Sublime
An inspiration engine for ideas
Nothing daunted, the physicists invented new and smaller units, called electrons and protons, out of which atoms were composed; and these units were supposed, for a few years, to have the indestructibility formerly attributed to atoms. Unfortunately it seemed that protons and electrons could meet and explode, forming, not new matter, but a wave of
... See moreBertrand Russell • History of Western Philosophy
The argument made by Bayes and Price is not that the world is intrinsically probabilistic or uncertain. Bayes was a believer in divine perfection; he was also an advocate of Isaac Newton’s work, which had seemed to suggest that nature follows regular and predictable laws. It is, rather, a statement—expressed both mathematically and philosophically—
... See moreNate Silver • The Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail-but Some Don't
Hence all mathematical derivation can be viewed simply as change in representation,
Herbert A. Simon • The Sciences of the Artificial
scientific knowledge is not what we can verify directly, as positivists expected. On the contrary, it is based on theoretical constructs that can be contradicted by empirical observations. We hold valid a theory that offers predictions that are corroborated as long as it has never been contradicted (“falsified”) by reality.
Carlo Rovelli • Anaximander: And the Birth of Science
But in science it is not difficult to come up with ideas; it is difficult to come up with workable ideas, to find a way to compose and articulate new ideas as part of a whole that is consistent with the rest of our knowledge, and to convince others that the entire process is reasonable.
Carlo Rovelli • Anaximander: And the Birth of Science
“Uncertainty” characterizes a non-deterministic system for which probabilities cannot be assigned to the space of outcomes.
Sacha Meyers • Bitcoin Is Venice: Essays on the Past and Future of Capitalism
IN MODERN thought the awareness that there is something out there that we are not yet awake enough to see is the engine that drives the investigative mind. Relentless and systematic questioning: this is the spirit of scientific intelligence. In this spirit we dissect to see what connects, we dismember to understand the whole, we kill to catch life
... See moreAs the System grows in size and complexity, it gradually but inevitably outgrows its component specifications. Parts (whether human or electronic) begin to fail. The important point is: ANY LARGE SYSTEM IS GOING TO BE OPERATING MOST OF THE TIME IN FAILURE MODE What the System is supposed to be doing when everything is working well is really beside
... See moreJohn Gall • Systemantics. The Systems Bible
Price, in framing Bayes’s essay, gives the example of a person who emerges into the world (perhaps he is Adam, or perhaps he came from Plato’s cave) and sees the sun rise for the first time. At first, he does not know whether this is typical or some sort of freak occurrence. However, each day that he survives and the sun rises again, his confidence
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