Podcasts about History of science

History of the development of science and scientific knowledge

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Best podcasts about History of science

Latest podcast episodes about History of science

Drafting the Past
Episode 64: Emily Herring Listens For the Rhythm

Drafting the Past

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 25, 2025 49:37 Transcription Available


Welcome back to Drafting the Past, a podcast where we talk all about the craft of writing history. I'm Kate Carpenter and for this episode, I'm delighted to be joined on the podcast by Dr. Emily Herring. As you'll hear, I've been following Emily's career for a while now, and I was eager to ask about her first book and her shift from academia to full-time writing. Her book is called Herald of a Restless World: How Henri Bergson Brought Philosophy to the People. It's an intellectual biography of philosopher Henri Bergson, who achieved remarkable fame in the early 1900s, and it's a genuinely fascinating and pleasurable read. Let's dig into it. Here's my interview with Dr. Emily Herring. Buy Emily's book Find links and show notes at draftingthepast.com Support the show on Patreon Sign up for the free show newsletter  

American Filth
Tanked and Yanked: In 1960s, Scientists Pleasure A Dolphin

American Filth

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 18, 2025 26:12 Transcription Available


Okay... the title EXAGGERATES, but for real...in the 1960s, scientists on St. Thomas try to teach dolphins how to speak English. And one of the dolphins...well, he was too horned up to learn. LSD gets involved, too. Watch the documentary The Girl Who Talked To Dolphins to get the whole scoop. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tom Nelson
Christopher Monckton: “The costliest error in the history of science” | Tom Nelson Pod #291

Tom Nelson

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 4, 2025 70:03


Christopher Monckton, Third Viscount Monckton of Brenchley, has held positions with the British press and in government, as a press officer at the Conservative Central Office, and as Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's policy advisor. He is a policy advisor to The Heartland Institute.00:00 Introduction to the Climate Emergency Question00:42 Summary of the Catastrophic Error01:52 Understanding Feedback Response03:13 The IPCC's Miscalculation04:19 Mathematical Proof of the Error05:16 The First Instance of the Error06:56 Detailed Explanation of Feedback Response08:08 Temperature Feedback Processes09:25 Control Theory and Feedback Amplification11:33 Initial Conditions and Feedback Variables21:01 The Normative Method of Feedback Loop34:53 Issues with Current Climate Models37:29 Introduction to Pat Frank's Work38:35 The Propagation of Uncertainty40:08 Challenges in Publishing the Paper41:01 Flaws in Climate Models42:36 Monte Carlo Simulation Method47:04 Feedback Amplifier Experiment53:47 The Non-Existent Hotspot01:00:28 Strategic Consequences of Climate Errors01:06:25 Global Awareness and ConclusionMore about Christopher Monckton: https://heartland.org/about-us/who-we-are/lord-christopher-monckton=========AI summaries of all of my podcasts: https://tomn.substack.com/p/podcast-summariesMy Linktree: https://linktr.ee/tomanelson1

The Unfinished Mind
History of Science

The Unfinished Mind

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 23, 2025 41:40


Join our hosts, Sowmya and Athitiya, as they discuss the history of science with Dr. John Lisle, an author and UT Lecturer in History and Core Texts and Ideas.

For the Love of Nature
Cosmic Critters: The Monkey-nauts Who Paved the Way for Space Travel

For the Love of Nature

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 18, 2025 13:46 Transcription Available


Send us a textBefore astronauts, there were monkeynauts. In this episode of Wildly Curious, Katy Reiss and Laura Fawks Lapole dive into the bizarre and often tragic history of the first primates sent to space—Albert I, II, III, and IV.The U.S. was determined to test the limits of space travel, and what better way than by strapping a rhesus macaque to a rocket? Unfortunately for the Alberts, early spaceflight engineering wasn't exactly foolproof (seriously, how hard is it to pack a working parachute?!). From launch failures to unexpected explosions, these monkeys became unwilling pioneers in the quest to understand weightlessness, high-altitude survival, and just how many things can go wrong in a single mission.Join us as we unpack the history, science, and ethics of these doomed primate test pilots. If you love space history, weird animal experiments, and questioning past scientific decisions, this episode is for you!Support the show

The Stephen Wolfram Podcast
History of Science & Technology Q&A (March 5, 2025)

The Stephen Wolfram Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 11, 2025 84:39


Stephen Wolfram answers questions from his viewers about the history of science and technology as part of an unscripted livestream series, also available on YouTube here: https://wolfr.am/youtube-sw-qaQuestions include: What is the history of game theory? What are some successful and less successful applications of this theory? Can you speak about John Nash's work? Did that have any influence on your automata work? - ​​I wonder if that code by Nash exists anywhere? It would be interesting to read. - Do you view the world as being governed by randomness or order? - Would you ever write a book intended to explain the history of the ruliad/Physics Project? - Have you studied the history of cognitive neurological abilities of scientists throughout the ages, things like long-term memory, imagination, creativity...? - Do scientists invent tools first and then look for a problem to use them on, or do they find a problem first and then invent the tool to crack it? - What is your favorite "age" of science? - How did early mechanical computers like the Babbage Engine influence modern computing? - Do you think Ada would have had more success in science and math today than she did when she was alive? - Would you say you research more of the history of people or history of their projects/research? Which do you find more useful?

The Stephen Wolfram Podcast
History of Science & Technology Q&A (February 19, 2025)

The Stephen Wolfram Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 25, 2025 84:47


Stephen Wolfram answers questions from his viewers about the history of science and technology as part of an unscripted livestream series, also available on YouTube here: https://wolfr.am/youtube-sw-qaQuestions include: - Can you talk about the history of pi? - "Pi day of the century." - Is pi still being researched today? Or is it a solidified concept? - Was there always a connection between "pi" and "pie"? - Can pi be used for data compression? - Is the only reason pi shows up more than tau because we USE pi more often? - If we used tau, it would have been 24/tau^2 instead of 6/pi^2, right? ​- How was your experience with slide rules? Did Leibniz or Newton use tools like a slide rule? - My 8th-grade (1983-ish) teacher didn't allow calculators, but he let me use my slide rule. ​​- Would you rather be stuck with just a slide rule or just an abacus? - What is your favorite "artifact from the past" that you own... any interesting stories? - What's your favorite artifact from the future? - Many key ideas in computer science existed before we had the hardware to implement them (Turing's computer, neural networks in the 1940s). What ideas today do you think are ahead of their time in the same way? - Technology has progressed at an incredible rate during the last two centuries. That seems quite unusual relative to other periods in history. Are we bound to enter a new era of stagnation or regression? Or can we just keep going? - How would you think about cellular automata if you were born in, say, ancient Greece/Rome or Egypt? Or even the 1800s? - ​​Is there a history of people discovering the concept of the ruliad and thinking about it from a different perspective (mathematical, scientific, religious or otherwise)? - I would be interested in hearing about the bug of Alan Turing. - It seems like our definitions of "science" and "technology" have evolved over the years. Are they historically the same thing?

The Stephen Wolfram Podcast
History of Science & Technology Q&A (February 5, 2025)

The Stephen Wolfram Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 11, 2025 90:28


Stephen Wolfram answers questions from his viewers about the history of science and technology as part of an unscripted livestream series, also available on YouTube here: https://wolfr.am/youtube-sw-qaQuestions include: When was complexity science invented? Was there a further back history than digital? - They always forget Aristarchus. - What role did category and type theory play for mathematics? - How would you think about approaching alchemical literature, knowing that it mostly employed coded language rather than being about literal transmutation into gold? - Was Newton not an alchemist? - The real secret is it's tungsten that can be turned into gold, hence the name "Wolfram Research." - Dirac, Einstein, Turing and Feynman are sitting in a room. What is the single word they all immediately agree on? - So... Dirac answered in Dirac delta function style?

The Stephen Wolfram Podcast
History of Science & Technology Q&A (January 22, 2025)

The Stephen Wolfram Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 29, 2025 83:39


Stephen Wolfram answers questions from his viewers about the history of science and technology as part of an unscripted livestream series, also available on YouTube here: https://wolfr.am/youtube-sw-qa Questions include: How would Stephen Wolfram think about "the new world"? Would you have been surprised by the "discovery" of North and South America, or is that something that would have been supported by science? - How would you think about "Are we alone in the universe?" How has this been addressed in history? - ​​How would you think about speculating on the history of hitchhiking, going back to ancient Rome or even the earliest cities? I would assume it would be things like ox-drawn carts, not expensive horses. - What do you know about colors and how we represent them in computing? - What do you think about the Library of Babel? Do you think that all that could ever have been written has already been written in that library and we just have to find it? - Can you tell us about the history of your father? - How far back can you trace your family history? - Have you ever done one of those DNA tests to map your genetic history? - Can you tell us about the history of your mother? - Did your parents encourage your interest in physics? Or were they hoping you would pursue a different field? - My experience with people in elite philosophy programs is that they're often terrifyingly sharp. Was that your experience as well? - ​​Isn't the word for tungsten in German, Wolfram? - Wow, he grew up splitting time between England and Germany during the prewar years. Did he ever write about his perspective on the war?

Drafting the Past
Episode 58: James Tejani Aims for Smart, Elegant Simplicity

Drafting the Past

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 28, 2025 51:41 Transcription Available


In this episode, host Kate Carpenter is joined by Dr. James Tejani. James is an associate professor of history at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. His first book, A Machine to Move Ocean and Earth: The Making of the Port of Los Angeles—and America came out last year with Norton, and it's a fascinating history that covers Western settlement, slavery, the Civil War, science and engineering, and much more. Our interview ranges from how Tejani came to think of himself as a writer to how developing tendonitis changed his writing practice.

New Books Network
Disability and the History of Science (Osiris, Vol 36)

New Books Network

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 18, 2025 88:29


This volume of Osiris places disability history and the history of science in conversation to foreground disability epistemologies, disabled scientists, and disability sciencing (engagement with scientific tools and processes). Looking beyond paradigms of medicalization and industrialization, the volume authors also examine knowledge production about disability from the ancient world to the present in fields ranging from mathematics to the social sciences, resulting in groundbreaking histories of taken-for-granted terms such as impairment, infirmity, epidemics, and shōgai. Some contributors trace the disabling impacts of scientific theories and practices in the contexts of war, factory labor, insurance, and colonialism; others excavate racial and settler ableism in the history of scientific facts, protocols, and collections; still others query the boundaries between scientific, lay, and disability expertise. Contending that disability alters method, authors bring new sources and interpretation techniques to the history of science, overturn familiar narratives, apply disability analyses to established terms and archives, and discuss accessibility issues for disabled historians. The resulting volume announces a disability history of science. Jaipreet Virdi is a historian of medicine, technology and disability. Her research and teaching interests include the history of medicine, the history of science, disability history, disability technologies and material/visual culture studies. She received her Ph.D. from the Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology at the University of Toronto (2014). Mara Mills is Associate Professor and Ph.D. Director in the Department of Media, Culture, and Communication at New York University. She is cofounder and Director of the NYU Center for Disability Studies; a founding editor of the award-winning journal Catalyst: Feminism, Theory, Technoscience; and a founding member of the steering committees for the NYU cross-school minors in Science and Society and Disability Studies. Sarah Rose is an associate professor of history at the University of Texas at Arlington, where she founded and directs the Minor in Disability Studies. There are more than 120 Disability Studies graduates from UTA now. She also co-founded and serves as faculty advisor for UTA Libraries' Texas Disability History Collection, for which she and Trevor Engel co-curated the Building a Barrier-Free Campus traveling and digitized exhibit. Her book, No Right to Be Idle: The Invention of Disability, 1840s-1930s, was published by University of North Carolina Press in 2017 and was awarded the 2018 Philip Taft Prize in Labor and Working Class History and the 2018 Disability History Association Outstanding Book Award, among other awards. She has also published with Dr. Joshua Salzmann in LABOR on how baseball players and teams have managed health and fitness and in the Journal of Policy History on disabled veterans' access to the GI bill and higher education after World War II. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

New Books in History
Disability and the History of Science (Osiris, Vol 36)

New Books in History

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 18, 2025 88:29


This volume of Osiris places disability history and the history of science in conversation to foreground disability epistemologies, disabled scientists, and disability sciencing (engagement with scientific tools and processes). Looking beyond paradigms of medicalization and industrialization, the volume authors also examine knowledge production about disability from the ancient world to the present in fields ranging from mathematics to the social sciences, resulting in groundbreaking histories of taken-for-granted terms such as impairment, infirmity, epidemics, and shōgai. Some contributors trace the disabling impacts of scientific theories and practices in the contexts of war, factory labor, insurance, and colonialism; others excavate racial and settler ableism in the history of scientific facts, protocols, and collections; still others query the boundaries between scientific, lay, and disability expertise. Contending that disability alters method, authors bring new sources and interpretation techniques to the history of science, overturn familiar narratives, apply disability analyses to established terms and archives, and discuss accessibility issues for disabled historians. The resulting volume announces a disability history of science. Jaipreet Virdi is a historian of medicine, technology and disability. Her research and teaching interests include the history of medicine, the history of science, disability history, disability technologies and material/visual culture studies. She received her Ph.D. from the Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology at the University of Toronto (2014). Mara Mills is Associate Professor and Ph.D. Director in the Department of Media, Culture, and Communication at New York University. She is cofounder and Director of the NYU Center for Disability Studies; a founding editor of the award-winning journal Catalyst: Feminism, Theory, Technoscience; and a founding member of the steering committees for the NYU cross-school minors in Science and Society and Disability Studies. Sarah Rose is an associate professor of history at the University of Texas at Arlington, where she founded and directs the Minor in Disability Studies. There are more than 120 Disability Studies graduates from UTA now. She also co-founded and serves as faculty advisor for UTA Libraries' Texas Disability History Collection, for which she and Trevor Engel co-curated the Building a Barrier-Free Campus traveling and digitized exhibit. Her book, No Right to Be Idle: The Invention of Disability, 1840s-1930s, was published by University of North Carolina Press in 2017 and was awarded the 2018 Philip Taft Prize in Labor and Working Class History and the 2018 Disability History Association Outstanding Book Award, among other awards. She has also published with Dr. Joshua Salzmann in LABOR on how baseball players and teams have managed health and fitness and in the Journal of Policy History on disabled veterans' access to the GI bill and higher education after World War II. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history

New Books in the History of Science
Disability and the History of Science (Osiris, Vol 36)

New Books in the History of Science

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 18, 2025 88:29


This volume of Osiris places disability history and the history of science in conversation to foreground disability epistemologies, disabled scientists, and disability sciencing (engagement with scientific tools and processes). Looking beyond paradigms of medicalization and industrialization, the volume authors also examine knowledge production about disability from the ancient world to the present in fields ranging from mathematics to the social sciences, resulting in groundbreaking histories of taken-for-granted terms such as impairment, infirmity, epidemics, and shōgai. Some contributors trace the disabling impacts of scientific theories and practices in the contexts of war, factory labor, insurance, and colonialism; others excavate racial and settler ableism in the history of scientific facts, protocols, and collections; still others query the boundaries between scientific, lay, and disability expertise. Contending that disability alters method, authors bring new sources and interpretation techniques to the history of science, overturn familiar narratives, apply disability analyses to established terms and archives, and discuss accessibility issues for disabled historians. The resulting volume announces a disability history of science. Jaipreet Virdi is a historian of medicine, technology and disability. Her research and teaching interests include the history of medicine, the history of science, disability history, disability technologies and material/visual culture studies. She received her Ph.D. from the Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology at the University of Toronto (2014). Mara Mills is Associate Professor and Ph.D. Director in the Department of Media, Culture, and Communication at New York University. She is cofounder and Director of the NYU Center for Disability Studies; a founding editor of the award-winning journal Catalyst: Feminism, Theory, Technoscience; and a founding member of the steering committees for the NYU cross-school minors in Science and Society and Disability Studies. Sarah Rose is an associate professor of history at the University of Texas at Arlington, where she founded and directs the Minor in Disability Studies. There are more than 120 Disability Studies graduates from UTA now. She also co-founded and serves as faculty advisor for UTA Libraries' Texas Disability History Collection, for which she and Trevor Engel co-curated the Building a Barrier-Free Campus traveling and digitized exhibit. Her book, No Right to Be Idle: The Invention of Disability, 1840s-1930s, was published by University of North Carolina Press in 2017 and was awarded the 2018 Philip Taft Prize in Labor and Working Class History and the 2018 Disability History Association Outstanding Book Award, among other awards. She has also published with Dr. Joshua Salzmann in LABOR on how baseball players and teams have managed health and fitness and in the Journal of Policy History on disabled veterans' access to the GI bill and higher education after World War II. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

New Books in Science, Technology, and Society
Disability and the History of Science (Osiris, Vol 36)

New Books in Science, Technology, and Society

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 18, 2025 88:29


This volume of Osiris places disability history and the history of science in conversation to foreground disability epistemologies, disabled scientists, and disability sciencing (engagement with scientific tools and processes). Looking beyond paradigms of medicalization and industrialization, the volume authors also examine knowledge production about disability from the ancient world to the present in fields ranging from mathematics to the social sciences, resulting in groundbreaking histories of taken-for-granted terms such as impairment, infirmity, epidemics, and shōgai. Some contributors trace the disabling impacts of scientific theories and practices in the contexts of war, factory labor, insurance, and colonialism; others excavate racial and settler ableism in the history of scientific facts, protocols, and collections; still others query the boundaries between scientific, lay, and disability expertise. Contending that disability alters method, authors bring new sources and interpretation techniques to the history of science, overturn familiar narratives, apply disability analyses to established terms and archives, and discuss accessibility issues for disabled historians. The resulting volume announces a disability history of science. Jaipreet Virdi is a historian of medicine, technology and disability. Her research and teaching interests include the history of medicine, the history of science, disability history, disability technologies and material/visual culture studies. She received her Ph.D. from the Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology at the University of Toronto (2014). Mara Mills is Associate Professor and Ph.D. Director in the Department of Media, Culture, and Communication at New York University. She is cofounder and Director of the NYU Center for Disability Studies; a founding editor of the award-winning journal Catalyst: Feminism, Theory, Technoscience; and a founding member of the steering committees for the NYU cross-school minors in Science and Society and Disability Studies. Sarah Rose is an associate professor of history at the University of Texas at Arlington, where she founded and directs the Minor in Disability Studies. There are more than 120 Disability Studies graduates from UTA now. She also co-founded and serves as faculty advisor for UTA Libraries' Texas Disability History Collection, for which she and Trevor Engel co-curated the Building a Barrier-Free Campus traveling and digitized exhibit. Her book, No Right to Be Idle: The Invention of Disability, 1840s-1930s, was published by University of North Carolina Press in 2017 and was awarded the 2018 Philip Taft Prize in Labor and Working Class History and the 2018 Disability History Association Outstanding Book Award, among other awards. She has also published with Dr. Joshua Salzmann in LABOR on how baseball players and teams have managed health and fitness and in the Journal of Policy History on disabled veterans' access to the GI bill and higher education after World War II. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/science-technology-and-society

New Books in Disability Studies
Disability and the History of Science (Osiris, Vol 36)

New Books in Disability Studies

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 18, 2025 88:29


This volume of Osiris places disability history and the history of science in conversation to foreground disability epistemologies, disabled scientists, and disability sciencing (engagement with scientific tools and processes). Looking beyond paradigms of medicalization and industrialization, the volume authors also examine knowledge production about disability from the ancient world to the present in fields ranging from mathematics to the social sciences, resulting in groundbreaking histories of taken-for-granted terms such as impairment, infirmity, epidemics, and shōgai. Some contributors trace the disabling impacts of scientific theories and practices in the contexts of war, factory labor, insurance, and colonialism; others excavate racial and settler ableism in the history of scientific facts, protocols, and collections; still others query the boundaries between scientific, lay, and disability expertise. Contending that disability alters method, authors bring new sources and interpretation techniques to the history of science, overturn familiar narratives, apply disability analyses to established terms and archives, and discuss accessibility issues for disabled historians. The resulting volume announces a disability history of science. Jaipreet Virdi is a historian of medicine, technology and disability. Her research and teaching interests include the history of medicine, the history of science, disability history, disability technologies and material/visual culture studies. She received her Ph.D. from the Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology at the University of Toronto (2014). Mara Mills is Associate Professor and Ph.D. Director in the Department of Media, Culture, and Communication at New York University. She is cofounder and Director of the NYU Center for Disability Studies; a founding editor of the award-winning journal Catalyst: Feminism, Theory, Technoscience; and a founding member of the steering committees for the NYU cross-school minors in Science and Society and Disability Studies. Sarah Rose is an associate professor of history at the University of Texas at Arlington, where she founded and directs the Minor in Disability Studies. There are more than 120 Disability Studies graduates from UTA now. She also co-founded and serves as faculty advisor for UTA Libraries' Texas Disability History Collection, for which she and Trevor Engel co-curated the Building a Barrier-Free Campus traveling and digitized exhibit. Her book, No Right to Be Idle: The Invention of Disability, 1840s-1930s, was published by University of North Carolina Press in 2017 and was awarded the 2018 Philip Taft Prize in Labor and Working Class History and the 2018 Disability History Association Outstanding Book Award, among other awards. She has also published with Dr. Joshua Salzmann in LABOR on how baseball players and teams have managed health and fitness and in the Journal of Policy History on disabled veterans' access to the GI bill and higher education after World War II. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Stephen Wolfram Podcast
History of Science & Technology Q&A (January 8, 2025)

The Stephen Wolfram Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 14, 2025 51:34


Stephen Wolfram answers questions from his viewers about the history of science and technology as part of an unscripted livestream series, also available on YouTube here: https://wolfr.am/youtube-sw-qa Questions include: Any progress on your understanding of Buddhist philosophy from digging into East Asian history? - How do we address the interesting ways that footnotes in history have led to knowledge? How do we address multiple issues of publication within different texts and the problems of translation? What happens to the "origin" of a text? - Do you think weird names are an advantage in academics? E.g. one of the translators of the new edition of Philosophical Investigations is P. M. S. Hacker, not something I would have remembered otherwise. - Who came up with floating-point arithmetic and what is it? - How would you think about scientific collaboration in the age before technology? How did ancient researchers/scientists collaborate with each other? - Do you think there is hidden mathematics or geometry in biblical writings or the Egyptian pyramids? - If you woke up tomorrow in ancient Greece with a pouch of gold coins, what sort of computing machines do you think you could have fabricated? - Why is there only one species of human beings; isn't that kind of absurd? - With hindsight, would "Computational Principles of Natural Philosophy" have been a good title for NKS?

Cosmic Chronicles
The History Of Science Fiction | Cosmic Chronicles Episode 12

Cosmic Chronicles

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 11, 2025 45:04


More Cosmic Chronicles - https://linktr.ee/cosmicchroniclespod...   In Episode 12 of the Cosmic Chronicles podcast, The History of Science Fiction, we journey through the origins and evolution of one of the most imaginative genres in storytelling. From its philosophical roots in ancient myths and early speculative works like Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, to the visionary pulp magazines of the early 20th century. In this episode we explore how science fiction has reflected humanity's dreams and anxieties about technology, exploration, and the unknown. We delve into the Golden Age of sci-fi, with iconic writers like Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke, and track its transformation through the New Wave movement and into contemporary works that tackle modern issues like artificial intelligence and climate change. Packed with insights and cultural context, this episode offers a look at how science fiction continues to shape our collective imagination.

The Stephen Wolfram Podcast
History of Science & Technology Q&A (December 4, 2024)

The Stephen Wolfram Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 12, 2024 85:01


Stephen Wolfram answers questions from his viewers about the history of science and technology as part of an unscripted livestream series, also available on YouTube here: https://wolfr.am/youtube-sw-qa Questions include: What is a very interesting "big picture" discovery in your minimal model for biological evolution that answers questions about Darwin's natural selection? How does it change the narrative? - So the most successful organism is you and me, because we have the potential to organize/find solutions for this überabzählbar unendliche chaos, and for that we get rewarded, according to Blaise Pascal's wager. - Who created the first map? - ​​Do you find morphological attractors in your simple models of biological evolution? There is evidence that morphospace might be like a hyporuliad, according to work by Prof. Michael Levin with planaria. - ​​Are LLMs disconnected from humans in the ruliad? - LLMs' view of reality is mostly language and texts, right? - ​​My experience with art makes me guess illusions tend to be more of a lower/hardware level, since they aren't much subject to qualia. - Do you think it's possible Egyptians had a basic light bulb (Dendera light bulb)? - Were there prominent researchers in ancient civilizations who often referred to "things of the past," or were they mainly working based off of new ideas and hypotheses? - ​​How much of ancient myth reflects technology, like Hephaestus making a giant rock-throwing android? - ​​There's a hieroglyph that looks like a snake inside a light bulb.

The Science Show -  Separate stories podcast
Oxford's History of Science Museum celebrates 100 years

The Science Show - Separate stories podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 7, 2024 18:53


Join Robyn Williams on a tour of exhibits.

The Stephen Wolfram Podcast
History of Science & Technology Q&A (November 20, 2024)

The Stephen Wolfram Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 27, 2024 93:02


Stephen Wolfram answers questions from his viewers about the history of science and technology as part of an unscripted livestream series, also available on YouTube here: https://wolfr.am/youtube-sw-qa Questions include: Can you tell us anything about the history of quantum mechanics? - What's the craziest historical debate between physicists about quantum theory? - Thoughts on extending Kirchhoff's blackbody experiments to astronomical bodies? - Was the Copenhagen interpretation a mistake, in regard to how paradoxical results were "glossed over"? - Can you tell us more about Schrödinger's cat? What is actually happening? - Aren't zero-point fluctuations an absolute reference frame and therefore a fatal blow to relativity? - Did Feynman's work on quantum electrodynamics completely change the game, or was it just building on others? - ​​What do you think about Wheeler's participatory universe idea? - You got to meet all these neat people Mr. W! It's nice to hear your stories about meeting them.

The Stephen Wolfram Podcast
History of Science & Technology Q&A (November 6, 2024)

The Stephen Wolfram Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 12, 2024 43:51


Stephen Wolfram answers questions from his viewers about the history of science and technology as part of an unscripted livestream series, also available on YouTube here: https://wolfr.am/youtube-sw-qa Questions include: Were there any ancient travel bloggers (or the ancient equivalent) who wrote about other places they visited? - Did ancient civilizations like Rome or Egypt actually communicate with each other? - How did they know about each other? - How influential was Babylonian science on Greek natural philosophy? - How did people know how to tell time before clocks? - Did scientists back in the day have rivals or "frenemies" like we see in movies?​​ Did ancient people have the equivalent of church bells to mark the time in cities? - Were there any ancient or medieval "tech hacks" that we'd still find useful today? - Why do you think the ancient Greeks had a fondness for abstract levels of thought? - Is there an aspect of culture that enables this? - How did people figure out that the Earth is round?

Classic Lasker
Changing the History of Heart Disease

Classic Lasker

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 11, 2024 20:10


“The natural history of heart valve disease had not changed in hundreds of years—until Dr. Starr stepped in.”   In September 1960, Albert Starr performed the first successful valve-replacement surgery on a human patient. He placed a mechanical valve in the patient's heart that he and his collaborator, Lowell Edwards, developed. The patient survived for 10 years. Building on Starr's success, Alain Carpentier developed a method to use heart valves from pigs. Patients with mechanical valves need to take anticoagulants (blood thinners) for the rest of their lives. Carpentier's use of natural valves eliminated that need. Starr and Carpentier became good friends and colleagues. They shared the 2007 Lasker Award for the development of prosthetic heart valves; Edwards passed away before the Award was given.

Historical Perspectives on STEM
Celebrating 50+2 years of Scholarship: Department of the History and Sociology of Science - History of Science: The State of the Field

Historical Perspectives on STEM

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 7, 2024 89:19


Celebrating 50+2 years of Scholarship: Department of the History and Sociology of Science - History of Science: The State of the Field by Consortium for History of Science, Technology and Medicine

Science Focus Podcast
The fascinating history of science

Science Focus Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 1, 2024 28:34


We may pride ourselves on our intelligence, but humans perhaps actually have to thank our ability to process and communicate information for our species' success. In this episode, we speak to ‘The History of Information' author Chris Haughton about the evolutionary adaptations, technologies and moments in our history that propelled us forward – and what he thinks is coming next. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Stephen Wolfram Podcast
History of Science & Technology Q&A (October 16, 2024)

The Stephen Wolfram Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 24, 2024 77:45


Stephen Wolfram answers questions from his viewers about the history of science and technology as part of an unscripted livestream series, also available on YouTube here: https://wolfr.am/youtube-sw-qa Questions include: If you were transported back in time to say, the time of Aristotle, what would you do? What would you pursue in terms of career/research? - Why are Aristotle, Plato and Socrates the names most people think of when thinking about ancient society and science? - Almost all of these philosophers were also physicists. - How did ancient thinkers like Democritus come up with early ideas about atoms and matter? - Do you think letters or published books/essays are more useful for studying history? - What about things like newspapers, but particularly pamphlets and journals that are lost or completely undervalued for not being books, even though people at the time would have considered them essential? - Would you run off and not drink the poison if you were Socrates? - Do you think it's still possible to be a polymath today like da Vinci? - ​​I found a place that still produces those postcards you play on a record player. Do you think that would be a good way of storing things like a password or crypto, especially utilizing steganography? - If humanity completely falls back to the storage level of knowledge, would we be able to grow our knowledge back fast enough to decipher old SSDs before they decay, or would that be another Alexandria?

The Stephen Wolfram Podcast
History of Science & Technology Q&A (September 18, 2024)

The Stephen Wolfram Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 16, 2024 89:27


Stephen Wolfram answers questions from his viewers about the history of science and technology as part of an unscripted livestream series, also available on YouTube here: https://wolfr.am/youtube-sw-qa Questions include: Why is history important? - History is very good at preventing humanity from making the same mistakes. - How would you explain the history of pi? - Do we know why Brahmagupta came up with the rules for arithmetic and algebra with zero and negative quantities? His book does appear to be a discontinuous jump in understanding. - Do you know if there was any physical reason that the Greek "elements" were associated with particular geometric shapes? - The Pi Day thing is great; I think I might get a shirt. - To what extent did your own path/work intersect the heydays of Bell Labs and notable people therefrom? - Did you ever use an Amiga computer? - With mobile devices we are basically going back to terminals. - ​​I used to have a Silicon Graphics Indigo 2 sitting on my desk for AutoCAD and 3D modeling. Those were great machines and fun times! - Speaking of McCarthy and those days, do you think that sticking to s-expressions as opposed to m-expressions and Wolfram Language-style ones impeded Lisp's adoption historically?

Parker's Pensées
Ep. 264 - The History of Science Fiction w/Ben Yalow

Parker's Pensées

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 12, 2024 85:46


in episode 264 of the Parker's Pensées Podcast, I'm joined by Ben Yalow to discuss all things Science Fiction! Ben has edited From These Ashes which is the complete collection of Fredic Brown's short stories--which are some of my all time favorites!! →Sponsors/Discounts Check out https://murdycreative.co/PARKERNOTES and use promo code PARKERNOTES at check out for 10% off your entire order!! Grab a Field Notes notebook or memo book wallet like the one from the video from my affiliate link here to support my work and use promo code PARKERNOTES for 10% off your entire order: https://fieldnotesbrand.com/products/daily-carry-leather-notebook-cover?aff=44 I'm finally a Saddleback affiliate so if you like their stuff buy something from my link and you can also support my work! Check out the catalog here: https://saddlebackleather.com/leather-moleskine-cover-medium/?ktk=d0pac01BLWJmZWY1MmZiYTFi Join this channel to get access to perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYbTRurpFP5q4TpDD_P2JDA/join Join the Facebook group, Parker's Pensées Penseurs, here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/960471494536285/ If you like this podcast, then support it on Patreon for $3, $5 or more a month. Any amount helps, and for $5 you get a Parker's Pensées sticker and instant access to all the episode as I record them instead of waiting for their release date. Check it out here: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/parkers_pensees If you want to give a one-time gift, you can give at my Paypal: https://paypal.me/ParkersPensees?locale.x=en_US Check out my merchandise at my Teespring store: https://teespring.com/stores/parkers-penses-merch Come talk with the Pensées community on Discord: dsc.gg/parkerspensees Sub to my Substack to read my thoughts on my episodes: https://parknotes.substack.com/ 0:00 - The Hugo Awards 7:09 - What is Science Fiction? 11:43 - Comic Books, SF, and 'Genre' 19:40 - John Campbell and the Atomic Bomb 33:13 - Golden Age and Multiple Pen Names 44:58 - Finding truth in science fiction 51:13 - Hard vs soft science fiction 54:30 - SF and cover art 1:05:38 - The Nebulas and other SF awards 1:15:14 - Star Wars

Classic Lasker
Enzyme Hunters

Classic Lasker

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 7, 2024 16:47


“By the time we finished walking across this great lawn, we had decided on this exciting experiment.” —Elizabeth Blackburn on meeting her collaborator, Jack Szostak at a research conference. Elizabeth Blackburn, Carol Greider, and Jack Szostak won the 2006 Lasker Award for the prediction and discovery of telomerase, the enzyme that maintains the ends of chromosomes (telomeres). Blackburn and Szostak predicted the existence of such an enzyme, based on experiments they did in yeast and tetrahymena. Blackburn and Greider showed that this enzyme, telomerase, really does exist. The research of these three scientists broke open a new field and forever changed science and medicine.  

The Stephen Wolfram Podcast
History of Science & Technology Q&A (September 4, 2024)

The Stephen Wolfram Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 4, 2024 86:21


Stephen Wolfram answers questions from his viewers about the history of science and technology as part of an unscripted livestream series, also available on YouTube here: https://wolfr.am/youtube-sw-qa Questions include: When, for you, was a computational approach introduced to the scientific process or the scientific culture? - Who began the trend of naming discoveries, inventions, etc. after yourself? - Became clear? How? Pretty sure no one ever solved the three-body equation. - Commentary about naming conventions. - The Trojan asteroids are named after characters from the Trojan War in Greek mythology because of the convention that started with the discovery of the first few such asteroids near Jupiter. These asteroids occupy stable Lagrangian points (L4 and L5) in Jupiter's orbit, and astronomers decided to name them after heroes from the Trojan War, with those at L4 being named after Greek heroes and those at L5 named after Trojan heroes. - Any planned work with tungsten? - ​​​​Regarding naming, is there are good naming convention is computer languages? - What's your view of innovation in economic science? We are nearly 250 years since Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations. - Recall the idea of "Recapitate" instead of "Apply."

The Stephen Wolfram Podcast
History of Science & Technology Q&A (August 21, 2024)

The Stephen Wolfram Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 27, 2024 82:13


Stephen Wolfram answers questions from his viewers about the history of science and technology as part of an unscripted livestream series, also available on YouTube here: https://wolfr.am/youtube-sw-qa Questions include: Recent thoughts on history - Was SMP or Mathematica inspired by LISP and what are the pros and cons of LISP-like languages? - Was the decision to have Mathematica untyped unlike something like Lean (proof checker) a good decision for usability or would you do it differently today? - Type-checking always felt like dimensional analysis. - Was your idea to use "transformations on symbolic expressions" a sudden insight after reading, say, Schönfinkel on combinators, or did it follow from working out atoms of computation, something else? - What is the history of lazy evaluation? - Have you come up with any new theories of human reasoning from working on Mathematica and computation?

From Our Neurons to Yours
Memory Palaces: the science of mental time travel and the brain's GPS system | Lisa Giocomo (Re-release)

From Our Neurons to Yours

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 26, 2024 25:50 Transcription Available


Today we are re-releasing an episode we did last year with Stanford neurobiologist Lisa Giocomo exploring the intersection of memory, navigation and the boundaries we create between ourselves and the world around us.This episode was inspired by the idea of memory palaces. The idea is simple: Take a place you're very familiar with, say the house you grew up in, and place information you want to remember in different locations within that space. When it's time to remember those things, you can mentally walk through that space and retrieve those items.This ancient technique reveals something very fundamental about how our brains work. It turns out that the same parts of the brain are responsible both for memory and for navigating through the world.Scientists are learning more and more about these systems and the connections between them, and it's revealing surprising insights about how we build the narrative of our lives, how we turn our environments into an internal model of who we are, and where we fit into the world.Join us to learn more about the neuroscience of space and memory.Before we get into this week's episode, we have a favor to ask. We're working to make this show even better, and we want to hear from you. We're in the process of gathering listener input and feedback. If you'd be willing to help out, send us a short note and we'll be in touch. As always, we are at neuronspodcast@stanford.eduLearn more:About Lisa Giocomo's researchAbout the story of Henry Molaison (patient H. M.), who lost the ability to form new memories after epilepsy treatment removed his hippocampus.About the 2014 Nobel Prize in medicine, awarded to John O'Keefe and to May-Britt and Edvard Moser (Giocomo's mentors) for their discovery of the GPS system of the brain.About Memory Palaces, a technique used since ancient times to enhance memory using mental maps.Episode CreditsThis episode was produced by Michael Osborne at 14th Street Studios, with production assistance by Morgan Honaker. Our logo is by Aimee Garza. The show is hosted by Nicholas Weiler at Stanford's Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute. Send us a text!Thanks for listening! If you're enjoying our show, please take a moment to give us a review on your podcast app of choice and share this episode with your friends. That's how we grow as a show and bring the stories of the frontiers of neuroscience to a wider audience. Learn more about the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute at Stanford and follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

Writing It!
Episode 33: Title: Psychedelics & Writing

Writing It!

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 23, 2024 46:44


We speak with historian Ben Breen (UC Santa Cruz) about the writing of his recent book, Tripping on Utopia: Margaret Mead, the Cold War, and the Troubled Birth of Psychedelic Science, We discuss how to think about chapter organization; writing about individuals' lives without writing biography; discovering our main characters through the writing process; books that have served as models for writing; the wonderfulness of Terry Gross; not getting caught up in the apparatus of writing tools; and why it's most important to just get the ideas down. Don't forget to rate and review our show and follow us on all social media platforms here: https://linktr.ee/writingitpodcast Contact us with questions, possible future topics/guests, or comments here: https://writingit.fireside.fm/contact

Historical Perspectives on STEM
History of Science Society at 100: Mining in the history and social studies of science

Historical Perspectives on STEM

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 22, 2024 52:44


Join us for a discussion on the history of mining and the intersections of history of science with several other fields. How are mines sites of knowing the world, and how is that knowledge contested? How has our understanding of what a mine is changed over time, and what does that mean for how mines are studied? What can the methods and sources used in studying mines teach us about trends in the history of science and science studies? Discussants are: Allison Margaret Bigelow University of Virginia Victor Seow Harvard University Jessica Smith Colorado School of Mines Recorded on April 1, 2024 For more information on this and other topics, please see https://www.chstm.org/video/157

The Stephen Wolfram Podcast
History of Science & Technology Q&A (August 7, 2024)

The Stephen Wolfram Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 20, 2024 63:48


Stephen Wolfram answers questions from his viewers about the history of science and technology as part of an unscripted livestream series, also available on YouTube here: https://wolfr.am/youtube-sw-qa Questions include: What is the history of data visualization? Was the discipline only able to flourish relatively recently with the introduction of computers, or is there a deep and rich history of people creating pictures by hand to extract visual insights from abstract data? - Nikola Tesla was building a machine for the wireless transmission of electricity. It seems like we're getting to a place where we can beam solar energy down to Earth from solar-harvesting satellites. I'm curious what Stephen's take on this is and the timeline for this research/what is needed to make it a reality. - ​​​​From your perspective, what is the importance of compression functions in computer science? - Do we know who designed written language? Or are there still missing pieces in history such that we can't properly map out the history of written work? - What is the stage of development/history around implementing cellular automata in hardware, such as quantum dot cellular automata? What large-scale, hardware-accelerated simulations would be interesting? - I'm curious about the history of eyeglasses. Why has the tech not seem to have advanced much?

The Stephen Wolfram Podcast
History of Science & Technology Q&A (July 24, 2024)

The Stephen Wolfram Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 9, 2024 96:31


Stephen Wolfram answers questions from his viewers about the history of science and technology as part of an unscripted livestream series, also available on YouTube here: https://wolfr.am/youtube-sw-qa Questions include: What was more important to ancient civilizations, philosophy or science?​​ - What have been your observations on the role of history in current science and research? Is it still relevant, or are we advancing fast enough to make it irrelevant?​​ - Can you tell us about the history of the Wolfram Summer School? How did it start?​​ - What is the history of formal verification in computer security? Particularly, how is it related to automated theorem proving and symbolic computation? Do people use Wolfram Language for formal verification?​​ - Would you consider using one AI to formally verify software now?​​ - What are some examples of scientific/technological "dead ends" other than alchemy (although I suppose we did learn things by accident with that one)?​​ - What about ​​Pythagoras? Philosophy or science?​​​​ - ​​Do we have enough information to answer this question (philosophy vs. science) for ancient South and Middle American civilizations?​​

Mind & Matter
Bad Science, Nutrition Epidemiology, History of Obesity Research, Diet & Metabolic Health | Gary Taubes | #176

Mind & Matter

Play Episode Play 52 sec Highlight Listen Later Sep 6, 2024 102:23


Send us a textAbout the guest: Gary Taubes is a researcher, science historian, and science journalist. He has written several books, including “Rethinking Diabetes.”Episode summary: Nick and Gary Taubes discuss: the field of nutrition epidemiology and why it's filled with so much junk science; social factors influencing scientific research; the history of obesity & diabetes research; the energy balance vs. carbohydrate-insulin models of obesity; fats, carbs & insulin resistance; and more.Related episodes:Obesogens, Oxidative Stress, Dietary Sugars & Fats, Statins, Diabetes & the True Causes of Metabolic Dysfunction & Chronic Disease | Robert Lustig | #140Obesity Epidemic, Diet, Metabolism, Saturated Fat vs. PUFAs, Energy Expenditure, Weight Gain & Feeding Behavior | John Speakman | #132*This content is never meant to serve as medical advice.Support the showAll episodes (audio & video), show notes, transcripts, and more at the M&M Substack Try Athletic Greens: Comprehensive & convenient daily nutrition. Free 1-year supply of vitamin D with purchase.Try SiPhox Health—Affordable, at-home bloodwork w/ a comprehensive set of key health marker. Use code TRIKOMES for a 10% discount.Try the Lumen device to optimize your metabolism for weight loss or athletic performance. Use code MIND for 10% off.Learn all the ways you can support my efforts

The Stephen Wolfram Podcast
History of Science & Technology Q&A (May 22, 2024)

The Stephen Wolfram Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 2, 2024 81:01


Stephen Wolfram answers questions from his viewers about the history of science and technology as part of an unscripted livestream series, also available on YouTube here: https://wolfr.am/youtube-sw-qa Questions include: How are new words adopted into language? Can anyone invent a new word, or are there certain processes? ​​ - Who discovered the dinosaurs? How has technology assisted with research?​​ - ​​Which ecosystem could accommodate woolly elephants?​​ - ​​Isn't it so strange that every kid has a passion for dinosaurs?​​ - A subset of dinosaurs evolved into birds.​​ - Aren't bees considered too fat to fly?​​ - How has our understanding of the asteroid impact theory evolved since its introduction in the 1980s?​​ - ​​If it were technically possible, would submarines be more efficient if they copied fish or aquatic mammals?​​ - In your background, I see minerals or corals. Do you like petrology?​​ - In popular culture, dinosaurs are often portrayed as solitary and aggressive creatures, akin to fierce monsters. However, scientific research suggests that many dinosaurs may have had complex social behaviors and interpersonal relationships. Could you share an example of a dinosaur whose social behavior has been discovered or hypothesized based on fossil evidence? How do these discoveries influence our perception of dinosaurs, and how they are portrayed in the media?​​ - What came first, the dinosaur or the egg?​​ - How much computational irreducibility exists in DNA engineering?​​ - ​​Do you know what the first written description of human handedness was? There are some depictions and artifacts, but when did we realize "some people are like this"? - ​Did Isaac Newton get the idea for the inverse square law of gravity from reading a book by Giovanni Alfonso Borelli?​​ - Are there good simulations of warm periods of the Earth?​​ - What would be the physics on Earth with such huge creatures like the dinosaurs? To grow that big, they would have to either have a lot of food or the gravity must have been weirder. - ​​Yeah, there's not enough logged data for that to be predicted accurately, IMO. When did they start keeping track of the average temperature, the ~1920s?​​ - ​​During the time of the dinosaurs, atmospheric oxygen levels were significantly higher, which contributed to the existence of very large insects.​​ - When a space shuttle reenters Earth's atmosphere, does it affect our protection from solar and cosmic radiation? Could this piercing of Earth's barrier impact the stability of the magnetosphere? Is it like a wound that closes gradually or immediately?​​

The Stephen Wolfram Podcast
History of Science & Technology Q&A (May 1, 2024)

The Stephen Wolfram Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 26, 2024 93:19


Stephen Wolfram answers questions from his viewers about the history of science and technology as part of an unscripted livestream series, also available on YouTube here: https://wolfr.am/youtube-sw-qa Questions include: Are there exact matches or just similarities between complexity in nature (bio, evolution), society (political, religious) and technology?​​ - ​​How did the development of atomic theory by scientists such as Democritus, Dalton and Rutherford influence our understanding of discrete structures and the behavior of matter at the atomic level?​​ - How do historians know with certainty the identities of prominent historical figures? Could there have been more to the Socrates, Plato and Aristotle timeline?​​ - ​​Do the majority of historians of physics now have a favorable opinion of string theory?​​ - Is there any scientific reason "pure maths" concepts are picked up by physics much later?​​ - Do you find it our lack of human history odd, considering how long we have lived on this planet?​​ - With regards to notable people in history, humans seem to be completely obsessed with credit for their contributions—an interesting feature of the human ego. Taoist philosophy believes the Tao makes achievements and lays no claim to them.​​ - ​Can we reconstruct the lost works in history with AI scraping through contemporary reference scripts and searching for the influence lost writings had on known writings?​​ - That brings up the interesting point that there were likely MANY people "back there" who had amazing ideas that would have important applications today, but they didn't have the good fortune to be noticed and documented.​​ - How did the concept of zero originate and evolve in mathematical history?​​ - Do zero and infinity have the same origin?​​ - Interesting, but if I had three ducks and gave them all to you, surely the ancients must have had some concept of what that left me with?​​ - Speaking of string theory, what are for you the notable "dead-end paths" taken in the history of math/sci/tech?​​

The Stephen Wolfram Podcast
History of Science & Technology Q&A (April 17, 2024)

The Stephen Wolfram Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 19, 2024 62:37


Stephen Wolfram answers questions from his viewers about the history of science and technology as part of an unscripted livestream series, also available on YouTube here: https://wolfr.am/youtube-sw-qa Questions include: Are there languages or logic systems we haven't yet discovered from the past?​​ - Can smart keyboards help with this process of language discovery?​​ - ​​Do you view mathematics as a subset of language, or the other way around?​​ - How did different languages come to develop? Will we slowly move toward a universal language?​​ - "Ona, also known as Selk'nam (Shelknam), is a language spoken by the Selk'nam people in Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego in southernmost South America." Spoken by only one person.​​ - ​The distinction is the unique role of mathematics expressing and formalizing ideas in ways that transcend linguistic and cultural boundaries.​​ - Language came before humans, e.g. dolphins and whales; we just scaled it up and complexified it​. - Was Shakespeare's style unique to him? Would there have been a possibility for people to speak in a more poetic language?​​ - ​​I think language is closer to 1.5–dimensional, considering we have relative pronouns and other constructions that link up with previous statements, such that a 2D diagram of it can be made.​​ - ​​If I want to write a short statement, I prefer English. For a detailed style, I would prefer German... which is usually longer and not as nice to read as short English text.​ - Bulgarian is pronounced exactly as it is written. One of its quirks.​​ - If LLMs are hallucinating all the time and good ones are just hallucinating correctly/accurately most of the time, does that explain how Ramanujan might have arrived at his formulas without proofs?​​

The Infinite Monkey Cage
An Unexpected History of Science - Rufus Hound, Matthew Cobb, Victoria Herridge and Keith Moore

The Infinite Monkey Cage

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 14, 2024 42:32


Brian Cox and Robin Ince raid the archives of the Royal Society to reveal an unexpected history of science with guests Rufus Hound, Tori Herridge, Matthew Cobb and Keith Moore. Together they explore some of the surprising and wackiest scientific endeavours undertaken by early members of the Royal Society from the discovery of sperm to testing the insect repelling properties of unicorn horn. They hear how a beautiful book on fish almost scuppered Newton's Principia Mathematica and why a guide to the fauna of Switzerland ended up including depictions of dragons.Producer: Melanie Brown Exec Producer: Alexandra Feachem BBC Studios Audio production

The Stephen Wolfram Podcast
History of Science & Technology Q&A (April 3, 2024)

The Stephen Wolfram Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 9, 2024 71:56


Stephen Wolfram answers questions from his viewers about the history of science and technology as part of an unscripted livestream series, also available on YouTube here: https://wolfr.am/youtube-sw-qa Questions include: Is there a directionality to science and technology?​​ - Has anyone sort of applied the hacker mentality to the Antikythera mechanism to figure out what else you could use it for? What kind of uses could a time-traveling von Neumann figure out?​​ - What is the likelihood that ancient tech we've discovered had vastly different uses than what we believe?​​ - ​​Southeast Asia is terrible for archeology because you can make almost anything from bamboo: tens of thousands of years ago, people obviously used wood etc., but only stone remains.​​ - What does that say going forward, with our fast-rotting bits, in contrast with stone or wood, or even paper? - ​​Any thoughts on the ancient dodecahedra? Do you have one?​​ - Who started research on the periodic tables? Can you discuss a bit about its development?​​ - What motivated the advent of the fast Fourier transform algorithm? What was its creator wanting to solve?​​ - ​​How advanced did analog computers get before we moved to digital computers? Was there any debate on whether we shouldn't move to digital at the time?​​ - Why did modern formal logic take so long to develop historically, compared to other branches of mathematics or physical sciences? What explains the delay until the mid-nineteenth century?​​ - Is there any knowledge in physics today that has been influenced by ancient texts like the Vedas etc.?​​

The Stephen Wolfram Podcast
History of Science & Technology Q&A (March 20, 2024)

The Stephen Wolfram Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 2, 2024 49:38


Stephen Wolfram answers questions from his viewers about the history of science and technology as part of an unscripted livestream series, also available on YouTube here: https://wolfr.am/youtube-sw-qa Questions include: Has any species evolved in a measurable way since humans have been observing and tracking evolution? - Why are there more bacteria than blood cells in a human body?​ - Would you say humans have aided in the evolution of domestic animals?​ - Has all of Grothendieck's work been understood yet?​ - What was the earliest use of radioactivity for light or heat?​ - What current technological advancement would be most beneficial to ancient societies?​ - Getting to significant and industrial scales was really hard for penicillin.​ - What kind of technology present today do you see becoming nothing more than history? What are some examples of previous technology being discarded?

The Stephen Wolfram Podcast
History of Science & Technology Q&A (February 28, 2024)

The Stephen Wolfram Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 26, 2024 69:03


Stephen Wolfram answers questions from his viewers about the history of science and technology as part of an unscripted livestream series, also available on YouTube here: https://wolfr.am/youtube-sw-qa Questions include: What could the following people have done with Wolfram? Aristotle, Archimedes, Emmy Noether, Vega, etc.​ - ​​What would Ada Lovelace have done with current computing? And the possibilities?​ - Did Galileo have some mechanical math tools?​ - How does the abacus fit into the story of calculators?​ - What did Ada Lovelace say when asked about her coding style? "My code is like poetry, it's logical, elegant, and never divided by zero!"​ - Would authors such as Shakespeare find any use in Wolfram tech? How might he react to technology in general?​ - What about someone like Socrates? Or Plato?​

The Stephen Wolfram Podcast
History of Science & Technology Q&A (February 14, 2024)

The Stephen Wolfram Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 19, 2024 94:15


Stephen Wolfram answers questions from his viewers about the history of science and technology as part of an unscripted livestream series, also available on YouTube here: https://wolfr.am/youtube-sw-qa Questions include: Can you talk about the history of hearts? Why does the human heart not resemble the heart shape seen most commonly in other forms? - How did scientists discover the brain and its purpose? When did this happen? - What about the theories that say that neither the brain nor anything else in the body is the "site of consciousness" (e.g. "the brain is just a receiver")? There's at least some stuff there that can't be easily dismissed. ​​- Any thoughts on Panini, who wrote a meta-rule to decode the rule conflicts in the linguistic algorithm? - How has technology influenced the development and preservation of languages? 0 Why did the Latin language "die"? Do you think it would be widely used if it had survived? - The Pirahã, a tribe in Brazil, have a very peculiar way of talking. They don't include numbers and time, if I understand. - How do linguists reconstruct ancient languages they have little direct evidence of?​ ​​- Would the Greek spoken at the time of Aristotle be fully intelligible to speakers of modern Greek? - How did accents and dialects evolve (for example, UK English vs. US English)​? - The reconstructed 1700s London accent sounds somewhat American, I thought? - ​​Are there still undiscovered writing systems to be discovered? - ​​Do you have any comments on the relationship scientists have had with the philosophy of science? - ​​If one views religion as a function whose input is belief and output is explanation of "the unknown," then could science ("many universes" in quantum theory, for example) be construed as such?

Drafting the Past
Episode 47: Kathleen Sheppard Learns to Use the Novelist's Tools

Drafting the Past

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 16, 2024 51:45


I'm delighted to introduce you to my guest today, historian of science Dr. Kathleen Sheppard. Kate is a professor at Missouri S & T University, and the author of three books, as well as the editor of two books of correspondence. Kate is a historian of Egyptology, and her first book was a biography of Margaret Alice Murray, the first woman to become a university-trained Egyptologist in Britain. The second was Tea on the Terrace: Hotels and Egyptologists' Social Networks, which was released in paperback this summer. And her newest book is out right now. It's called Women in the Valley of the Kings: The Untold Story of Women Egyptologists in the Gilded Age. I was excited to talk with Kate about the difference in writing a book for a trade press, how she has found each of her book subjects, her old school research methods, and how her agent coached her in writing for a public audience. Enjoy my conversation with Dr. Kate Sheppard.

The Stephen Wolfram Podcast
History of Science & Technology Q&A (January 24, 2024)

The Stephen Wolfram Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 28, 2024 85:37


Stephen Wolfram answers questions from his viewers about the history of science and technology as part of an unscripted livestream series, also available on YouTube here: https://wolfr.am/youtube-sw-qa Questions include: What are the key requirements in place for past scientific revolutions? - What do you think about the effective accelerationism movement? What history led to or influenced it? - ​​Exploring binary code's historical role in programming and its connection to physics laws, in the universe as a giant computer: do parallels exist between binary principles and underlying structures? - ​​Can you talk about the history of cybernetics, second-order cybernetics and its current connections to the observer in the ruliad? - Did the "cyber" definition come before the definition of "robotics"? - You are forgetting George Spencer-Brown for the second-order cybernetics topic. - Have you ever used the ideas he expounded in Laws of Form​? - What was the significance of the ENIAC computer?​ - Isaac Newton was known as the father of modern physics. How might he view advancements since his time? Would he have anything to add? - What is the history of small business vs. big business? Was there a shift in history when one overtook the other? - Can you talk about the history of traveling to space? How come Moon visits aren't more frequent?

Why This Universe?
82 - Science Vs. Pseudoscience

Why This Universe?

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 29, 2024 35:31


Pseudoscience can sometimes be hard to distinguish from the real thing. Today we discuss how philosophers of science have thought about this problem. For ad free episodes and other exclusives, join us for just $3 a month on Patreon: https://patreon.com/whythisuniverse Our merch is available here: https://www.shalmawegsman.com/why-this-universe

Why This Universe?
81 - Ancient Greek Astronomy

Why This Universe?

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 15, 2024 43:16


The first episode in a new mini-series on philosophical problems in cosmology - Today we start with the origins of Western science and learn what the ancient Greeks thought about the cosmos. For ad free episodes and other exclusives, join us for just $3 a month on Patreon: https://patreon.com/whythisuniverse Our merch is available here: https://www.shalmawegsman.com/why-this-universe

Intelligent Design the Future
Online Course Explores History of Science and Christianity

Intelligent Design the Future

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 1, 2024 22:00


Did Christianity help or hinder the rise of science? On this ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid speaks with Dr. Melissa Cain Travis about her latest online course Science & Christianity: An Historical Exploration. The live 6-week course offered this spring gives a small cohort of students the opportunity to dive into the historical relationship between science and Christianity and the skill to address the distorted historical narratives that persist in the contemporary conversation. Source

The Ricochet Audio Network Superfeed
Discovery Institute Podcasts: Online Course Explores History of Science and Christianity

The Ricochet Audio Network Superfeed

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 1, 2024


Did Christianity help or hinder the rise of science? On this ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid speaks with Dr. Melissa Cain Travis about her latest online course Science & Christianity: An Historical Exploration. The live 6-week course offered this spring gives a small cohort of students the opportunity to dive into the historical relationship […]