Geeks' Corner » Geek Philosophies

Metrocontextual science map

Phil Plait — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 13:00:48 +0000

Crispian Jago makes completely transparent attempts to get linked from blogs. The thing is, he keeps doing spectacular stuff! This time it’s a metro-subway-style map showing scientists of the past 400 or so years. It’s wonderfully detailed! Here it is shrunk enough to fit on my meager 610-pixel wide blog: Each color track route represent a field of science – brown is chemistry, red is theoretical physical and quantum mechanics, and so on – and the time is concentric, with the 16th Century in the middle, and current time on the outside. Just like a subway map where there are transfer points, some people span more than one discipline, and you can see that as two circles connecting different tracks. Stephen Hawking, for example, is astronomy and physics. Here’s a zoom: Cool, huh? Galileo was clearly a man of many hats. Lots of other scientists straddle multiple fields, but interestingly, the number of them dwindles with time. I’m no science historian – I’m not sure science existed before Twitter – but I imagine there are many reasons for this, not the least of which was that when science as a method was new, it was easier to make grand discoveries that spanned many different disciplines. It’s just plain old harder to do that these days. To make a name for yourself you have to be pretty good in a narrow field, and very few people have that sort of polymath capability when modern science is so deep and rich. Note that for the 20th Century, Crispian started including a lot of popularizers of science as well. There may be a few names you recognize… I expect this map will go viral once places like Geekologie and Boing Boing find it. Which they will. Get in on the coolness on the ground floor now. Or, of course, one flight lower.

Found by The Dude

Rigged for Art

The Dude — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 18:00:12 +0000

V. S. Ramachandran explains the wonders of perception and art.

In essence it takes all of the things that creative people have instinctively known since we started painting on cave walls and carving fetishes and applied science to it. We can indeed explain art!

Via IHC

//The Dude

A theory of the net mind

The Dude — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 16:29:15 +0000

I posit that anything that can be used to represent pixels on a screen will automatically generate a Nintendo related image.

Example:

Via The Tanooki

//The Dude

Being Hunter S Thompson

The Dude — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 15:01:31 +0000

It struck me today, while brushing my teeth – as it so often does, that it is useless and impossible in every way that I know of to truly be someone else. To walk in their shoes and see the world as they see it.

I had been watching The Prestige and the twin paradox struck me. No matter how convincing they were in play the same man, they were ultimately different and saw the world with their own unique eyes. (I’m trying not to spoil anything, and probably failed.) Then it struck me that it is in fact impossible even if we’d allow for infinite parallel multiverses and infinite possibilities. If I were for example to swap places with a person in another universe, then I could not possibly “be” that person and observe through their eyes. I’d be me in that persons guise and vice versa. Maybe not the deepest of observations, but pretty good for something you realize when brushing your teeth.

It’s no secret that I have a special place in my warped mind for Hunter Thompson. It’s a fascination that has bordered on obsession on many occasions. And as much as I’d like to actually be my idol I know that it is impossible and not really desirable. His style of living was his alone and suited to his psyche.

I’ve seen quite a few people try to imitate his style of writing on various blogs and forums, but they usually get called out for it. “I know mr Hunter S Thompson, and you good sir are not him”
But there is a twist to this. Early in his life when Hunter had decided to become a great American writer he copied out among other texts “The Great Gatsby” on his typewriter. To feel the music and flow of the words.

Now Hunter did become the great American writer, but not by being Fitzgerald. No, he wrote until he found his own voice. It has become known as Gonzo, a word he made his own. At some point I’d like to find my own particular voice, to write my novel. It is all a folly right now, but who knows? Stranger things are yet to come after all.

Enough soft brained mumblings for now…

//The Dude

Real 3D Mandelbrot

The Dude — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:40:33 +0000

I guess most people are familiar with the classic image of the mandelbrot fractal.

Now some genius has taken it to the next logical step and rendered it in 3D. What was once trippy can now really blow your mind!

Although the images are stunning, what really gets me off is how what is really a simple mathematical function can generate such astounding complexity. But the real kicker is that this can be found everywhere, in every living thing.

Link: Mandelbulb
Via: Fark

//The Dude