I came upon this video recently titled “Dangerous Knowledge”, produced by the BBC. It profiles the life and times of three mathematicians (Georg Cantor, Kurt Gödel, and Alan Turing) and one scientist (Ludwig Boltzmann). For some reason it drew me in.
The show makes allusions to an atheism which I find difficult to relate to this [...]
Archive for the ‘Math & Science’ Category
The death of certainty and the birth of computer science
Posted in History, Math & Science, computer science, tagged Alan Turing, computer science, Georg Cantor, Kurt Godel, mathematics on August 29, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Does computer science have a future?
Posted in Analysis, Education, History, Information Technology, Math & Science, flame, tagged alan kay, computer science, data processing, science, scientific computing on August 12, 2009 | 12 Comments »
Update 8-17-09: I’ve revised this post a bit to clarify some points I made.
I received a request 2-1/2 weeks ago to write a post based on video of a speech that Alan Kay gave at Kyoto University in February, titled “Systems Thinking For Children And Adults”. Here it is. The volume in the first 10 [...]
“I’m not a scientist, but I play one on TV…”
Posted in Education, Math & Science, flame, tagged Boulder, daily camera, global warming, pseudo-science on July 11, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
“A man must learn on this principle, that he is far removed from the truth”
– Democritus
Science is a way of thinking. As Neil deGrasse Tyson has said, “It is a philosophy of discovery.” I reflected recently on what being a scientist is really all about. Good scientists are constantly trying to change their perception of [...]
The beauty of mathematics denied
Posted in Education, Math & Science, tagged aesthetics, Art, mathematicians, mathematics, school, university on June 19, 2009 | 5 Comments »
“So, so you think you can tell
Heaven from Hell,
blue skies from pain.
Can you tell a green field from a cold steel rail?
A smile from a veil?
Do you think you can tell?”
– from “Wish You Were Here” by Pink Floyd
I’ve taken some time to get back into the subject of mathematics, and secondarily math education. This [...]
Steve Eves lives the dream
Posted in Math & Science, tagged Saturn V, Steve Eves on May 3, 2009 | 3 Comments »
Steve Eves launched a 1/10th scale model of the Saturn V rocket on April 25 in a field in Maryland. It was 36 feet tall and weighed 1,600 lbs. It flew to an altitude of about 4,000 ft. and returned safely. Here’s video I found that shows a bit of Steve’s story, and the launch.
[...]
The benefits of CO2
Posted in Education, Government policy, Math & Science, tagged carbon dioxide, EPA, photosynthesis, plants, science on April 23, 2009 | 3 Comments »
“We will restore science to its rightful place”
— President Barack Obama at his inaugural address
I heard this past weekend that the EPA has classified carbon dioxide as a pollutant that is hazardous to public health, and therefor needs to be regulated. What I feel is being left [...]
What do you really know about math?
Posted in Education, Math & Science on February 27, 2008 | 6 Comments »
Bill Kerr, a teacher/blogger I read regularly, wrote a post recently that I enjoyed immensely, called “What is maths?” He doesn’t answer the question, but what I like is he cites some other articles that talk about what math is not. They make it clear that a) we’re probably not being taught math completely in schools–even though we think we are, and [...]
Corporate America wrings its hands about the future
Posted in Analysis, Education, Math & Science on August 20, 2007 | 2 Comments »
On July 7 The Aspen Institute held a public panel with some corporate leaders and policymakers on American competitiveness. It was aired on C-SPAN on 7/21. From what I understand this video is only up temporarily, so at some point this link will become dead. You can watch the video of the panel by selecting ”American Perspectives: [...]
Redefining computing, Part 2
Posted in Analysis, Math & Science, Programming, Squeak, Technology and Software on July 11, 2007 | 17 Comments »
“Pascal is for building pyramids–imposing, breathtaking, static structures built by armies pushing heavy blocks into place. Lisp is for building organisms–imposing, breathtaking, dynamic structures built by squads fitting fluctuating myriads of simpler organisms into place.”
– from forward written by Alan Perlis for
Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs
In this post I’m going to talk mostly about [...]
Redefining computing, Part 1
Posted in Analysis, Math & Science, Programming on July 10, 2007 | 6 Comments »
Is everything a form of computation? That’s what some scientists are saying. I found the CACM article “Computing is a Natural Science”, by Peter Denning on reddit recently. I looked at the title and thought, “Yeah, so?” When I took computer science at Colorado State University 14 years ago it was in the College of Natural Sciences. At some [...]
