Comments for Human Manual

Comment on Earth’s Oil by sgtlion

sgtlion — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 09:11:02 +0000

It seems to me that a major purpose of oil in the earth is to act as an insulator between the core of the earth and the surface. Because of the tremendous amount of heat generated in the core of the earth the oil prevents much of that heat from reaching the surface and from melting the icebergs and glaziers; as is happening now. In electrical equipment where a lot of heat is generated oil is used as an insulator, e.g. transformers on telephone poles. Oil in the earth could be there for the same purpose. Because we’ve extracted much oil from the earth, we’ve allowed much heat from the center of the earth to reach the surface. This excess heat could be a cause for the melting of the icebergs and glaziers; and the “greenhouse” effect that is causing much concern. DRA.

Comment on Towards Open Ended Education by humanmanual

humanmanual — Mon, 10 Apr 2006 00:00:16 +0000

Thanks for your comment. Admittedly certain class types such as physics and mathematics may not be the right arena for this type of dialogue, but many other class types may be. Although dialogue about a "fact" does not change a "fact", more dialogue would serve to encourage creativity and acknowledge the transient nature of "facts" in general. I'm suggesting that education generally encourages closed systems of thought, rather than open systems of discovery, and that we'd be better off if the latter were emphasized over the former. While students aren't going to change the world in the classroom, we should hopefully not leave them with the feeling that there's little left in the world to change.

Another way to look at this more compactly is: education does an excellent job of saying how we think things are, but it does a poor job of admitting what we do not yet know — sort of glossing over the undiscovered. For example, I recently learned that biologists have no idea how genes actually lead to final forms like cells, organs, and tissues! Genes make proteins at the right place and the right time, but there is no known master plan for how they lead to the final animal/plant/human. This is quite a different story than the popular (mis)representation of genes as a "blueprint". The truth is, we don't yet know where the full "blueprint"/"plan" really is.

Comment on Towards Open Ended Education by driverrob

driverrob — Sun, 09 Apr 2006 08:46:34 +0000

Facts represent the truth, as it is known at the time, based on facts; evidence.
All my life as a Physicist, neutrinos were believed to be massless - a vary odd and hard to accept fact - but that’s what the experimental evidence showed.
Now, new evidence shows they may have a tiny amount of mass. So be it.
No amount of theorising, discussion or philosophy by students or anyone else would have changed the evidence (and hence the ‘facts’ at any stage.

Comment on “The Universe in a Single Atom” by allthingsnerdy

allthingsnerdy — Tue, 28 Mar 2006 01:58:00 +0000

Sounds like a great read, I will have to check that out. Thanks for the review.

Comment on The Midlife Crisis of Science by humanmanual

humanmanual — Sun, 05 Mar 2006 15:03:13 +0000

An excerpt from “The Universe in a Single Atom” by the Dalai Lama:

“It is [...] clear that the third-person method — which has served science so well in so many areas — is inadequate to the explanation of consciousness. What is required, if science is successfully to probe the nature of consciousness, is nothing short of a paradigm shift.”

I couldn’t agree more.

Comment on Broken Window by humanmanual

humanmanual — Mon, 20 Feb 2006 21:45:53 +0000

Amen. It’s such a simple thing. As I type this, my work area could really stand to be cleaned up! Yet, here I am, typing instead of fixing my broken window.

Comment on Broken Window by allthingsnerdy

allthingsnerdy — Mon, 20 Feb 2006 21:42:40 +0000

I always feel like my mind is clear for work after I have picked up my room into a nice tidy area again.

Comment on Empathetic Common Cold by humanmanual

humanmanual — Thu, 26 Jan 2006 18:14:50 +0000

Excellent find indeed! Perfect, in fact.

Coincidentally, this article has a relationship to another post on this blog regarding the limited focus of science and how that could be its downfall: The Midlife Crisis of Science.

Comment on Empathetic Common Cold by allthingsnerdy

allthingsnerdy — Thu, 26 Jan 2006 18:05:02 +0000

“…All of which may explain the lama’s ailment. “His Holiness’ cold is a manifestation of the opposition of some scientists to his coming to the conference,” a young Chinese Buddhist explains to me…. ”

an excerpt from an article in which a buddhist explains why the Dalai Lama has a cold.

Comment on Beeswax by humanmanual

humanmanual — Sun, 08 Jan 2006 17:14:51 +0000

Excellent! I’ve been looking for somewhere to buy these online. Thanks for sharing.