On Polymathism and Macguyvering

Anyone can learn to be a polymath
Robert Twigger, Aeon MAgazine, 2013-11-04

the division of labor vs. the synthesis of polymathism

Carrying too many tools is a sign of a weak man; it makes him lazy. The real master has no tools at all, only an unlimited capacity for using the resources at hand.

On Metacognition

Starting from scratch: RIT program teaches first-year students how to learn
Oct 2013, phys.org

Rochester Institute of Technology is launching a $900,000 National Science Foundation-funded program to improve the retention of deaf, hard-of-hearing and first-generation undergraduates majoring in science, engineering and computer science. Between five and 10 percent of RIT's students are deaf or hard of hearing. Many attend the National Technical Institute for the Deaf or receive support services—such as interpreting and notetaking—from NTID while enrolled in one of RIT's other eight colleges.

RIT's Project IMPRESS (Integrating Metacognitive Processes and Research to Ensure Student Success) seeks to teach students self-reflection and self-assessment skills—key components of metacognition, or thinking about how one thinks and learns.

Flesh-Searching

"milk tea girl" - a positive sample of the flesh engine - source: BBC

China's internet vigilantes and the 'human flesh search engine'
BBC, Jan 2014

mobs of web users who turn on individuals and make their lives a misery

Thousands then banded together online to track down the perpetrator.

Hours later, they zeroed in on Yin, whose license plate number was a partial match, and posted his mobile number online.

The internet vigilantes were wrong, Yin insists. He tried to defend himself

"flesh-searching" phenomenon is cyberbullying on an epic scale, sometimes involving hundreds of thousands of anonymous

government believed the human flesh search engine was "illegal and immoral"

scrutinizing politicians

Some targets of flesh-searching have already taken their cases to court, but it's hard to blame a single perpetrator.

Duality of the Mind

One of the most inconceivable things in the nature of the brain is, that the organ of sensation should itself be insensible. To cut the brain, gives no point, yet in the brain alone resides the power of feeling pain in any other part of the body. (p19)

My guardian angel I believe is taking upon himself the trouble to think for me.
-quoted from a patient, in The Duality of the Mind, Arthur Ladbroke Wigam, 1844, p130

On Irony Ad Infinitum

Curtis Kullig, LoveMe, on the subject of intellectual property and consumerism:

…all literally my exact Love Me lifted. No permission, no compensation, no deviation from what I had made. … the only real way to perfect what I created is to launch it in larger platforms. … I had to start putting out product in different categories in order to prevent someone from taking it. The irony is that there are critics who will tell you I’m a sellout, or that I came up too quick, but really, am I just supposed to bend over and let massive brands co-opt what I created without even asking or paying?

“No way”, he says….

Juxtapoz, March 2013

On Entropy and Nations

image source:
"Global Inequality in Energy Consumption from 1980 to 2010," Scott Lawrence, Qin Liu, and Victor M. Yakovenko, published online at Entropy, 16 December 2013 http://www.mdpi.com/1099-4300/15/12/5565
Provided by Joint Quantum Institute

The entropy of nations: Global energy inequality lessens, but for how long?
Jan 2014, phys.org