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'A New Kind of Science': You Know That Space-Time Thing? Never Mind |
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| Topic: Science |
12:27 am EDT, Jun 9, 2002 |
Among a small group of very smart people, the publication of "A New Kind of Science," by Stephen Wolfram, has been anticipated with the anxiety aroused in literary circles by, say, Jonathan Franzen's recent novel, "The Corrections." For more than a decade, Wolfram, a theoretical physicist turned millionaire software entrepreneur, has been laboring in solitude on a work that, he has promised, will change the way we see the world. Now, weighing in at 1,263 pages (counting a long, unpaginated index) and 583,313 words, the book could hardly be more intimidating. But that is the price one pays for a first-class intellectual thrill. ... From the very beginning of this meticulously constructed manifesto, the reader is presented with a stunning proposal: all the science we know will be demolished and reassembled. An ancient error will be corrected, one so profoundly misguided that it has led science down the wrong avenue, until it is approaching a cul-de-sac. ... Wolfram contends: the algorithm is the pure, elemental expression of nature; the equation is an artifice. That is because the continuum is a fiction. Time doesn't flow, it ticks. Space is not a surface but a grid. Considering its immense size, Wolfram's book is quite affordable, and it is readily available (alongside Stephen Jay Gould's giant life's-work book) at mainstream bookstores. 'A New Kind of Science': You Know That Space-Time Thing? Never Mind |
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| Topic: Science |
9:14 pm EDT, Jun 6, 2002 |
"June 3, 2002: Suddenly the horizon turns orange. Clouds glow strange shades of purple and pink, and the Sun itself swells ... bigger and redder than ever. Another lovely sunset.
You've probably seen so many that you hardly notice any more. But, if you live in North America, pay attention next Monday for something extraordinary as twilight approaches.
The setting Sun will be a crescent." Weird Sunset |
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A Challenge to Science and Nature |
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| Topic: Science |
3:33 pm EDT, Jun 4, 2002 |
A new journal will challenge publishing behemoths such as Science, Nature and Cell by offering free access to research articles immediately upon publication on the Web. Its about time Science got alittle more open source. A Challenge to Science and Nature |
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Salon.com Technology | Clone free |
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| Topic: Science |
2:40 pm EDT, May 24, 2002 |
Maybe in 2053, when my clone is having coffee with your clone, the arguments in Francis Fukuyama's cautionary polemic "Our Posthuman Future: Consequences of the Biotechnology Revolution" will seem as quaint as the early opposition to railroads does today. ... Fukuyama told Salon why he thinks that the right to be cloned and to tinker with our offspring's genes aren't liberties that we should all enjoy, and what should be done to restrain the onrush of biotechnology. I am going to wait until I finish the book to comment. Salon.com Technology | Clone free |
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