Sublime
An inspiration engine for ideas
The bit is a fundamental particle of a different sort: not just tiny but abstract—a binary digit, a flip-flop, a yes-or-no. It is insubstantial, yet as scientists finally come to understand information, they wonder whether it may be primary: more fundamental than matter itself. They suggest that the bit is the irreducible kernel and that informatio
... See moreJames Gleick • The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood
Numbers, techniques, and predictions are useful for suggesting, testing, confirming, and putting discoveries to use. But there is nothing technical about the content of the discoveries. The universe does not revolve around the Earth. All the matter that surrounds us is just made up of protons, electrons, and neutrons. There are one hundred billion
... See moreWilliam Buckley, the archconservative, and Arthur Schlesinger, a highly credentialed liberal, were arguing one day on Buckley’s TV show about America’s budget deficits. They disagreed about nearly everything. The one notion they concurred on enthusiastically was that bureaucratic agencies—such as government departments—mindlessly and inexorably att
... See moreHoward Bloom • The Lucifer Principle: A Scientific Expedition into the Forces of History
La sélection naturelle est un principe universel, qui s'applique à tous les êtres vivants, mais elle prend des formes très différentes. Elle existe même chez les végétaux ; mais dans ce cas elle est liée à l'accès aux nutriments du sol, à l'eau, à la lumière solaire… L'homme, lui, est un animal, c'est entendu ; mais ce n'est ni un chien de prairie,
... See moreMichel Houellebecq • Soumission (French Edition)
It seems that, from the perspective of mathematical science, there exist two natural domains. The first is the physical domain of particles, fields, and universal laws, with an associated search for elegant theories that apply everywhere in the known universe. Here, science has made great strides. The second domain is that of complex phenomena. The
... See moreJessica C. Flack • Worlds Hidden in Plain Sight: The Evolving Idea of Complexity at the Santa Fe Institute, 1984–2019 (Compass)
Ridley, Matt. Génome: Autobiographie de l'espèce humaine en vingt-trois chapitres, Paris: Robert Laffont, 2001.