Blog Posts
Democracy
Without science, democracy has no future.
— Maxim Gorky
Let the Past Go
To survive,
Know the past.
Let it touch you.
Then let
The past
Go.
— From “Earthseed: The Books of the Living,” Parable of the Talents, Octavia E. Butler
Science is Precious
One thing I have learned in a long life: that all our science, measured against reality, is primitive and childlike—and yet it is the most precious thing we have.
— Albert Einstein
Some Poets Don't Understand Science
Poets say science takes away from the beauty of the stars—mere globs of gas atoms. I too can see the stars on a desert night, and feel them. But do I see less or more? The vastness of the heavens stretches my imagination—stuck on this carousel my little eye can catch one-million-year-old light. A vast pattern—of which I am a part…
What is the pattern, or the meaning, or the why?
... Read more …
Two Hard Things
There are two hard things in computer science: cache invalidation, naming things.
— Phil Karlton, formerly of Xerox PARC, DEC, SGI, and Netscape
There are two hard things in computer science: cache invalidation, naming things, and off-by-one errors.
— Leon Bambrick, https://secretgeek.net/
Tyranny
If you really want to live in a world without tyranny, spend less time trying to show others why you are right and more time trying to show yourself why you are wrong.
— Robin Koerner
Tyranny and Epistemology
Tyranny is not the result of a belief in a bad political theory; it is the result of a bad belief in a political theory – and that is an entirely different thing. To understand tyranny, then, we need to think a bit less about politics and a bit more about epistemology.
— Robin Koerner
See: https://www.robinkoerner.com/post/political-scientism-beware-the-enlightened-ones
The World Is My Country
The world is my country, all mankind are my brethren, and to do good is my religion.
— Thomas Paine
Astride Of a Grave
They give birth astride of a grave, the light gleams an instant, then it’s night once more.
— Thomas Beckett (Pozzo, in WFG)
Magic Things
The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.
— W. B. Yeats