“When the Lilliputians first saw Gulliver's watch, that "wonderful kind of engine...a globe, half silver and half of some transparent metal," they identified it immediately as the god he worshiped. After all, "he seldom did anything without consulting it: he called it his oracle, and said it pointed out the time for every action in his life." To Jonathan Swift in 1726 that was worth a bit of satire. Modernity was under way. We're all Gullivers now. Or are we Yahoos?” WayFirstsKindSaidActionBitsHalfWatchesSawsWonderfulSilverSatireEnginesMetalsGlobesTransparentModernityConsultingOraclesGulliver Book:Faster: The Acceleration of Just about Everything Source: Faster: The Acceleration of Just about Everything
“Tiny differences in input could quickly become overwhelming differences in output.... In weather, for example, this translates into what is only half-jokingly known as the Butter- fly Effect—the notion that a butterfly stirring the air today in Peking can transform storm systems next month in New York.” TodayNextDifferencesHalfKnownAirEffectsNew YorkExampleMonthsNotionStormTinyWeatherOverwhelmingButterflyTranslateStirringInputOutput Author:James Gleick
“"Half genius and half buffoon," Freeman Dyson ... wrote. ... [Richard] Feynman struck him as uproariously American-unbuttoned and burning with physical energy. It took him a while to realize how obsessively his new friend was tunneling into the very bedrock of modern science.” ScienceEnergyRealizingHalfModernGeniusObsessionBurningModern ScienceNew FriendsFreemanBedrockBuffoonsRichard Feynman Book:Genius: the life and science of Richard Feynman Source: Genius: the life and science of Richard Feynman
