As someone who's never been good at math, I found this particularly interesting. It's strange that I've always been in the top tier of programmers on any team I worked on, easily gotten As in any programming class I took, and that programmers as a general breed tend to be good at math, but I've … Continue reading Who’s afraid of math? Study finds some genetic factors
Month: March 2014
The long reach of reason
A cool TED cartoon video of Rebecca Goldstein and Steven Pinker discussing reason and its effects on history. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uk7gKixqVNU I've said it before, but just because reason is a means to an end, as they note Hume observed, doesn't take away its value. Acknowledging it only gives us a healthy, and reasonable, awareness of its … Continue reading The long reach of reason
Is consciousness in control? Does it matter?
A new scientific paper claims to describe an experiment that shows that consciousness controls our actions. From the paper: These results indicate that conscious intentions govern motor function… until today, it was unclear whether conscious motor intention exists prior to movement, or whether the brain constructs such an intention after movement initiation. The Neuroskeptic takes … Continue reading Is consciousness in control? Does it matter?
First Direct Evidence of Cosmic Inflation – SpaceRef
Wow! There were lots of rumors about this over the weekend. Turns out that, in this case, the rumors were spot on. Almost 14 billion years ago, the universe we inhabit burst into existence in an extraordinary event that initiated the Big Bang. In the first fleeting fraction of a second, the universe expanded exponentially, … Continue reading First Direct Evidence of Cosmic Inflation – SpaceRef
Top 10 scientists of the 13th century | Science News
One of the things I used to think was that the scientific revolution in the 16th and 17th centuries was a revolution of method, that before that period the scientific method either didn't exist or was not yet complete. But I realized last year that the revolution was really more of an acceleration of progress … Continue reading Top 10 scientists of the 13th century | Science News
Battle of the “Cosmos,” Round 3 – Out There | Discovermagazine.com
Corey Powell, and editor at Discover Magazine, and Steven Sotor, co-writer of the new Cosmos series, have been having a back and forth about Giordano Bruno, who was highlighted in the first Cosmos episode. Your suggestion that Giordano Bruno was not the first to realize that the stars are suns is mistaken. You cited his … Continue reading Battle of the “Cosmos,” Round 3 – Out There | Discovermagazine.com
Will civilization collapse in the coming decades?
Apparently, there is a NASA funded study which says so. If history is any guide, our civilization will eventually collapse. Every other society in human history has ultimately done so: Sumer, Egypt, Rome, etc. There's no good reason to think we've beaten the civilization life cycle, any more than there is to believe the assertions … Continue reading Will civilization collapse in the coming decades?
Forgetting is important
I've noted before that our memories corrupt over time, and that we're constantly forgetting things. All things we should try to...remember when recalling events or evaluating eyewitness testimony. Anyway, it turns out that if something goes wrong with our forgetting mechanism, it has serious consequences. In order to function properly, the human brain requires the … Continue reading Forgetting is important
SpaceX prepares to take the biggest step towards affordable space travel: Soft landing the Falcon 9 rocket
Recently, I've observed how the multistage rocket system probably isn't going anywhere and that the best approach might be to embrace it and make it work as effectively as possible. I've noted the appeal of VTOL (vertical take off and landing) rocket. Well, it turns out SpaceX was way ahead of me on both points. … Continue reading SpaceX prepares to take the biggest step towards affordable space travel: Soft landing the Falcon 9 rocket
Defending Giordano Bruno: A Response from the Co-Writer of “Cosmos” – Out There | Discovermagazine.com
Cosmos co-writer Steven Sotor has responded to Corey Powell's criticism of Cosmos's highlighting of Giordano Bruno on its opening episode. Powell published the response on his blog, and responded in turn. Powell writes that the new Cosmos is “downright wrong” because “Bruno was not the first to link the idea of infinite space with the infinite glory … Continue reading Defending Giordano Bruno: A Response from the Co-Writer of “Cosmos” – Out There | Discovermagazine.com
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