Posts under ‘Ontology’

When I was young, dinosaurs captured my imagination. What thrilled me was not so much the fossils, the categorization of bones, the reconstruction of the skeletons or the various hypotheses surrounding how they lived or how they became extinct. It had nothing to do with the science behind it and surrounding it. My fascination did [...]

Humans are fond of observing things, and calling what they observe ‘laws’. This is the big hobby of scientists, whatever scientists are. Isaac Newton, for example, had a thing for apples. Most people might simply eat them, but not Newton. He preferred to observe them falling from trees, instead, and form wily hypotheses as to [...]

Why is it we enjoy thunderstorms, hurricanes, tornadoes and blizzards so much? Even if they are disastrous, even if our day is ruined, even if people die, we secretly enjoy them. Why? We enjoy them because we are reminded that we are not really in control. Secretly we don’t want to be in control. We [...]

In this picture by Hans Holbein the Younger entitled “The Ambassadors,” an odd shape floats at the bottom. It is a skull or “Memento Mori” (reminder of mortality) drawn in the style of anamorphosis. Anamorphosis is an artistic technique that distorts an image unless one views it at the proper angle or perspective. If one [...]

When thou seest an eagle, thou seest a portion of genius; lift up thy head! – William Blake Like black clouds of war, our fears of the unknown perpetually haunt us as if they are looming in the sky. Terrorism, death, accidents –- how does one combat such things? Men on the ground? Education? Awareness [...]

Pascal’s wager is an awesome yet simple idea. It can be applied to nearly anything, not only the existence of God.  Forgive the lack of subtlety, but it basically boils down to: on which side will you err? It points to a sort of “meta-intelligence” that reasons about reason. One might call it an exercise in damage/loss-minimization [...]

Catchy title, don’t you think? I don’t know if the term exists, or not, but if it didn’t, it does now. We are what we believe. Quantum physics notes (incredulously) that sub-atomic particles behave differently, depending upon who is examining them, and what those different people expect to see. There is talk, in religion, of [...]

There is this thing, shapeless, colourless, odourless and tasteless, that isn’t really there, at all. At least, not for a great many people. Those people don’t even know what it is, far less how much they are missing it. Like Vitamin ‘D’, or sufficient Oxygen. Like adequate sleep, or a minimum intake of fat. Or [...]