Larry Sanger, the co-founder of Wikipedia who later quit the project over differences in vision, just announced a direct competitor to the project: Citizendium.[1] In short, it’s a Wikipedia-style site with a focus on building a more scholarly, expert-centric community. […]
Category: Uncategorized
10 Reasons Why
A little lighter (and yes, tongue-in-cheek) fare this time. Back to the usual soon. 10 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Argue with Just a List of Reasons 1. It’s overdone. Digg and Reddit are plastered with 10 reasons why this and […]
On Technology, the Future, and Material Wealth
Something I’ve been musing on recently is material wealth, and why it is (or isn’t) important. Now, there are hundreds of books and millions of theories on money, what it’s for, how to get it, whether it’s important or whether […]
Germs and Brains
In my last set of links I brought up Gregory Cochran’s “germ theory” of disease- that many ailments we think of as primarily genetic or environmental are in fact due to infectious agents. I’d like to take this a step […]
Yahoo Answers: Stephen Hawking
Every so often a celebrity will post a question at Yahoo! Answers. This time it was Stephen Hawking, however, and so I decided to bite.http://answers.yahoo.com/question/?qid=20060704195516AAnrdODThe question is, In a world that is in chaos politically, socially and environmentally, how can […]
Neurogenesis
After thousands of years of viewing the brain as a mysterious black box, we’re finally starting to understand a little bit about how it works. Basic neural research is finally bearing real fruit, giving us real insight into phenomena as […]
Thursday Quickies
I’ve been charting out some entrepreneurial possibilities of late, but I’ve not forgotten about this blog. In that vein, here are some interesting happenings around the web: Tim Wu is guest blogging for Lawrence Lessig; among the subjects he’s touched […]
Review: “The Singularity is Near”
Writing about the future is hard. Ray Kurzweil, a successful inventor, author, and military advisor, is much better at it than most, and he makes an interesting, nuanced prediction of where technology is taking us in “The Singularity is Near”. […]
Nature’s Bold Study
Nature’s recent study comparing the accuracy of Wikipedia vs. Encyclopaedia Britannica in the sciences- the first such comparison carried out by a premier science journal- has generated significant interest in quite a few circles. Wikipedia is many things to many […]