General jackdaw culture, very little more than a collection of charming miscomprehensions, untargeted enthusiasms, and a general habit of skimming.

General jackdaw culture, very little more than a collection of charming miscomprehensions, untargeted enthusiasms, and a general habit of skimming.

The collective matrix of a science at a given time is determined by a kind of establishment, which includes universities, read more

The collective matrix of a science at a given time is determined by a kind of establishment, which includes universities, learned societies, and, more recently, the editorial offices of technical journals. Like other establishments, they are consciously or unconsciously bent on preserving the status quo- partly because unorthodox innovations are a threat to their authority, but also because of the deeper fear that their laboriously erected an intellectual edifice might collapse under the impact.

Morality, like other inputs into the social process, follows the law of diminishing returns- meaning ultimately, negative returns. People can read more

Morality, like other inputs into the social process, follows the law of diminishing returns- meaning ultimately, negative returns. People can be too moral.

Society knows perfectly well how to kill a man and has methods more subtle than death

Society knows perfectly well how to kill a man and has methods more subtle than death

Barbarian invasions would be superfluous: we are our own Huns.

Barbarian invasions would be superfluous: we are our own Huns.

All rising to great place is by winding stair.

All rising to great place is by winding stair.

However different the holy causes people die for, they perhaps die basically for the same thing.

However different the holy causes people die for, they perhaps die basically for the same thing.

The pen is the tongue of the mind.

The pen is the tongue of the mind.

Wherever we find orderly, stable systems in Nature, we find that they are hierarchically structured, for the simple reason that read more

Wherever we find orderly, stable systems in Nature, we find that they are hierarchically structured, for the simple reason that without such structuring of complex systems into sub-assemblies, there could be no order and stability- except the order of a dead universe filled with a uniformly distributed gas.