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore; and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God which had been shown! But every night come out these envoys of beauty, and light the universe with their admonishing smile.
2 This Emerson quote begs the question: What if we lived on a planet like Venus, where perpetual cloud coverage obscures the skies?
