Quote: The modish cause of today’s chattering classes, says Brendan O’Neill, is overpopulation. They thrill to hear how a world of seven billion people is imposing an “unbearable strain on nature’s limited larder”. They rush to the London theatre where an Oxford don has been giving “a lecture dolled up as a drama” on the …
Continue reading ‘Ingenuity will save us from starvation?’ »
I finished Redondi’s book on Galileo, possibly the worst written book I have ever encountered. So, for those who are interested, I will try to sum it up in accessible English, and preferably in one paragraph. That will relieve you all from having to read it. The trouble started in Rome with Galileo’s book ” …
In his Assayer of 1623, Galileo explained his notion of the difference between the qualities, mostly found by touch, that are inherent in bodies (weight, roughness, smoothness, etc.) and those that are in the mind of the observer (taste, color, etc.)–in other words, the difference between what we call primary and secondary qualities. In this discussion he …
Epicurus believed that everything is made up of invisible particles that are in constant motion, clashing with one another, coalescing, falling apart and decaying. These particles , or atoms, are indestructible and immortal. The forms they coalesce into are temporary, but the constituent parts are eternal. This idea became increasingly accepted from the 17th century …
There was no single moment of creation, but a gradual evolution, with many false starts and dead ends. Various tools were added to help species survive. Eyes are a good example. But survival is not a foregone conclusion. Many species have been and gone, and maybe we are in self-destruct mode ourselves owing to selfishness, …
