Bridge over the Colorado River
Popular Science‘s “Looking Back at the 100 Best Innovations of 2009.”
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Fruits of the Enlightenment
Defining modernism and pre-modernism
Intellectual systems and movements are defined philosophically by means of their characteristic claims in the five major branches of philosophy: metaphysics, epistemology, human nature, ethics, and politics. As historical movements, they are defined by the time of their formulation and most vigorous activity. So in the following table I offer a definitions of pre-modernism and
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William Kamkwamba
The boy who harnessed the wind — a 14-year old who decides to design and build a windmill to bring electricity to his remote village in Malawi. A deeply human story of initiative, ingenuity, and independence. And here is the book, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, at Amazon.
High technology — very, very high
I just sent my first email from 36,000 feet, flying somewhere over Iowa or maybe Nebraska now. Which means we should all watch that excellent Louis CK video again: We live in a time of wonders.
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Index and Bibliography for Explaining Postmodernism
At the Explaining Postmodernism page, the Index, Bibliography, and Acknowledgments are now online.
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The 13th floor and other superstitions
At a hotel recently I was zooming up in its sleek elevator to my room when I noticed something: no 13th floor.
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In class: Semmelweis as epistemological hero
Prior to the discovery of germ theory and antiseptic, women frequently died of puerperal fever in the maternity ward at the University of Vienna Hospital. Enter Ignaz Semmelweis, a Hungarian-born physician working at the Vienna hospital, one of the world’s leading medical establishments. Carl Hempel’s account of Semmelweis’s false starts, failed hypotheses, and eventual success
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“Nietzsche and the Nazis” update
Since its 2006 publication, my 2:45-hour documentary on Nietzsche and the Nazis has been available from Amazon, Netflix, and other venues. Beginning this summer, Netflix has made the documentary available via video-stream, which has led to a healthy uptick in feedback — including gratifying praise, interesting new angles, thoughtful disagreement — and a smattering of
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