Archive for October, 2026
Thursday, October 15th, 2026
The Dark Forest hypothesis is that any rational alien civilisation would conceal itself from observers because it would fear attack by other stronger rational alien civilisations. This is proposed as a solution to the Fermi Paradox: we don’t see the abundant alien civilisations about us because although they exist, they ...
Posted in Interstellar, Space | No Comments »
Thursday, October 15th, 2026
As noted previously
[I]n sociological theories institutions are generally reckoned to be significant features of a society, and there seems to be some primitive notion that underlies the use of the term, but as is often the case the precise definitions offered cover a range of related possibilities. The Stanford Encyclopedia ...
Posted in Politics, Sociology | No Comments »
Friday, October 9th, 2026
Reading Gross & Levitt, Higher Superstition, concerning ‘The Academic Left and its Quarrels with Science.’
Science is one of the characteristics and triumphs of the West, so it is an irresistible target for those who find the moral burden of their own civilisation unbearable. Science is therefore attacked as being ...
Posted in Politics, Sociology | No Comments »
Saturday, October 3rd, 2026
Nature of the Hoard
972 manuscripts
In the form of scrolls or fragments of scrolls
The fragments in Cave 4 are in >15,000 pieces
Mostly parchment, some papyrus, and one of copper
Written mostly in Hebrew, about 15% in Aramaic, and a few in Greek
Dated 3rd C BC – ...
Posted in History, Religion, Texts | No Comments »