Search found 69 matches

by sanscardinality
Mon Mar 05, 2007 11:00 pm
Forum: Musings and Chats
Topic: Welcome, travelers
Replies: 25
Views: 174814

Re: Aristotelians

I recall that randomly-generated paper. The second-best hoax after Sokal's. As for the above point in your post, an Aristotelian would probably like the idea of using "play" (broadly defined) as an aid to thinking. Such an approach is not only pragmatic but it also gives pride of place to...
by sanscardinality
Mon Mar 05, 2007 10:45 pm
Forum: Musings and Chats
Topic: Welcome, travelers
Replies: 25
Views: 174814

Using unfamiliar and obscure ideas, e.g., from science, completely defeats the purpose of metaphor and analogy. (Why, then, does this practice persist? Easy: because science is perceived as being magically powerful. By using science analogies, people are hoping to invoke that power of science for t...
by sanscardinality
Mon Mar 05, 2007 10:42 pm
Forum: Musings and Chats
Topic: Welcome, travelers
Replies: 25
Views: 174814

I think there are analogues between different metaphysical perspectives and the implications of certain scientific discoveries. Of course, these are generally weak connections and also generally backfire as science moves on and further refines what we do know and the metaphysics stay locked into dog...
by sanscardinality
Mon Mar 05, 2007 9:56 pm
Forum: Literature and Cinema
Topic: Ben Bova - anything
Replies: 2
Views: 36844

Ben Bova - anything

I've been listening to Ben Bova novels while I renovate my house, drive, or sometimes write code (apparantly, the "code" part of my brain is separate from the "story" part - someone can tell me why if they know.) In short, I find them to be very compelling in the same way TOS Sta...
by sanscardinality
Mon Mar 05, 2007 9:45 pm
Forum: Musings and Chats
Topic: Welcome, travelers
Replies: 25
Views: 174814

PS> Welcome aboard Caliban!
by sanscardinality
Mon Mar 05, 2007 9:44 pm
Forum: Musings and Chats
Topic: Welcome, travelers
Replies: 25
Views: 174814

As a dedicated fan of "What the Bleep do we Know", I would like to point out that modern physics proves once and for all that the universe is indeed balanced upon a turtle's back and is 5618 years old.

;-)

SC
by sanscardinality
Thu Feb 08, 2007 9:52 pm
Forum: The Poetry and Prose of Science and Science Fiction
Topic: Where Have All the Spacemen Gone? Part 3
Replies: 15
Views: 120394

I made a joke about this in the Yahoo threads, but I think one really feasible explanation for why we haven't heard from other intelligences is that we aren't worth exploiting to them. Examine the pattern of Western exploitation of Pacific islands for example - effort was expended (and impact realiz...
by sanscardinality
Mon Jan 29, 2007 11:12 pm
Forum: Literature and Cinema
Topic: Mervyn Peake and Mannerpunk
Replies: 5
Views: 51638

Mervyn Peake and Mannerpunk

I'll throw in a couple favorites, starting with Mervyn Peake. If you've not read the Gormenghast Trilogy it's certainly worth a perusal. He was a playwrite in the middle 20th century who explored a compelling gothic world while he was fighting in WWII, though his use of language can be a bit of a ba...
by sanscardinality
Thu Jan 25, 2007 11:17 pm
Forum: Literature and Cinema
Topic: Science fiction/fantasy film recommendations
Replies: 21
Views: 180764

Couldn't agree more...

A fantastic movie, and one that portrays violence graphically, but doesn't glorify it at all. It really shows the imbecility of hate and warfare, while at the same time making a broader point about the value of human life - what we say we value and what we actually do...

Peace!
SC