I just came across the first version of this post, one that I wrote over seven years ago. It contained references that are quite dated; large language… Read more “All Watched Over By Machines of Loving Grace: An Appeal to Our AI Overlords”
Category: General Science
The Last Question: How to Reboot the Universe
Before Douglas Adams posited that the Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything was 42, Isaac Asimov was pondering the same question. Long… Read more “The Last Question: How to Reboot the Universe”
Got Pandemics – Pt. 2: Which of the Gods, in the Name of Truth, Fixed These Absurd Proportions?
Remember Old Mithridates, the King who couldn’t die by his own poison? Here’s a reminder from poet A.E. Houseman (collected in A Shropshire Lad, 1896): There was… Read more “Got Pandemics – Pt. 2: Which of the Gods, in the Name of Truth, Fixed These Absurd Proportions?”
Got Pandemics? We’ve Got Panaceas! Mithridate, Pt. 1
First, a few etymologies: Pandemic comes from pandēmos (Greek) = pan ‘all’) + dēmos ‘people’; therefore “all people”, as opposed to epidemic (epi=upon, hence “upon people”). Panacea… Read more “Got Pandemics? We’ve Got Panaceas! Mithridate, Pt. 1”
An Alchemical Snake, a Day-dreaming Chemist, and a Molecule that tried to fail me: Ouroboros, Kekulė, and Benzene
Organic chemistry is not my friend. There are other forms of chemistry and physics that I can handle, but those evil aromatic compounds (yep, that’s what they’re… Read more “An Alchemical Snake, a Day-dreaming Chemist, and a Molecule that tried to fail me: Ouroboros, Kekulė, and Benzene”
Warp Speed Ahead: Why theory became a bad word
Once upon a time, scientists proposed Laws. If a scientist/philosopher (back in the day, they were both the same species) had a Eureka! moment, and it could… Read more “Warp Speed Ahead: Why theory became a bad word”