To make Comments write directly to Jim at jimt@quixotic.ca
1
Aug
2021
Sunday August 1, 2021
Along with a majority of Canadians, I’ve had my second COVID-19 vaccination. I’d like to go back to hugging my friends and shaking hands with those who might become close friends.
It ain’t gonna happen. Evolution – which is just another word for “change” – doesn’t work that way.
The dinosaurs probably thought evolution had gone into reverse when the asteroid hit the Yucatan peninsula and they all died of hypothermia. They had, after all, been the dominant product of evolution for 170 million years.
But in fact, evolution speeded up. The great annihilation was the great acceleration. It opened up new frontiers for mammals (which includes us) and birds.
How long have we humans dominated life on this planet? I’d guess that until about 10,000 years ago we had no discernable effect at all. Only since we enslaved technology have we turned into the most invasive species this planet has ever known, surpassing even insects.
Categories: Sharp Edges
Tags: Evolution, change, Kurzweil, Moore's Law
2
Feb
2020
In high school, we were taught that there were two immutable laws in nature -- the Law of Conservation of Matter, and the Law of Conservation of Energy.
Then the atomic bomb blew both laws into anywhere. They had to be combined: the total of matter and energy remains constant -- even if bits of each could be swapped. (Although I don’t think anyone has yet attempted to turn energy back into matter. )
That got me thinking about a variety of other so-called Laws.
For example, the Peter Principle, devised by author Lawrence J. Peter with Raymond Hull. It said, in essence, that institutions promote people to their level of incompetence.
Tags: Peter Principle, Parkinson's Law, Kurzweil, Kuhn, Murphy