Russell Conjugation

WHAT SCIENTIFIC TERM OR CONCEPT OUGHT TO BE MORE WIDELY KNOWN? Russell Conjugation We are told that we are entitled to our own opinions but not our own facts. This leaves out the observation that the war for our minds and attention…

Anthropic Capitalism And The New Gimmick Economy

WHAT DO YOU CONSIDER THE MOST INTERESTING RECENT [SCIENTIFIC] NEWS? WHAT MAKES IT IMPORTANT? Anthropic Capitalism And The New Gimmick Economy Consider a thought experiment: If market capitalism was the brief product of happy coincidences…

M-theory / String Theory is the Only Game in Town

WHAT SCIENTIFIC IDEA IS READY FOR RETIREMENT? M-theory / String Theory is the Only Game in Town If one views science as an economist, it would stand to reason that the scientific theory that should be first retired would be the one…

In Kung Fu Panda, how does Po end up developing the capability to be an awesome Kung Fu fighter? How does he shift from being a total fat slob to becoming capable of defeating Tai Lung?

This essay was originally published in 2014 on https://www.quora.com This is an important question for our time and must therefore be considered carefully.  First one must challenge the assumptions of the questioner. Po is not a…

Excellence

WHAT SHOULD WE BE WORRIED ABOUT? Excellence Over the past two decades I have been involved with the war on excellence. I know that those few of us actively involved in the struggle are deeply worried about the epidemic of excellence…

Was Feynman right when he said “If you give more money to theoretical physics, it doesn’t do any good if it just increases the number of guys following the comet head”?

This essay was originally published in 2013 on https://www.quora.com [Note added in response to comment: I am responding here to Feynman's suggestion in the second half of the quote that the *only* way to make progress is to encourage…