Category: History of Science
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Patrice Lumumba-Never to forgive, never to forget
The Jewish culture has this very powerful saying, which many Jews especially repeat on a day called the holocaust memorial day: Never to forgive, never to forget. On face value, this statement might seem a bit extreme, especially the “never to forgive” part.
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Paris Attacks: Collective Moral Blindness Spells Collective Doom
What happened in Paris was heart-wrenching and tragic. My first reaction was intense anger at the monstrous perpetrators. Soon after, it was accompanied by an equally intense anger and sense of frustration at the western reactions that had already started coming in. As a Pakistani who has been living in Europe for some time, there was also…
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Rational Fools
Nobel Prize winning economist Amartya Sen, coined the term “Rational Fools” nearly 35 years ago. In his famous paper, Sen criticized the first principle of economics: “Every agent is actuated by only self-interest”. On top of this axiom of rational self-interest lie rational action and rational expectations, leading all the way up to the efficiency…
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Abdus Salam and Galileo: The separation of science from religion (and philosophy)
Dr Abdus Salam, the late Pakistani particle physicist is the only Muslim physicist till date to have been awarded the Nobel Prize. Dr Salam was rare among modern day scientists in that he was a devout Muslim. While most modern scientists are not concerned with religious matters, Dr Salam found his inspiration for science in religion.
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Newton’s ‘Quantum Revolution’ and the Death Knell of Materialism
In an earlier post on Einstein, I discussed Newton’s demolition of the mechanical philosophy. Since the topic of materialism is so widely misunderstood, I think the significance of what Newton did should be discussed at length. Unfortunately, the revolutionary import of what Newton did has still not been absorbed by many people, even after the…
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Galileo and Economics
Or ‘Why we can’t blame Galileo for the latest financial crisis!’ 🙂 Modern science can be roughly said to begin with Galileo Galilei. One of the commonly used methods in science is sometimes referred to as the Galilean Style. This style refers to, among other things, the idealizations and abstractions that scientists use in modeling…
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Alan Turing in a society of machines
I am usually not at a loss for words (at least while writing). But what can one possibly write about that bird, that song; that tragedy, that ecstasy; that lamb, that lion; that beautiful genius called Alan Turing—that hasn’t already been written? What can I add? Don’t forget what Iqbal said: ‘A particle in its place…
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The Chomskyan Style
Chomsky’s review of B.F. Skinner’s Verbal Behavior There are two quotes about Chomsky the scientist that I think best describe him. First is by a person whom I normally wouldn’t quote, Daniel Dennett. Dennett says about Chomsky: “Not many scientists are great scientists, and not many great scientists get to found a whole new field,…
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Herbert Simon: Sciences of the Artificial
Herbert Simon: Sciences of the Artificial. This is a review of Herbert Simon’s “Sciences of the Artificial” that I just finished reading. Let me first say a few words about the writing style. Simon’s writing style is quite lackluster. He isn’t a great writer like say Bertrand Russell, or George Orwell for that matter. But…
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Descartes mindless animals: Wrong conclusion but right science!
Cartesians had an idea about animals. They believed that animals were machines without minds. Here’s the story:
Realm of the SCENSCI 