science
Topics and developments in science and medicine, presented by Futurism.
Why We Should Stop Using the Word Race, It's Stupid.
I have a friend, not just any kind of friend but that special friend who looks at you and knows exactly what's up. The guy/girl you go to when you're in love, scared, confused. The brother from another mother. The sister you never had. That person we all have or should have.
By Milad Hussin7 years ago in Futurism
Philosophy: the Essential Analysis
Knowledge is the first principle. Man exists as mind. To found one’s principles upon any other axiom denies personal existence. The self-awareness of the individual provides the essential absolute necessary for any comprehension of the nature of existence. Mind is the knower. The nature of knowledge is the definition of cognitive awareness. Definition is founded upon the principles of reason. The binary nature of definition provides a framework for the comprehension of reality. Any given bit of knowledge must be either affirmed or denied, and it cannot exist simultaneously affirmed and denied. The affirmation or denial of any proposed idea is considered a single Knowledge. The accumulation of knowledges in the mind is the awareness of our existence. We live in a world of ideas, each an abstract conception in and of itself defined by logic into a coherent superstructure structure of consummate sentience. Experience, however, is ultimately subjective. Due to the self-defining nature of knowledge, this does not mean it is untrue, but that the very premise of true and false are contained in the mind as human conceptions. You may speak gibberish, and you may build a house of straw, but one will soon find that it is becoming to model one’s definitions after the objective reality instead of demanding nature to bow down to your dictionary. In that knowledge is a matter of subjective experience, knowledge has no basis in objective reality. One can assume a house to be made of oak, but if so, then this house of oak was swept away on a gentle breeze. The physical matter of which the house was composed has no name outside of the mind of the knower, but the principles of weight and tensile strength will remain objective. The external world is an unknowable postulate from the vantage point of the human mind. All active stimulus is but the sensation of the brain; the reality of this sensation can neither be affirmed nor denied; only accepted or rejected as a knowledge. Not even the brain can truly be affirmed nor denied as real, but that the thoughts of sensory awareness are manifest. Thought is the substance of the mind, and the basis of knowledge. Definition applied to thought is idea. The nature of our sensory existence is the foundation of our belief in an external reality. We see the world and we hear it and when we eat it we taste it and feel it going into our bodies—but then we wake up and it was actually quite a dream, and certainly that which is dreamed is not a reality. However, in that the faculties of sense continue to operate even in states of unreal consciousness, the senses alone cannot provide the evidence for an external reality. It becomes necessary for us to observe a moment of silence for all the dead solipsists.
By Eliander Black7 years ago in Futurism
The Consciousness Paradox . Top Story - June 2017.
Unlike any other species on this planet, humans develop extreme anxiety when thinking about the possibility of nothingness after death. With strong egos and attachment to the material world, ideas and theories of what comes after death and how humankind came to this land were developed. We found comfort in these thoughts, reassuring ourselves that our lives have purpose, meaning, and existence even beyond death. Humans find comfort in having purpose, for without it life seems almost meaningless... hopeless.
By Justin Gignac7 years ago in Futurism
A Thinking Person's Artificial Intelligence
Over the past decade, artificial intelligence migrated from computer geeks' workshops to something many people encounter in their everyday lives, but not without fears of its effects. Last year, the Pew Research Center assembled a panel of more than 1,300 experts, polled on the impact of increasing our reliance on algorithms—mathematical models underpinning artificial intelligence that aid in making decisions and completing tasks—and whose responses were boiled down into a set of themes.
By Alan Kotok7 years ago in Futurism
Sinister Dexterity (Or, Let's Get Sinister)
You've been using your right hand all your life. Well, with the exception of the ten percent this whole article is backward for. Next time you do something you've grown to consider a single-command operation, try using the hand that isn't the one that wants to do it. Open doors, tie your shoes, write, all with one hand and not the expected one. Let's get into why.
By Casey Parker7 years ago in Futurism
Can Better Data Head Off Environmental Disasters?
Do you live within 200 yards of an oil or gas pipe? More than 60% of Americans do, but no one—not public agencies, not commercial customers, and not even the energy companies that own the pipes—could tell you exactly where defects in those pipes are. As that infrastructure ages far beyond its intended lifespan, the costs of maintaining and servicing pipelines pose a $68 billion headache for the industry and a ticking time bomb for the public.
By Rob Salkowitz7 years ago in Futurism
Science Fiction: Science as Craft
Writing is a craft. We talk of crafting a story, and of wordsmiths who forge metaphors from the white heat of their imaginations. The creation of fiction, therefore, involves a process akin to that of making art. This process involves the mind constructing a fabrication which will more clearly define our reality, or even go beyond our understanding of what reality is.
By Nadia Davidson7 years ago in Futurism
Sir Hans Sloane, Magic Mirrors and the British Museum
The British Museum collection began with the intellectual curiosity of an Irish doctor called Sir Hans Sloane. He began collecting when he was working in Jamaica, as a physician to the governor. He returned to London in 1689 and continued collecting. He was a very wealthy and successful doctor. His patients included the diarist Samuel Pepys and Queen Anne. Soon his house in Bloomsbury Place was overflowing with ‘plants, fossils, minerals, zoological, anatomical and pathological specimens, antiquities …prints, drawings and coins, books and manuscripts.’ His collecting got so out of control that he had to buy the house next door. When that house was full he moved to a new house in Chelsea!
By Christine Alford7 years ago in Futurism