What are you on about?  How is this related to FONC?

David



On Sat, Dec 29, 2012 at 3:10 PM, John Pratt <[email protected]> wrote:

>
>
> What sickness science brings to everyday people!  They cannot even believe
> in mysterious things, such as the divine, without first thinking it has to
> show up on a laboratory microscope.
>
> The petri dish has to exist before the thing will be acknowledged as
> fitting inside a petri dish.
>
> "We don't have a petri dish for that.  It cannot exist.  I cannot study it
> inside of its petri dish."
>
> "Tell me where its petri dish is first, then I will believe you and we
> will go study it."
>
> Mystical things of the past are regarded as superstition, described in
> terms of theoretical, mechanical concepts.  Automobiles, air planes, and
> light rail trains are the indicators of supreme accomplishments given to
> man by this modern science.
>
> Computers, electronics are never questioned for what they are underneath--
> a huge mess of chemical circuits.  Contemptible expediency in its approach
> to making its own version of warped plastic and silicon clockwork.
>
> Cram as much as you invent into the smallest space possible, sheath it
> with cosmetic jewelry cases, and sell it to the world, telling the world it
> is pure jewelry, inside and out.  When it happens to hit the floor, the lie
> is exposed-- a mess of soldering, wires, and toxic chemicals.
>
> Dazzling athletics, to cram this inelegant approach to match the world's
> demand for novelty and excitement.
>
> Pack it all into a tiny package.  Call it sheer wizardry and a triumph of
> modern science.  Its engineers confounded by accusations of philistine
> circuitry-- "engineering, math, and science works!  our engineering campus
> buildings are not ugly-- they are utilitarian!  I like math and was good at
> it in high school."
>
> If the shoe fits, wear it regardless of whether the shoe is distasteful in
> appearance on the outside.  Make a distasteful shoe, cover it up with a
> cosmetic shell.  Where there is a problem, an engineer will solve it.  Make
> sure that you don't need a solution you want to know about, however.  Just
> be content that a problem was solved and look the other way when the
> details are explained of its operation.
>
> "That'll do the trick."
>
> I didn't like parabolas because the world cannot be reduced to two, three,
> or four axes, thank you very much.
>
> I don't like polynomials because I want to draw the line before I call it
> a function of the world, saying that the world consists only of
> deterministic, reductionist functions.  "Oh, then you are just tired of
> 'discreteness' and you need its polar opposite of discreteness,
> non-discreteness."
>
> Such is mathematics and science today.  "Why does no one want to learn
> math and science anymore??"
>
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>
>
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