Philosophy Wire: Exoplanets. Other systems. Illustrations. Unicorns.

Philosophy Wire by Spiros Kakos [2016-01-31]: “Glimpse of baby planet shows what to expect when a star is expecting”, says a scientific article. [1] The article contain an “illustration” of a planetary system forming around a star. Illustrations… What a great way of showing things. What a great way of passing over assumptions as reality… But isn’t that what the world actually is? It isn’t that unicorns did not exist. It is that we stopped drawing them…

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Philosophy Wire: Consciousness, hair power, Samson, myths...

Philosophy Wire by Spiros Kakos [2014-05-13]:

Unseen power stemming from… hair! [1, 2]
An old tale had told us so. (Samson)
We are now laughing at it. [3]
But something deeper lies beneath the surface... [4, 5, 6]
Our current "knowledge" does not let us see beyond our own nose.
Old knowledge, long gone, haunts our shallow existence.
Let's try to forget in order to remember...

(c) Philosophy WIRES - Commenting world news from philosophy's perspective…

Philosophy Wire! Burn… Burn… Burn…

Philosophy Wire by Spiros Kakos [2013-02-16]:

Norwegian public television plans to broadcast a burning fireplace for 12 straight hours from Friday evening, with firewood specialists providing color commentary, expert advice and a bit of cultural tutoring. The idea was inspired by the SECOND BEST selling book in Norway which concerns… what else… fire wood! [source: Yahoo! TV]

NRK is not new to quirky programming.

In 2011, it broadcast 134 hours non-stop of a cruise ship going up the Norwegian coast to the Arctic, bagging the world record for the longest continuous TV program along the way.

At one point 600,000 people tuned in to watch that program with 3.2 million people, or over 60 percent of the population, glued to the screen at one point.

And an earlier broadcast of an eight hour train journey from Oslo to Bergen was so popular, NRK had to repeat it.

Who says that money and progress is synonym of mental health?

Well, I have to go now.

I am going to watch a flower grow…

(c) Philosophy WIRES - Commenting world news from philosophy's perspective...

Philosophy Wire: Death Star, USA, prudence

Philosophy Wire by Spiros Kakos [2013-01-13]:

The U.S. will not be building a replica of the Death Star from Star Wars,despite a more than 34,000-signature-strong petition for the government to begin construction by 2016.

"The Administration does not support blowing up planets," wrote Paul Shawcross, the White House's science and space branch chief, in response to an online petition on the government's We the People website. In order to receive an official response from the White House 25,000 signatures were needed in 30 days — the petition received 34,435 signatures.

In addition to Obama's stance on inter-galactic warfare, Shawcross wrote that the U.S. would not invest in a Death Star because:

• Construction costs have been estimated to exceed $850 quadrillion US, which would expand the deficit rather than reduce it.
• The spacecraft has a "fundamental flaw that can be exploited by a one-man starship."

[source: web news]

 

Americans were always ahead of their time in many things. Politics is one of them. They are not afraid to consider even the most insane solutions to their problems. They DID consider Death Star and rejected it on specific grounds. Maybe next time they think it better. Maybe the next time this post does not have the “weird” tag…

 

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