Entropy and Empire
Fascinating article considering the hegemony and collapse of empires as thermodynamic events. It seems preposterous to narrate the arc of an entire people in entropic terms, but it’s fascinating—especially to me, over-susceptible to the charms of scientific analogy.
Carl Sagan, 1934 - 1996
You knew he felt it too: the hairs-stand-up-on-your-neck wonder of the night sky, of thinking of the (yes,) billions of stars, of the worlds to be discovered. Of knowing that we were part of something bigger. Of being made of starstuff.
When I was at university, we had a Space party: everyone dressed up as aliens, Princess Leia, wookies, you name it. My brother beat us all, wearing a blazer and a smart fawn turtleneck. He came as Carl Sagan.
Check it: http://celebratingsagan.blogspot.com/
In the moist, warm future
Bioengineered vines snake in and out of buildings, their huge phototropic flowers gathering sunlight outside, sending it via optic fibers to bulbs inside each room, glowing with channeled daytime.
Some of the vines store the light as sugars, reconverting back into light at night. Hungry inhabitants who would rather eat than see pierce the swollen sacs and feed on liquid light.
Seeing Octaves?
The visible spectrum ranges from 400 to 700 nanometers. If we had a broader visible spectrum, would we see colour octaves?
Relationships as synaptic connections
The organisation considered as a brain, people as neurons, their interpersonal relationships as synaptic connections.
When people get it, when they’re working together, connections work well: in fact, what’s important is the connections, not necessarily the neurons.
What happens when a nodal person leaves? When all their synaptic connections go too? Is this the deterioration of dementia? Sometimes new paths are made, routing around lacunae. Other times, something vital is lost.
What about a rogue neuron, spamming the net with bad packets? Is this the wiring-gone-wrong of petrol sniffers and flashback acid trips? Better to excise than to continue?
(O)estrogen Makes You Pretty
Via BoingBoing, an article on how women’s facial attractiveness is directly related to estrogen levels. This evolutionarily unsurprising finding (fertile women are a better reproductive bet for a keen man-primate) is backed up with side-by side photos of averaged women with lots-of and not-much estrogen. But you want interactivity. Here’s a Flash version – move mouse up for more estrogen, down for less: