10 FEB 2018 by ideonexus
The Volumetric Approach to History
You will be thinking that we are coming to the end of this book: we’ve dealt with eight centuries, so there are only two to go. You may be surprised to learn, therefore, that in historical terms we are not even halfway. The reason for this discrepancy is that history is not time, and time is not history. History is not the study of the past per se; it is about people in the past. Time, separated from humanity, is purely a matter for scientists and star-gazers. If a previously unknown uninha... 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 23 JAN 2015 by ideonexus
Astrology as a False Science
"Excuse me," she said hesitantly, "but what effect do these minor planets have on our behavior and fortunes? I mean, you know, astrological influence?"
He looked at her. "None."
"None at all?"
"No."
"But if the planets affect our fortunes—" She stumbled to a stop at the dispassionately scornful look on the pale man's face, the slow way he shook his head. "Surely you'll agree that the planets order and control our destinies?"
"They do not."
"Not at all?"
"No."
"Then what does? Contro... 1 notes
notesIn a fantasy world, where it retains distinction in academia because the academics have too much invested in it.
23 JUL 2014 by ideonexus
Chinese Books Lack an Index
Yet even if some technological fix were to be devised to solve the problem of character entry, the non-alphabetic nature of the writing system still results in other serious and long-standing “invisible” problems. For example, the inclusion of a standard index to books, manuals and reference materials is made orders of magnitude more difficult by the Chinese writing system. The result is that to this day, the vast majority of non-fiction books published in China do not have an index, or a...
1 29 MAY 2014 by ideonexus
The Unknowable
This girl was perhaps not born of a mother.
But blossomed in a peach tree:
Her love fades
Quicker than peach-flowers.
Although I know her soft body
I cannot sound out her heart;
Yet we have but to make a few lines on a chart
And the distance of the farthest stars
In the sky can be measured. Poem about love and science.
29 MAY 2014 by ideonexus
Sages VS Astrologers
Someone asked whether a sage could make divination. [Yang Hsiung] replied that a sage could certainly make divination about Heaven and Earth. If that is so, continued the questioner, what is the difference between the sage and the astrologer (shih)l [Yang Hsiung] replied, 'The astrologer foretells what the effects of heavenly phenomena will be on man; the sage foretells what the effects of man's actions will be on the heavens'. Folksonomies: history perspective
Folksonomies: history perspective
1 notes
notesFa Yen (Model Discourses) ca 5 AD. Transi J Needham Science and Civilization in China 1956
Yang Hsiung 51 bc-ad 18
21 JAN 2014 by ideonexus
Knowing the World Requires Mathematics
For the things of this world cannot be made known without a knowledge of mathematics. For this is an assured fact in regard to celestial things, siDce two important sciences of mathematics treat of them, namely theoretical astrology and practical astrology. The first. . . gives us definite information as to the number of the heavens and of the stars, whose size can be comprehended by means of instruments, and the shapes of all and their magnitudes and distances from the earth, and thicknesses...Folksonomies: mathematics knowledge
Folksonomies: mathematics knowledge
1 notes
notesEverything can be reduced to mathematics.
22 OCT 2013 by ideonexus
The Loser in an Argument is Actually the Winner
He explains, “Suppose you and I have an argument. You believe a proposition, P, and I don’t. I’ve objected, I’ve questioned, I’ve raised all sorts of counter-considerations, and in every case you’ve responded to my satisfaction. At the end of the day, I say, ‘You know what? I guess you’re right.’ So I have a new belief. And it’s not just any belief, but it’s a well-articulated, examined and battle-tested belief. Cohen continues, “So who won that argument? Well, the war...The problem with the "war" metaphor for debate is that it defines winning as failing to adjust one's position at the end, while the "loser," the one who has conceded points based on the evidence, comes away from the encounter with a much stronger and tested understanding of the subjectmatter.
13 OCT 2013 by ideonexus
Studying Nature Brings Us Closer to the Gods
Mortal as I am, I know that I am born for a day, but when I follow the serried multitude of the stars in their circular course, my feet no longer touch the earth; I ascend to Zeus himself to feast me on ambrosia, the food of the gods. 1 notes
notesPtolemy explains the rapturous feelings he gets from studying the stars.
13 OCT 2013 by ideonexus
The Emergence of the Week Began the Scientific Mind
The making of our week was another forward step in man's mastery of the
world, in his reach toward science. The week was man's own cluster, not
dictated by the visible forces of nature, for the planetary influences were
invisible. By seeking astral regularities, by imagining that regularly recurring
forces at a distance, forces that could be judged only by their effects,
might govern the world, mankind was preparing a new arsenal of thought,
an escape from the prison of Again-and-Again. The p... 1 notes
notesIt was the first time human beings established an artificial order to things, setting up cycles.
