The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a… Read More »At the Mountains of Madness: Edwardian* Science; Lovecraftian Cosmology
… the 20th century saw a nearly 40-fold gain in useful energy [i.e. energy available for human use]; since 1800 the gain was about 3,500-fold.… Read More »Technology (26): Vaclav Smil on available energy per capita since 1800
Via Eric Gilliam‘s excellent FreakTakes. I got to Princeton, and the first thing, when I was there and I went to the physics building, I… Read More »Richard Feynman: “Fiddling around is the answer”
The Feynman Lectures on Physics are available online courtesy of Caltech. Here’s an elegant description of probability in the real world: See also: Who Says?Decisions… Read More »Richard Feynman on probability fluctuations
… and the impossibility of equality. This is an interesting little study on the origins of individuality, diversity, and inequality (in fish). Recommended. Behavioral individuality… Read More »Fish Forks: behavioural individuality among genetically identical fish…
In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A… Read More »Why isn’t the mule regarded as a species?
Today’s helpful reminder comes via this week’s The Whippet (highly recommended): The Limits of Scale “And then came the grandest idea of all ! We… Read More »The Map Is Not The Territory
A friend shared this fantastic resource about [statistical] Causal Inference, about which I know very little. This book (and website) looks like a great place… Read More »Reading list – Scott Cunningham’s Causal Inference: The Mixtape
This is mostly still true – perhaps the part about how we reprogram computers has changed, because they are often programmed to “train” themselves through… Read More »Richard Hamming c. 1995 on why computers are (going to be) a thing
I have to get you to quit your modesty. I have to get you individually to respond to my challenge that you’re going to be… Read More »Richard Hamming on aiming for greatness, education and developing style