Standing on the Shoulders of Giants

Passages that reflect the collective nature of science.


Folksonomies: science collectivism

Memes

21 JAN 2014

 Knowledge Grows Faster Than Compound Interest

Remember that accumulated knowledge, like accumulated capital, increases at compound interest: but it differs from the accumulation of capital in this; that the increase of knowledge produces a more rapid rate of progress, whilst the accumulation of capital leads to a lower rate of interest. Capital thus checks its own accumulation: knowledge thus accelerates its own advance. Each generation, therefore, to deserve comparison with its predecessor, is bound to add much more largely to the commo...
  1  notes

It accelerates beyond the comparatively stunted growth of wealth.

08 APR 2013

 Human Scientific Achievement is Greater Than the Magic of...

And Harry raced back up the stairs and shoved the staircase back into the trunk with his heel, and, panting, turned the pages of the book until he found the picture he wanted to show to Draco. The one with the white, dry, cratered land, and the suited people, and the blue-white globe hanging over it all. That picture. The picture, if only one picture in all the world were to survive. "That," Harry said, his voice trembling because he couldn't quite keep the pride out, "is what the Earth looks...
Folksonomies: science magic reality
Folksonomies: science magic reality
  1  notes

None of the Wizards have gone to the moon. Rational Harry Potter baffles them by showing them a picture of the Earth from space.

06 AUG 2012

 Knowledge Increases

The progress of the sciences secures the progress of the art of instruction, which again accelerates in its turn that of the sciences; and this reciprocal influence, the action of which is incessantly increased, must be ranked in the number of the most prolific and powerful causes of the improvement of the human race. At present, a young man, upon finishing his studies and quitting our schools, may know more of the principles of mathematics than Newton acquired by profound study, or discovere...
  1  notes

By standing on the shoulders of giants, the college-graduate can know more than Newton learned in a lifetime through all his hard work and discovery.

04 AUG 2012

 Study is More Efficient Than Contemplation

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Folksonomies: education learning study
Folksonomies: education learning study
  2  notes

[Translated] Once I spent an entire day in thought, but it was not as good as a moment of study. Once I stood on tiptoe to gaze into the distance, but it was not as good as climbing to a high place to get a broad view. Climbing to a high place and waving will not make your arm any longer, but you can be seen from farther away. Shouting down the wind will give your voice no added urgency, but you can be heard more distinctly. By borrowing a horse and carriage you will not improve your feet, but you can cover a thousand li. By borrowing a boat and paddles you will not improve your ability in water, but you can cross rivers and seas. The noble person is by birth no different from others, but he is good at borrowing from external things.

12 JUN 2012

 Each Scientists Adds Their Own to What Came Before

The advancement of science is slow; it is effected only by virtue of hard work and perseverance. And when a result is attained, should we not in recognition connect it with the efforts of those who have preceded us, who have struggled and suffered in advance? Is it not truly a duty to recall the difficulties which they vanquished, the thoughts which guided them; and how men of different nations, ideas, positions, and characters, moved solely by the love of science, have bequeathed to us the u...
Folksonomies: shoulders of giants
Folksonomies: shoulders of giants
  1  notes

A search for truth continuing from century to century.

11 JUN 2012

 Artists Work Alone, Scientists Collaborate

Any artist or novelist would understand—some of us do not produce their best when directed. We expect the artist, the novelist and the composer to lead solitary lives, often working at home. While a few of these creative individuals exist in institutions or universities, the idea of a majority of established novelists or painters working at the 'National Institute for Painting and Fine Art' or a university 'Department of Creative Composition' seems mildly amusing. By contrast, alarm greets th...
Folksonomies: collectivism
Folksonomies: collectivism
  1  notes

It is considered irresponsible for scientists to work alone.

11 JUN 2012

 Ideas Grow

Great inventions are never, and great discoveries are seldom, the work of any one mind. Every great invention is really an aggregation of minor inventions, or the final step of a progression. It is not usually a creation, but a growth, as truly so as is the growth of the trees in the forest.
Folksonomies: ideas growth collectivism
Folksonomies: ideas growth collectivism
  1  notes

On other ideas, like the growth of trees in a forest.

11 JUN 2012

 Scientists Work Near the Tower of Science

Whereas the man of action binds his life to reason and its concepts so that he will not be swept away and lost, the scientific investigator builds his hut right next to the tower of science so that he will be able to work on it and to find shelter for himself beneath those bulwarks which presently exist.
  1  notes

Taking shelter under the ideas that previously exist.

06 JUN 2012

 Science is a Relay Race

History of science is a relay race, my painter friend. Copernicus took over his flag from Aristarchus, from Cicero, from Plutarch; and Galileo took that flag over from Copernicus.
Folksonomies: history science
Folksonomies: history science
  1  notes

Being handed off from scientist to scientist.

02 JAN 2012

 Science is a Relay Race

Indeed, there is a particular problem with finding endings in science. Where do these science stories really finish? Science is truly a relay race, with each discovery handed on to the next generation. Even as one door is closing, another door is already being thrown open. So it is with this book. The great period of Victorian science is about to begin. The new stories are passed into the hands of Michael Faraday, John Herschel, Charles Darwin …and the world of modern science begins to rush t...
  1  notes

It is difficult to know where to end a story about science, because the discoveries never cease and will continue into the future.



References

21 JAN 2014

 The Exposition of 1851

Books, Brochures, and Chapters>Book:  Babbage , Charles (1851), The Exposition of 1851, Retrieved on 2014-01-21
  • Source Material [books.google.com]
  • Folksonomies: great exhibition
    Folksonomies: great exhibition
     1  
    08 APR 2013

     Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality

    Books, Brochures, and Chapters>Book:  Wrong, Less and Yudkowsky, Eliezer (2010), Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality, Retrieved on 2013-04-08
  • Source Material [hpmor.com]
  •  10  
    06 AUG 2012

     Outlines of an Historical View of the Progress of the Hum...

    Books, Brochures, and Chapters>Book:  Condorcet, Jean-Antoine-Nicolas de Caritat (1795), Outlines of an Historical View of the Progress of the Human Mind, Retrieved on 2012-08-06
  • Source Material [oll.libertyfund.org]
  • Folksonomies: philosophy
    Folksonomies: philosophy
     34  
    04 AUG 2012

     Xunzi

    Books, Brochures, and Chapters>Book:  ?? , and ?? , (1999), Xunzi, Retrieved on 2012-08-04
  • Source Material [books.google.com]
  • Folksonomies: philosophy
    Folksonomies: philosophy
     4  
    12 JUN 2012

      In Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithson...

    Periodicals>Journal Article:  Moissan, Henri (1898), In Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution to July 1897 , Proceedings of the Royal Institution (1897)., (1898), 262., Retrieved on 2012-06-12
     1  
    11 JUN 2012

     Homage to Gala: The Life of an Independent Scholar

    Books, Brochures, and Chapters>Book:  Lovelock, James (2000), Homage to Gala: The Life of an Independent Scholar, Oxford University Press, USA, Retrieved on 2012-06-11
  • Source Material [books.google.com]
  • Folksonomies:
    Folksonomies:
     1  
    11 JUN 2012

     The Growth of the Steam-Engine

    Periodicals>Magazine Article:  Thurston, Robert H. (Nov 1877), The Growth of the Steam-Engine, (Nov 1877), 17. , The Popular Science Monthly , Retrieved on 2012-06-11
     1  
    11 JUN 2012

     The Nietzsche Reader

    Books, Brochures, and Chapters>Book:  Pearson , Large , Nietzsche (2009-02-24), The Nietzsche Reader, Wiley-Blackwell, Retrieved on 2012-06-11
  • Source Material [books.google.com]
  • Folksonomies: philosophy
    Folksonomies: philosophy
     1  
    06 JUN 2012

     Galileo Galilei

    Books, Brochures, and Chapters>Book:  ?ldan , Mehmet Murat (2001), Galileo Galilei, Retrieved on 2012-06-06
  • Source Material [books.google.com]
  • Folksonomies: todo
    Folksonomies: todo
     3  
    02 JAN 2012

     The Age of Wonder

    Books, Brochures, and Chapters>Book:  Holmes , Richard (2010-03-02), The Age of Wonder, Vintage, Retrieved on 2012-01-02
  • Source Material [books.google.com]
  •  43