“When scientists need to explain difficult points of theory, illustration by hypothetical example - rather than by total abstraction - works well (perhaps indispensably) as a rhetorical device. Such cases do not function as speculations in the pejorative sense - as silly stories that provide insight into complex mechanisms - but rather as idealized illustrations to exemplify a difficult point of theory. (Other fields, like philosophy and the law, use such conjectural cases as a standard device.” NeedsWellsPhilosophyStoriesUseLawDifficultCasesExampleFieldsTheoryStandardsScientistFunctionComplexesInsightSillyDevicesMechanismAbstractionSpeculationIllustrationRhetoricalHypothetical Book:Leonardo's Mountain of Clams and the Diet of Worms Source: Leonardo's Mountain of Clams and the Diet of Worms
“The primary consequence of the computational nature of the universe is that the universe naturally generates complex systems, such as life. Although the basic laws of physics are comparatively simple in form, they give rise, because they are computationally universal, to systems of enormous complexity.” GivingFormLawUniverseSimpleConsequenceUniversalComplexesPhysicsEnormousPrimariesComplexityLaws Of PhysicsComplex Systems Author:Seth Lloyd
“It is often said that the progression from simple to complex runs counter to the normal statistics of chance that are formalized in the Second Law of Thermodynamics. Strictly speaking, we could avoid this criticism simply by insisting that the Second Law does not apply to living systems in the environment in which we find them. For the Second Law applies only when there is no overall flow of energy into or out of a system, whereas all living systems are sustained by a net inflow of energy.” DoeSaidRunningLawEnergyChanceSimpleEnvironmentAtheismNormalFlowCriticismComplexesPositive AtheismStatisticsProgressionInsistingThermodynamics Author:Jacob Bronowski
“There are many other (besides testosterone) behaviour-eliciting hormones fundamental for humen well-being, including estrogen and progesterone in females. The fact that complex behavioural patterns can be triggered by a tiny concentration of moleculas coursing through the bloodstream, and that different animals of the same species generate different amounts of these hormones, is something worth thinking about when it's time to judge such matters as free will, individual responsibility, and law and order.” ThinkingWellsDifferentMatterFactsLawOrderIndividualAnimalResponsibilityJudgingEvolutionAmountFemaleFundamentalsSpeciesComplexesIncludingPatternsTinyWell BeingConcentrationFree WillBehaviourHormonesLaw And OrderTestosteroneIndividual ResponsibilityEstrogenDifferent Animals Author:Carl Sagan
“Quinn's First Law of Investing is never to buy anything whose price you can't follow in the newspapers. An investment without a public marketplace attracts the fabulists the way picnics attract ants. Stock brokers and financial planners can tell you anything they want, because no one really knows what's true. The First Corollary to Quinn's First Law states that, even when the price is in the newspapers, you shouldn't buy anything too complex to explain to the average 12-year-old.” KnowsWayWantYearsFirstsStatesLawMoneyInvestmentComplexesInvestingFinancialAverageNewspapersAntsMarketplacePicnicsPlannersBrokersQuinnStock Broker Book:Making the Most of Your Money Source: Making the Most of Your Money