15 JUN 2016 by ideonexus
Greek Philosophical Science of Categorization was Aesthetic
It is not meant that the Greeks had more respect for the function of perception through the senses than has modern science, but that, judged from present practice, they had altogether too mucfy respect for the material of direct, unanalyzed sense-perception.
They were aware of its defects from the standpoint of knowledge. But they supposed that they could correct these defects and supplement their lack by purely logical or "rational" means. They supposed that thought could take the material...Folksonomies: knowledge categorization
Folksonomies: knowledge categorization
1 
notes
notes08 MAY 2015 by ideonexus
China to Rate Online Behaviour in Social Credit System
Chinese internet firms are definitely interested, as Ant Financial, a subsidiary of ecommercegiant Alibaba, recently showed. To its popular app Alipay it added a new service which rated a person's credit worthiness on a scale of 350 to 950 points. This score is not only determined by one's lending behavior, but also by hobbies and friends. If friends have a poor lending reputation, this reflects badly on the person, just as prolonged playing of video games. Buying diapers indicates responsibi...Folksonomies: socialism social ratings
Folksonomies: socialism social ratings
1 30 APR 2014 by ideonexus
The Unlightable Candle
Armen the Acolyte cleared his throat. “The night before an acolyte says his vows, he must stand a vigil in the vault. No lantern is permitted him, no torch, no lamp, no taper... only a candle of obsidian. He must spend the night in darkness, unless he can light that candle. Some will try. The foolish and the stubborn, those who have made a study of these so-called higher mysteries. Often they cut their fingers, for the ridges on the candles are said to be as sharp as razors. Then, with bloody...Folksonomies: knowledge initiation
Folksonomies: knowledge initiation
1 A metaphor for the unreachability of some knowledge.
09 MAY 2012 by ideonexus
The Combustion of a Candle Resembles the Combustion Withi...
Now I must take you to a very interesting part of our subject—to the relation between the combustion of a candle and that living kind of combustion which goes on within us. In every one of us there is a living process of combustion going on very similar to that of a candle, and I must try to make that plain to you. For it is not merely true in a poetical sense—the relation of the life of man to a taper; and if you will follow, I think I can make this clear. Folksonomies: respiration
Folksonomies: respiration
1 notes
notesFrom Faraday's lectures.
18 MAR 2012 by ideonexus
Society Needs People Who Are Concerned With Ideas, Not Th...
Humanity certainly needs practical men, who get the most out of their work, and, without forgetting the general good, safeguard their own interests. But humanity also needs dreamers, for whom the disinterested development of an enterprise is so captivating that it becomes impossible for them to devote their care to their own material profit. Without the slightest doubt, these dreamers do not deserve wealth, because they do not desire it. Even so, a well-organised society should assure to such... 1 notes
notesQuoting Marie Curie on a class of people who are not materialist, but society should support them so they need not be concerned with materialism.
26 JAN 2012 by ideonexus
We Have Finite Time to Spend in Life
At IndieCade in October 2011, Adam Saltsman, Canabalt's creator, discussed the notion of "time until death." All of us have a finite amount of time on earth, and any time we spend on a particular activity is time that we can't spend doing something else. This means that the time we spend gaming represents most of a game's cost of ownership, far more than any money that we spend. If that time is enjoyable (or rather, if its benefits outweigh its costs), then the game was worth our time.
Value... 1 notes
notesWhen we play games, we should play games that are fun, but also creative and challenging. Easy games are a complete waste of time, like watching TV. Hard games challenge us and make us grow.
01 JAN 2012 by ideonexus
How Radiometric Dating Works
Briefly, a radioactive isotope is a kind of atom which decays into a different kind of atom: for example. one called uranium-238 turns into one called lead-206. Because we know how long this takes to happen, we can think of the isotope as a radioactive clock. Radioactive clocks are rather like the water clocks and candle clocks that people used in the days before pendulum clocks were invented. A tank of water with a hole in the bottom will drain at a measurable rate. If the tank was filled at... 1 notes
notesA great summary of how we date fossils using Uranium and Carbon atoms and their decay rates.
08 JUN 2011 by ideonexus
The Science on the Path
A weed plucked at the side of the path might have found its way to the New World in a seventeenth century sailing ship. Scratches on a rocky ledge evoke colossal mountain-building events on the other side of the world millions of years ago that modified the planet's climate and caused glaciers to creep across New England. The oxygen atoms I suck into my lungs were forged in stars that lived and died long before the Earth was born. It is something of a cliche to say that everything is connecte... 1 notes
notesA brief summary of the scientific concepts to be considered on a nature walk.
02 JUN 2011 by ideonexus
The fairest thing we can experience is the mysterious
The fairest thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science. He who knows it not and can no longer wonder, no longer feel amazement, is as good as dead, a snuffed-out candle. It was the experience of mystery — even if mixed with fear — that engendered religion. A knowledge of the existence of something we cannot penetrate, of the manifestations of the profoundest reason and the most radiant beauty, which are only...Einstein describes the spiritual wonder of exploring nature, compared to the idea of a personal god.
03 JAN 2011 by ideonexus
The Consumer is Not King
Marketers glibly say that the consumer is king, but in practice he's not. In the real world, experienced marketing and consumer-affairs hands will tell you, consumers aren't very good at protecting their own interests. They're too busy consuming, or working, or just living regular lives. The groups that claim to protect their interests often end up with their own agendas, which may have more to do with Washington power battles and fund-raising than with genuine consumer interests.Folksonomies: capitalism
Folksonomies: capitalism
1 notes
notesThis is a common-wisdom that is not true in practice, consumers are too busy too look out for their own interests.
