This is a famous statement by Seymour Papert.
quotes
How science should be taught
Science is an adventure of the whole human race to learn to live in and
perhaps to love the universe in which they are. To be a part of it is to
understand, to understand oneself, to begin to feel that there is a capacity
within man far beyond what he felt he had, of an infinite extension of
human possibilities ….
perhaps to love the universe in which they are. To be a part of it is to
understand, to understand oneself, to begin to feel that there is a capacity
within man far beyond what he felt he had, of an infinite extension of
human possibilities ….
I propose that science be taught at whatever level, from the lowest to the
highest, in the humanistic way. It should be taught with a certain historical
understanding, with a certain philosophical understanding with a social
understanding and a human understanding in the sense of the biography, the
nature of the people who made this construction, the triumphs, the trials, the tribulations.
I. I. RABI
Nobel Laureate in Physics
On Cameras…
A worthy quote from issue 1 of 4 part limited series comics Gangland from Vertigo Comics on cameras and photos..
I’ve been always fascinated by cameras. Little boxes and inside
each one, a tiny thief, ready to steal at touch of a button. To
pocket a moment of time.What they steal can never be returned; what they take they keep
forever…Stealing moments in time with my invisible eye…
As if I could replace what’s missing in my heart with a few spare
moments clipped from other people’s lives.
Sophie’s World
I had heard about Sophie’s World from quite a number of sources. Finally I got a worn out copy from Fort for 100 bucks. Finished it in the next couple of days. This was about two years back. It is one of the best bedside introductions to philosophy…
Embedded in mystery and weirdness.
The best part of the climax is a p”hilosophical party”, which I also wish to have…
Quotes:
Who are you?
“You are me.”
“I am you.”
You can’t experience being alive without realizing that you have to die, she thought.
Where does the world come from?
How could it be “the easiest way”?
… the only thing we require to be good philosophers is the faculty of wonder…
Why was it so difficult to be absorbed in the most vital and, in a way, the most natural of all questions?
So it is easier to ask philosophical questions than to answer them.
Actually, we are the white rabbit being pulled out of the hat.
and anyway it would be pointless to chase after someone who was determined to get away.
It all has to do with habit.
Do you think it can do what it does?
A philosopher never gets quite used to the world.
She understood that people had always felt a need to explain the processes of nature. Perhaps they could not live without such explanations. And that they made up all those myths in the time before there was anything called science.
… nothing can come from nothing …
Once we have determined what a particular philosopher’s project is, it is easier to follow his line of thought, since no one philosopher concerns himself with the whole of philosophy.
How can I “see” a flower, for example?
You probably wouldn’t admire a friend who was good at everything if it cost her no effort.
She decided that philosophy was not something you can learn; but perhaps you can learn to think philosophically.
Why is Lego the most ingenious toy in the world?
Why did people quit playing when they grew up?
“I’m not playing!” Sophie retorted indignantly, “I’m doing a very complicated philosophical experiment!”
Do you believe in Fate?
Is sickness the punishment of the gods?
What forces govern the course of history?
Who had the right to call other people’s belief superstition?
One day we will meet, but I shall be the one to decide when and where.
Thus the “fortune-teller” is trying to foresee something that is really quite unforeseeable.
This is characteristic of all forms of foreseeing. And precisely because what they “see” is so vague, it is hard to repudiate fortune-tellers’ claims.
Over the entrance to the temple at Delphi was a famous inscription: KNOW THYSELF! It
reminded visitors that man must never believe himself to be more than mortal—and that no man can escape his destiny.
…wisest is she who knows she does not know…
Is there such a thing as natural modesty?
Wisest is she who knows she does not know…
True insight comes from within.
He who knows what is right will do right.
But today, most people think it is “natural,” even though
it is still strictly forbidden in lots of countries.
But the more she did, the more clearly she saw that knowing what you don’t know is also a kind of knowledge.
But didn’t all knowledge come into people’s heads from the outside?
The history of ideas is like a drama in many acts.
In order for democracy to work, people had to be educated enough to take part in the
democratic process.
“The question is complex and life is short.”
Modesty—or the lack of it—is first and foremost a matter of social convention.
“You can seek him in the present, you can seek him in the past, but you will never find
his equal.” on Socrates
So it is no easy matter to distinguish between the teachings of Socrates and the philosophy of Plato.
Socrates saw his task as helping people to “give birth” to the correct insight, since
real understanding must come from within. It cannot be imparted by someone else. And only
the understanding that comes from within can lead to true insight.
Something within him left him no choice.
A “philosopher” really means “one who loves wisdom.”
A philosopher knows that in reality he knows very little.
…it troubled him that he knew so little.
“One thing only I know, and that is that I know nothing.”
Any one question can be more explosive than a thousand answers.
All he knew was that he knew nothing—and it troubled him. So he became a
philosopher—someone who does not give up but tirelessly pursues his quest for truth.
Can you live a happy life if you continually do things you know deep down are wrong?
“We don’t learn anything there. The difference between schoolteachers and philosophers is that school-teachers think they know a lot of stuff that they try to force down our throats. Philosophers try to figure things out together with the pupils.”
“It’s not him who’s disturbed. But he likes to disturb others—to shake them out of their rut.”
… several tall buildings had risen from the ruins …
We still speak of Socratic or Platonic philosophy, but actually being Plato or Socrates is quite another matter.”
Plato’s four tasks.
First you must think over how a baker can bake fifty absolutely identical cookies.
Then you can ask yourself why all horses are the same.
Next you must decide whether you think that man has an immortal soul.
And finally you must say whether men and women are equally sensible.
… a longing to return to the realm of the soul…
Because even though some horses were as brown as bears and others
were as white as lambs, all horses had something in common.
All she knew was that dead bodies were either
cremated or buried, so there was no future for them.
Why are horses the same, Sophie? You probably don’t think they are at all. But there is
something that all horses have in common, something that enables us to identify them as
horses. A particular horse “flows,” naturally. It might be old and lame, and in time it will die. But
the “form” of the horse is eternal and immutable.
Because clearly, the mold itself must be utter perfection—and in a sense, more beautiful—in comparison with these crude copies.
… the girl in the mirror winked with both eyes…
Was it the path she had taken earlier?
How could a person who had never seen a live chicken or a picture of a chicken ever have any “idea” of a chicken?
What came first—the chicken or the “idea” chicken ?
Are we born with innate “ideas”? What is the difference between a plant, an animal, and a human?
Why does it rain?
What does it take to live a good life?
…a meticulous organizer who wanted to clarify our concepts …
You’ll have to content yourself with the fact that you are not the only one who can’t exceed your own limits.
Everybody is more or less peculiar. I am a person, so I am more or less peculiar. You have only one girl, so I am the most peculiar.
Common sense and conscience can both be compared to a muscle. If you don’t use a muscle, it gets weaker and weaker.”
The world is me, she thought.
And as you know, when a thing gets bigger and bigger it’s more difficult to keep it to yourself.
It is the only way to become more than a naked
ape. It is the only way to avoid floating in a vacuum.
… going only part of the way is not the same as going the wrong way…
Sorry. My lips are sealed.”
But she had been nervous, and when you’re nervous its comforting to break all taboos.
“It’s easy to know better after the fact.”
We shall become better acquainted by and by
But philosophy is not a harmless party game.
One generation ages while another generation is brought forth.
Life is both sad and solemn. We are let into a wonderful world, we meet one another here, greet each other—and wander together for a brief moment. Then we lose each other and disappear as suddenly and unreasonably as we arrived.
“It’s not a silly question if you can’t answer it.
“Does all this really matter?” “Does it matter? You bet it matters!
“Smart. But not so smart really.”
“Is it really as simple as that?”
For the wages of sin is death.
That was a serious slip of the tongue.”
“But a slip of the tongue is never wholly accidental.”
…such stuff as dreams are made on…
She knew her mother knew that Sophie knew her mother wouldn’t believe it either.
“No, there’s a lot I don’t know.”
“Well, nearly everything that’s important comes either from Greece or from Italy.”
That was actually quite a lot in the space of one second.
carpe diem’—‘seize the day.’
‘memento mori,’ which means ‘Remember that you must die.’
But any display of magnificence presupposes a display of power. It has often been said that the political situation in the Baroque period was not unlike its art and architec
… he wanted to clear all the rubble off the site…
“You begin to work out your own philosophy.”
‘How can you be certain that your whole life is not a dream?’
Y – The Last Man
Recently read the comics series Y The Last Man.
Tale of a single human male and his pet monkey, who survive an instant death to all the mammals that have the ‘Y’ chromosome; read males. All the mammal males, even the sperms die at the same time. This leads the world in chaos. Yorick the only male to survive this disaster is escorted by Agent 355 with Dr. Mann a scientist, who seems to be the only woman who is capable of doing anything about the catastrophe. So starts the adventure, with only one male remaining in the world
Quotes
#1
Who wants peace, when we have not yet begun to fight?
I am not afraid of the world…. I am afraid of the world without you.
# 5
When the game is over, the Queen and the Pawn go in the same box.
# 7
No price is too great for your opponents king.
# 8
There’s a line I never thought I’d have to hear again.
# 09
Your imprisonment was also your emancipation.
# 12
Euphemisms are only for those who feel guilt about what they are
describing.
With little power comes little responsibility.
# 13
None of us is innocent.
# 14
… but sometimes you must do terrible things for peace.
# 15
This is what happens to friends when a man comes between them.
# 18
Ain’t nothing worse than ladies in numbers.
Is this some kinda joke?
That’s what I keep asking myself.
The Day of The Locust
# 20
It was like, they had crossed the finish line already, you know? But I
still had a million laps to run.
Everyone else just thinks I’m dumb and impulsive and .. well not that
I am not…
Endings have to be earned.
# 21
Isn’t this the part where you do something stupid?
# 22
Good thing, our shit lawys goes according to plans…
Just because you can dance doesn’t mean that you are a dancer…
# 25
I came here for forgiveness… but now I’ve just got more shit to be
sorry for.
The things we do make us what we are.
You fuck better than you preach.
# 27
You, young man are wise beyond your years.
# 29
Karma is a fucking urban legend.
# 32
Waters won’t be always this calm.
# 35
And I’m no more guilty than you are qualified to sit on that bench.
# 37
The future never shapes up like you figure it will…
# 38
Come on, we have a rumour to kill…
# 42
Love isn’t an emotion it’s an abstract construct mammals assign to a
biological imperative they don’t fully understand.
# 43
Everybody needs somebody.
Sure, this will probably end up being another in a long line of
emotionally crippling misadventures.
No, real relationships can only be forged by hate.
The gangster of love knows how to simulate all passages great and
small.
Yes, you are very beautiful when you cry.
# 44
Everybody has got something to hide.
Everybody’s got something, right?
# 47
How is it wrong if no one ever knows about it?
We may be changing countries, but we will net let that country change
us.
# 49
Mixed messages in my bane existence.
# 50
Faith and science can be friends, but they make for a disastrous
marriage.
Answers to the unknown are all around us.
# 51
Our bodies tell us that we love so many, but there’s room in our
hearts for so few.
# 52
Our sexes maybe equal, but they are not the same.
Because you confused your protective instincts with romantic
feelings.
# 53
Still, you can take the girl out of htthe amazon, but you can’t always
take the amazons out of the girl, right?
# 55
A good relationship isn’t where one the other person makes you feel
better, but where they make you better.
# 57
So you would have said no to the man, but yes to the last man.
I have so many different ways to respond to that, I don’t know even
where to begin.
# 60
We spend nine months trying to get out of a women and rest of our
lives trying to get back in.
Gel’fand’s Quote
This is taken from The Method of Coordinates by I. M. Gel’fand
E.G. Glagoleva A.A. Kirillov
Of course, it was not our intention that aIl these
students who studied from these books or even
completed the School should choose mathematics as
their future career. Nevertheless, no matter what they
would later choose, the results of this training re
mained with them. For many, this had been their first
experience in being able to do something on their own
— completely independently.
1 would like to make one comment here. Sorne of my
American colleagues have explained to me that
American students are not really accustomed to think
ing and working hard, and for this reason we must
make the material as attractive as possible. Permit me
to not completely agree with this opinion. From my
long experience with young students aU over the
world 1 know that they are curious and inquisitive and
1 beIieve that if they have sorne clear mate rial pre
sented in a simple form, they will prefer this to aIl
artificial means of attracting their attention — much as
one ,buys books for their content and not for their
dazzling jacket designs that engage only for the
moment.
The most important thing a student can get from the
study of mathematics is the attainment of a higher
intellectualleveL In this light 1would like to point out
as an example the famous American physicist and
teacher Richard Feynman who succeeded in writing
both his popular books and scientific works in a
simple and attractive manner.
I. M. Gel’fand
Why children hate maths…
Today, because it is the 15th Monday of your 5th grade year,
you have to do this sum irrespective of who you are or what
you really want to do; do what you are told and do it the
way you are told to do it.
From: The Children’s Machine by Seymour Papert
Laboratory of The Mind
Having gone through the book Robert Browns Laboratory of Mind – Thought Experiments in Natural
Sciences, I have taken the following notes. Though the book starts with examples from a varied disciplines it culminates trying to interpret the EPR paradox in a way. Though an interesting book to read for a philosopher of science. I would have liked to see some detailed discussions on some of the thought experiments, the book could have been more aptly titled Thought Experiments in [Quantum] Sciences, though there is an entire chapter on Einstein, who is the master of such thought experiments, equaled only by Galileo.
Quotes
As I was sitting in my chair
I knew the bottom wasn’t there,
Nor legs nor back, but I just sat,
Ignoring little things like that.
Logic alone cannot give us great wealth of mathematical results.
since abstract objects if they did exist would be unknowable.
just as no experiment in physics is really crucial, so no argument
in philosophy is really conclusive. 73
In reality the very opposite happens. It is the theory which
decides what we can observe…’ 106
the crucial difference between Einstein and those who make the
correspondence with experimental fact the chief deciding factor
for or against a theory: even though the ‘experimental facts’ at
that time very clearly seemed to favor the theory of his opponents
rather than his own, he finds the ad hoc character of their
theories more significant and objectionable than an apparent
disagreement between his theory and their ‘facts’. 120
As Heisenberg put it, This probability function represents a
mixture of two things, partly a fact and partly our knowledge of a
fact’ (1958, 45). 128
What is even meant by ‘an interpretation of the QM formalism’ is
somewhat vague. Logicians have a precise notion of
‘interpretation’ or ‘model of a formal system’, but that won’t do
here. To start with, the formalism is already partially
interpreted; it is hooked to observational input and output in a
clear and unambiguous way. This partial interpretation is called
the minimal statistical interpretation. What it can do is handle
everything observable. It is often favoured by those who advocate
an instrumentalist outlook for scientific theories in general. But
our interest is with how the world really works, not just with
making successful observable predictions. Only those lacking a
soul are content with the minimal statistical interpretation. 131
In many (perhaps all) scientific theories, there are elements
which are taken as just brute facts. For instance, in Newton’s
physics, inertia is an unexplained explainer; it accounts for
other phenomena, but is itself unaccounted for. Are EPR
correlations like that? 146
* Questions
1. When we see one swan to be white we do not conclude immediately
that all swans are white. But on the other hand we conclude that
all gold atoms have the same atomic number 79. Why is there an
asymmetry between the two modes of thought?
2. Why does 3>2 seems intuitively pretty obvious, whereas `proton is heavier than
electron’ does not?
3. Quine says, our conviction that 2+2=4 does not stem from laboratory
observations, no matter how carefully performed or often
repeated. Comment.
4. How would things be different if there were no abstract objects but
everything else, including our ‘intuitions’, remained the same?
5. Is Newton’s first law only vacuously true? Let me elaborate on
this. The first law as known states the following:
/A body will continue its state motion or rest, unless it is acted
upon by a force./
Now how do we do this experiment in real? Can we have /any/ test
body which is far away from any other body, so that there are /no/
forces acting on the test body? If not, then how can we be assured
about the validity of the first law?
6. Though we often now make fun of theories like phlogiston, caloric
or aether, they were actually successful to some degree in their
day and were believed by reasonable people. (Maxwell once said that
the aether theory was the best confirmed in all science.) The
physical world somehow or other contributed to the production of
these rational, but false, beliefs. How is it that a (physical)
world that contains no phlogiston, caloric, or aether can somehow
be responsible for bringing about the phlogiston, caloric, and
aether theories?
Quotable Sandman…
I have been reading Neil Gaiman’s Sandman series recently. Out of the 10 first volumes I have completed 8 and two are still remaining. The Sandman is the Lord of Dreams, and I have found a few lines worth quoting from the series…
And what do you want from me?
Everything. What else is there to want?Am I dreaming?
Not a bit of it. Quite the reverse if anything.Getting what you want and being happy are two quite different things.
If you have nothing left to want, then you just wait until there is nothing left to wait for.
You really are just what you look like you are.
I do not know. I think so.
We do not represent them. We are them.
They say death is kinder than he is.
His hot fingers are already invading her soft curves and moist crevices.
Sleep until life wakes you.
It isn’t fair, but it is right.
Eventually, it begins to get dark.
There is a joy in there, of course, and love, and touching.
The presence that makes the absence unbearable.Her kiss is a deep ocean.
Her kiss is not a deep ocean.
Her kiss is the grey sky.Her kiss is a blind alley.
Her kiss is her touch is her breath
is her fingers is what remains
after the laughing is over.Her kiss is the blackness.
Her kiss is not the blackness.Her kiss is a black dog.
That follows you in the darkness.And people ask,
Does despair despair?
Does dream dream?
Does desire desire?Is everything over?
No, its just begun.If you can’t be happy when you are, you can’t be happy anywhere.
Hell is other people.
To be despair. It is a portrait.
Only close your eyes and feel.They are after all, all we have.
Who knew? Who could have known?
I have heard the language of the apocalypses, and now I will embrace silence.
That’s not unlikely. This is unlikely.
You don’t believe me. I don’t mind, I don’t always believe me either.
It cannot be stolen. It cannot be given away.
Perhaps one of our problems may prove a solution to the other.
But this kind of thing, doesn’t happen to you, does it? It happens to other people.
I am coming, though the way is ardous and strange.
My admiration doesn’t lessen my anger.
Great stories will always return to their original forms.
I have learnt from my mistakes, but I have had more time to commit more mistakes.
She isn’t yours Nathan. She belongs to no one, except herself.
A black mirror made to reflect everything about itself that humanity will not confront.
For all of you, the dream is over. I have taken it away from you.
I don’t understand it, but I believe it.
If my dream was true, then everthing we know, everything that we think we know is a lie.
When its just you and a blank sheet of paper.
If that is what you wish, it is done.
Is anything forever?
It’s a fools prerogative to utter truths that no one else will speak.
His folly, is no fault of mine.
I am that merry wanderer of night.
It never happened and yet it is true.
And it is forever summers twilight…
And I wonder, why I wonder…
But the price of getting what you want, is getting what you once wanted.
Things need not have happened to be true.
You make your own hell.
And who might you be?
But I know of things no one else knows.
To absent friends, lost loves and old gods, and the season of mists; may each and every one of us give the devil his due.
…as if merely saying something were enough to make it true.
…it is better to reign in hell than to serve in heaven.
We do what we must. Lucien. Sometimes we can choose path we follow, sometimes choices are made for us. And sometimes we have no choice at all.
Innocence, once lost, can never be regained.
The kind where you know it is a nightmare, but you still can’t wake yourself up.
I think hell is something you carry around you, not somewhere you go.
Your impertinence invites my severest displeasure.
Times have changed and we have changed with them.
Do not wander from the path when you return.
If only it were that easy.
I never thought disposing of the unwanted would be so hard.
There must be a hell, for without hell heaven has no meaning.
As such though I regret it, I cannot fault it.
Tell her that we need to talk.
We will hurt you and we are not sorry.
The land is far from lost.
So what are we waiting for, exactly? I mean, if that is not a dumb question?
However, I am not sure that I know the answer.
We are in the twilightzone.
I don’t have to kill a rabbit, do I?
Shit in one hand and wish in other, see which fills up first.
I’d been lying so hard I’d convinced myself I was telling them the truth.
Sometimes inaction itself is action.
It was freely given and well meant.
I don’t think home is a place anymore. I think it is a state of mind.
For they have sown the wind, they shall reap the whirlwind.
We should take our goodbyes whenever we can.
Liberty is a bitch who must be bedded on a matress of corpses.
Tyranny like hell is not easily conquered.
The truth here is a matter of conjecture.
What we obtain too cheap, we esteem to lightly.
We write our names in the sand, then waves roll and wash them away.
She ought to be mine, but she isn’t, is she?
His madness keeps him sane.
What more than that a man could desire?
For the lesson perhaps, if for nothing else.
Values’s in what people think. Not in what’s real. Value’s in dreams, boy.
You shouldn’t trust the storyteller; only trust the story.
wishes are best left sometimes ungranted…
Am I arguing with a dream?
I’ll wake you up and you will go where dreams go.
And forewarned is seldom forearmed.
You come in, you do not go out again.
A good mystery can last forever.
For those were the days of wonder.
It is unwise to summon what you cannot dismiss.
It has been far too long since we sat beneath the summer moon together and talked of pleasant fripperies, of that and this, and left others to speak sensible things of import and consequence.
I do not wish. I know. What must happen, will happen.That is the way of it.
There’s is something I want and I can’t have it and I am going to take it anyway. That’s my problem.
Somethings are too big to be seen, some emotions are too huge to be felt.
I think you are more in love with the idea of your dead love than you were with the girl herself.
There will be conditions, but then, there always are.
Thou hast made the furies cry.
There are always rules.
He is not one to forget a slight. Nor to forgive.
But he does not change. He will not. Perhaps he cannot.
You do not give. We take.
But you have made your own errors. It was your own life.
I’m not blessed or merciful. I’m just me.
Someone once brought me a flower, clandestinely. That means I do not know who it was. And I never saw the flower, either. Maybe they never brought it after all.
Ah, that is unlike you.What’s wrong?
And it distresses me to see you troubled.
I hate being nowhere.
We shall seek answers. We may seek questions also.
Shadow plays of memory are forever being enacted, on paths that you walked on not too long ago.
Life is a strange way of describing our experience.
I can do that if I have to.
And somebody said he wouldn’t keep going on about a perfectly understandable mistake that anyone could have made.
Don’t drink the cup, just the coffee.
Because there’s no such thing as one sided coin.
Why does it seem like none of us, know what we are doing?
Nothing new can exist without destroying the old.
One cannot begin a new dream without abandoning the last.
Life like time is a journey through darkness.
What’s done can’t be undone.
We do not always accomplish what we set out to do.
Our journey is over, all debts are paid.
… in a manner of recognizing a line from a familiar poem in a strange book.
Nobody is fine on their own. people need people.
It wasn’t that the things got bad, but they were no more spectacularly good.
And you never get to learn what happens to anyone else.
It is fearful thing to be haunted by those who loved you once, it is fearful to haunt those one loves.
There is a thin line between intoxication and unconsciousness, and I think he is about to cross it.
There are rumours, but that is all they are.
Like there was nothing left to hold on to. Nothing left to believe.