Is it possible for the Internet to one day gain consciousness?
A recent Quora answer I wrote: Sometimes I wonder if Quora bots are conscious! :) I often think about whether the internet could become sentient... and also whether it is…
Correcting the Eurocentric History of Mathematics: A Series of Diagrams
In his book The Crest of the Peacock, George Ghevarghese Joseph documents how the popular picture of the mystical, irrational Orient and the logical, rational Occident breaks down when you actually look at the history of the spread of mathematical ideas. He starts with the tired old “Greeks Did Everything First” narrative, and then gradually builds up a more complex — and more accurate — picture of how mathematical ideas spread and evolved.
Here I’m going to show you some of the diagrams he used to help illustrate his case:
Waste is Unveiling
Waste is unveiling. As we find ourselves standing in garbage that we know is our own, we find also that it is garbage we have chosen to make, and having…
What do we mean by “Nature”? And what do we mean by “Human Nature”?
Here's the intro to my latest 3QD essay: I've always had a problem with the word 'nature'. It seems to serve as a label for multiple, mutually inconsistent notions. This…
“The trouble with modern musicians is that they don’t know how to disintegrate.”
The tour opened on 9 September in Ottawa’s Lansdowne Park Stadium. The set’s greatest surprise came with its choice of opening number, ‘Echoes’ from Meddle, which was given its first…