braindecoder ScienceBlogs - Where the world turns to talk about science. GuruMeditation | Une fine sélection et vulgarisation de l'Actualités des Sciences et des nouvelles TechnologiesGuruMeditation As We May Think: A 1945 Essay on Information Overload, "Curation," and Open-Access Science by Maria Popova “There is a new profession of trail blazers, those who find delight in the task of establishing useful trails through the enormous mass of the common record.” Tim O’Reilly recently admonished that unless we embrace open access over copyright, we’ll never get science policy right. The sentiment, which I believe applies to more than science, reminded me of an eloquent 1945 essay by Vannevar Bush, then-director of the Office of Scientific Research and Development, titled “As We May Think.” Much of what Bush discusses presages present conversations about information overload, filtering, and our restless “FOMO” — fear of missing out, for anyone who did miss out on the memetic catchphrase — amidst the incessant influx. Professionally our methods of transmitting and reviewing the results of research are generations old and by now are totally inadequate for their purpose. Assume a linear ratio of 100 for future use. The memex Donating = Loving Share on Tumblr
Brain Pickings thelogicalleap Mind Hacks Universe Grows Like A Brain | Social Networks The universe may grow like a giant brain, according to a new computer simulation. The results, published Nov.16 in the journal Nature's Scientific Reports, suggest that some undiscovered, fundamental laws may govern the growth of systems large and small, from the electrical firing between brain cells and growth of social networks to the expansion of galaxies. "Natural growth dynamics are the same for different real networks, like the Internet or the brain or social networks," said study co-author Dmitri Krioukov, a physicist at the University of California San Diego. The new study suggests a single fundamental law of nature may govern these networks, said physicist Kevin Bassler of the University of Houston, who was not involved in the study. [What's That? Your Physics Questions Answered] "At first blush they seem to be quite different systems, the question is, is there some kind of controlling laws can describe them?" Similar Networks Brain cells and galaxies
MIT Technology Review The Brains Blog | Since 2005, a leading forum for work in the philosophy and science of mind Homosexuality & The Bible: It Doesn't Say What You Think it Does Okay, so I've finally made my way to the obligatory commentary on what the Bible actually says about homosexuality. Aside from abortion, there really isn't any other topic that's quite so exquisitely divisive between religious Fundamentalists and their more liberal and/or secular counterparts. And - maintaining the never-ending trend of people squabbling over the meaning of ancient and oft misunderstood religious texts - the Bible is (big surprise) at the heart and soul of the issue. The first thing we're going to do is actually read the passages in Scripture that Christians maintain support their view, if for no other reason than Christians have a long-standing bad habit of "remembering" certain details from the Bible that aren't actually there. Thus, similarly "remembered" - though equally nonexistent - details and plot elements provide us with Christian Fundamentalists' most frequently cited and familiar attack against homosexuality: Sodom and Gomorrah.