<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rss version="2.0"
	xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"
	xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/"
	xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
	xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"
	xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/"
	xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/"
	>

<channel>
	<title>Brain Pickings &#187; technology</title>
	<atom:link href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/tag/technology/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
	<link>http://www.brainpickings.org</link>
	<description>Interestingness, curated – picking culture&#039;s collective brain for innovation, inspiration &#38; brilliant ideas</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Tue, 22 May 2012 21:25:11 +0000</lastBuildDate>
	<language>en</language>
	<sy:updatePeriod>hourly</sy:updatePeriod>
	<sy:updateFrequency>1</sy:updateFrequency>
	<generator>http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1</generator>
		<item>
		<title>The Dalai Lama on Science and Technology</title>
		<link>http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/05/07/dalai-lama-on-science-and-technology/</link>
		<comments>http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/05/07/dalai-lama-on-science-and-technology/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 07 May 2012 11:00:14 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Maria Popova</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[culture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[PICKED]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[science]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[technology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[books]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[philosophy]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.brainpickings.org/?p=19217</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Pain, pleasure, and what sets man apart from machine.<p><em><strong>Brain Pickings takes 450+ hours a month to curate and edit across the different platforms, and remains banner-free. If it brings you any joy and inspiration, please consider a modest <a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/donate/" target="_blank">donation</a> – it lets me know I'm doing something right.</em></strong>

<a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/donate/" target="_blank"><img style="margin-left: 50px;" src="http://www.brainpickings.org/donate.png" /></a>

<a href="http://www.share.holstee.com/l/6/2669" target="_blank">
<img src="http://www.share.holstee.com/m/6" width="728" height="90" alt="Holstee" border="0"/></a>


</p>
]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p class="intro"><em>Pain, pleasure, and what sets man apart from machine.</em></p>
<p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/1570628939/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=braipick-20&#038;camp=0&#038;creative=0&#038;linkCode=as4&#038;creativeASIN=1570628939&#038;adid=080CMNYWJ76R7MRKZCZS&#038;" target="_blank"><img align="right" style="margin: 9px 0 3px 15px;" src="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/gentlebridges.jpg" width="190" /></a>Last month, in response to the impossibly fantastic <a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/04/27/when-einstein-met-tagore/">conversation between Einstein and Indian philosopher Tagore</a>, reader <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/favilar/status/196017752677421056" target="_blank">Feña Avila</a> recommended an intriguing collection of conversations between the Dalai Lama and prominent Western scientists across physics, neuroscience, biochemistry, mathematics, artificial intelligence, and cognitive psychology. <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/1570628939/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=braipick-20&#038;camp=0&#038;creative=0&#038;linkCode=as4&#038;creativeASIN=1570628939&#038;adid=080CMNYWJ76R7MRKZCZS&#038;" target="_blank"><strong><em>Gentle Bridges: Conversations with the Dalai Lama on the Sciences of Mind</em></strong></a> is an extraordinary exchange of ideas in its entirety, but this particular excerpt from the Dalai Lama&#8217;s opening remarks articulates an incredibly important point, one <a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/04/16/in-pursuit-of-the-unknown-ian-stewart/#snow">C. P. Snow passionately addressed in 1959</a> and <a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/03/08/johan-lehrer-fourth-culture/">Jonah Lehrer called a &#8220;fourth culture&#8221;</a> half a century later.</p>
<blockquote><p>For quite some time I have had a great interest in the close relationship between Eastern philosophy, particularly Buddhism, and Western science. My basic aim as a human being is to speak always for the importance of compassion and kindness in order to build a better, healthier human society, and a brighter future.</p>
<p>[…]</p>
<p>Western civilization&#8217;s science and technology bring society tremendous benefit. Yet, due to highly developed technology, we also have more anxiety and more fear. I always feel that mental development and material development must be well-balanced, so that together they may make a more human world. If we lose human values and human beings become part of a machine, there is no freedom from pain and pleasure. Without freedom from pain and pleasure, it is very difficult to demarcate between right and wrong. The subjects of pain and pleasure naturally involve feeling, mind, and consciousness.</p></blockquote>
<p>(This, of course, brings us to the grand question of what consciousness actually is, which is a whole different <a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/04/26/john-searle-on-consciousness/">can</a> <a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2010/09/07/what-does-it-mean-to-be-human/">of</a> <a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/03/22/connectome-sebastian-seung/">intellectual</a> <a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/04/18/the-rainbow-as-a-metaphor-for-understanding-consciousness/">worms</a>.)</p>
<p class="author" style="background: #f8f8f8;margin: 15px 0;padding: 10px 15px;color: #000;"><a target="_blank" href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/newsletter/"><img align="left" style="margin: 3px 7px 3px 0" src="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/themes/BrainPickings/images/email.png" alt="" width="50" /></a>Brain Pickings has a free weekly newsletter and people <a target="_blank" href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/newsletter/">say it&#8217;s cool</a>. It comes out on Sundays and offers the week&#8217;s best articles. Here&#8217;s <a target="_blank" href="http://us2.campaign-archive2.com/?u=13eb080d8a315477042e0d5b1&#038;id=ccae42412d">what to expect</a>. Like? <a target="_blank" href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/newsletter/">Sign up.</a></p>
<div class="tweetmeme_button" style="float: right; margin-top: 10px; margin-left: 5px;">
			<a href="http://api.tweetmeme.com/share?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.brainpickings.org%2Findex.php%2F2012%2F05%2F07%2Fdalai-lama-on-science-and-technology%2F"><br />
				<img src="http://api.tweetmeme.com/imagebutton.gif?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.brainpickings.org%2Findex.php%2F2012%2F05%2F07%2Fdalai-lama-on-science-and-technology%2F&amp;source=brainpicker&amp;style=compact&amp;service=bit.ly&amp;service_api=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.j.mp%2Fv3%2Fshorten%3Flogin%3Dbrainpicker%26apiKey%3DR_1c3cc3da619e2391f246157a3c5cedae%26longUrl%3D%25%40%26format%3Dtxt&amp;b=2" height="61" width="50" /><br />
			</a>
		</div>
<p><em><strong>Brain Pickings takes 450+ hours a month to curate and edit across the different platforms, and remains banner-free. If it brings you any joy and inspiration, please consider a modest <a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/donate/" target="_blank">donation</a> – it lets me know I'm doing something right.</em></strong>

<a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/donate/" target="_blank"><img style="margin-left: 50px;" src="http://www.brainpickings.org/donate.png" /></a>

<a href="http://www.share.holstee.com/l/6/2669" target="_blank">
<img src="http://www.share.holstee.com/m/6" width="728" height="90" alt="Holstee" border="0"/></a>


</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/05/07/dalai-lama-on-science-and-technology/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Between Page and Screen: A Digital Pop-Up Book about Love</title>
		<link>http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/04/30/between-page-and-screen-siglio/</link>
		<comments>http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/04/30/between-page-and-screen-siglio/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 30 Apr 2012 11:30:45 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Maria Popova</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[art]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[culture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[technology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[books]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.brainpickings.org/?p=19065</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[What an alphabetical romance has to do with the poetics of geometry and the heart of storytelling.<p><em><strong>Brain Pickings takes 450+ hours a month to curate and edit across the different platforms, and remains banner-free. If it brings you any joy and inspiration, please consider a modest <a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/donate/" target="_blank">donation</a> – it lets me know I'm doing something right.</em></strong>

<a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/donate/" target="_blank"><img style="margin-left: 50px;" src="http://www.brainpickings.org/donate.png" /></a>

<a href="http://www.share.holstee.com/l/6/2669" target="_blank">
<img src="http://www.share.holstee.com/m/6" width="728" height="90" alt="Holstee" border="0"/></a>


</p>
]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p class="intro"><em>What an alphabetical romance has to do with the poetics of geometry and the heart of storytelling.</em></p>
<p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/0979956285/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=braipick-20&#038;camp=0&#038;creative=0&#038;linkCode=as4&#038;creativeASIN=0979956285&#038;adid=0QCT0Y184SFHYP7VB2YV&#038;" target="_blank"><img align="right" style="margin: 9px 0 3px 15px;" src="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/betweenpageandscreen.jpg" alt="" width="220" /></a>Pop-up books, with their <a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2011/01/28/david-carter-pop-up-books/">architectural whimsy and transfixing tactility</a>, are on the bleeding front lines of the analog-to-digital shift as we contemplate the tradeoffs of what is lost as we gain the convenience and mutability of digital text. But this needn&#8217;t be the case. From poet-developer duo <strong>Amaranth Borsuk</strong> and <strong>Brad Bouse</strong>, and <a href="http://www.sigliopress.com/" target="_blank">Siglio Press</a>, comes <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/0979956285/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=braipick-20&#038;camp=0&#038;creative=0&#038;linkCode=as4&#038;creativeASIN=0979956285&#038;adid=0QCT0Y184SFHYP7VB2YV&#038;" target="_blank"><strong><em>Between Page and Screen</em></strong></a> &#8212; a remarkable &#8220;digital pop-up book&#8221; that tells the love story of the letters P and S through minimalist, wordless black-and-white geometric patterns that spring to life and summon the text when looked at through a webcam. You suddenly see yourself projected on the screen, holding in your hands the paper pages from which the living language of digital text unfolds into the story. And what a story it is &#8212; full of wordplay and innuendo, the narrative flows with equal parts humor and poetic sophistication as words morph into one another with your every movement, a visceral metaphor for the longing of the two alphabetical lovers.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/0979956285/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=braipick-20&#038;camp=0&#038;creative=0&#038;linkCode=as4&#038;creativeASIN=0979956285&#038;adid=0QCT0Y184SFHYP7VB2YV&#038;" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/betweenpageandscreen_bw.jpg" alt="" width="500" /></a></p>
<p>At once contrasting and complementing the augmented reality technology is an exquisite original book, letterpress-printed and hand-bound on fine press paper. What emerges is a beautiful meditation on where the heart of a book really resides &#8212; in the medium, be that page or screen, or in the reader&#8217;s experience and imagination.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/0979956285/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=braipick-20&#038;camp=0&#038;creative=0&#038;linkCode=as4&#038;creativeASIN=0979956285&#038;adid=0QCT0Y184SFHYP7VB2YV&#038;" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/betweenpageandscreen3.jpg" alt="" width="500" /></a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/0979956285/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=braipick-20&#038;camp=0&#038;creative=0&#038;linkCode=as4&#038;creativeASIN=0979956285&#038;adid=0QCT0Y184SFHYP7VB2YV&#038;" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/betweenpageandscreen2.jpg" alt="" width="500" /></a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/0979956285/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=braipick-20&#038;camp=0&#038;creative=0&#038;linkCode=as4&#038;creativeASIN=0979956285&#038;adid=0QCT0Y184SFHYP7VB2YV&#038;" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/betweenpageandscreen4.jpg" alt="" width="500" /></a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/0979956285/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=braipick-20&#038;camp=0&#038;creative=0&#038;linkCode=as4&#038;creativeASIN=0979956285&#038;adid=0QCT0Y184SFHYP7VB2YV&#038;" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/betweenpageandscreen1.jpg" alt="" width="500" /></a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/0979956285/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=braipick-20&#038;camp=0&#038;creative=0&#038;linkCode=as4&#038;creativeASIN=0979956285&#038;adid=0QCT0Y184SFHYP7VB2YV&#038;" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/betweenpageandscreen5.jpg" alt="" width="500" /></a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/0979956285/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=braipick-20&#038;camp=0&#038;creative=0&#038;linkCode=as4&#038;creativeASIN=0979956285&#038;adid=0QCT0Y184SFHYP7VB2YV&#038;" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/betweenpageandscreen6.jpg" alt="" width="500" /></a></p>
<p>It might be tempting to dismiss augmented reality as a gimmick &#8212; because anyone who&#8217;s been living on this side of the digital divide has seen her share of gimmicky AR &#8212; but in <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/0979956285/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=braipick-20&#038;camp=0&#038;creative=0&#038;linkCode=as4&#038;creativeASIN=0979956285&#038;adid=0QCT0Y184SFHYP7VB2YV&#038;" target="_blank"><strong><em>Between Page and Screen</em></strong></a>, it becomes a poetic device, seeking to reignite in us grown-ups that giddy excitement we once felt as we opened our very first childhood pop-up book. On a deeper level, it&#8217;s a meditation on duality &#8212; page and screen, object and subject, materiality and ephemerality, the stern, black-and-white rigidity of the geometric shapes and the soft fluidity of love.</p>
<p><iframe width="500" height="254" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/1s-JFxEmtpY?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p class="author" style="background: #f8f8f8;margin: 15px 0;padding: 10px 15px;color: #000;"><a target="_blank" href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/newsletter/"><img align="left" style="margin: 3px 7px 3px 0" src="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/themes/BrainPickings/images/email.png" alt="https://www.amazon.com/dp/0375869832/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=braipick-20&#038;camp=0&#038;creative=0&#038;linkCode=as4&#038;creativeASIN=0375869832&#038;adid=02YXM5MD2VFTBCC5WMM6&#038;" width="50" /></a>Brain Pickings has a free weekly newsletter and people <a target="_blank" href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/newsletter/">say it&#8217;s cool</a>. It comes out on Sundays and offers the week&#8217;s best articles. Here&#8217;s <a target="_blank" href="http://us2.campaign-archive2.com/?u=13eb080d8a315477042e0d5b1&#038;id=ccae42412d">what to expect</a>. Like? <a target="_blank" href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/newsletter/">Sign up.</a></p>
<div class="tweetmeme_button" style="float: right; margin-top: 10px; margin-left: 5px;">
			<a href="http://api.tweetmeme.com/share?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.brainpickings.org%2Findex.php%2F2012%2F04%2F30%2Fbetween-page-and-screen-siglio%2F"><br />
				<img src="http://api.tweetmeme.com/imagebutton.gif?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.brainpickings.org%2Findex.php%2F2012%2F04%2F30%2Fbetween-page-and-screen-siglio%2F&amp;source=brainpicker&amp;style=compact&amp;service=bit.ly&amp;service_api=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.j.mp%2Fv3%2Fshorten%3Flogin%3Dbrainpicker%26apiKey%3DR_1c3cc3da619e2391f246157a3c5cedae%26longUrl%3D%25%40%26format%3Dtxt&amp;b=2" height="61" width="50" /><br />
			</a>
		</div>
<p><em><strong>Brain Pickings takes 450+ hours a month to curate and edit across the different platforms, and remains banner-free. If it brings you any joy and inspiration, please consider a modest <a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/donate/" target="_blank">donation</a> – it lets me know I'm doing something right.</em></strong>

<a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/donate/" target="_blank"><img style="margin-left: 50px;" src="http://www.brainpickings.org/donate.png" /></a>

<a href="http://www.share.holstee.com/l/6/2669" target="_blank">
<img src="http://www.share.holstee.com/m/6" width="728" height="90" alt="Holstee" border="0"/></a>


</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/04/30/between-page-and-screen-siglio/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>The Sky Is Calling Us: A Cinematic Love Letter to Space Exploration</title>
		<link>http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/04/25/the-sky-is-calling-us-nickolaus-sugai/</link>
		<comments>http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/04/25/the-sky-is-calling-us-nickolaus-sugai/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 25 Apr 2012 12:00:28 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Maria Popova</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[culture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[film]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[science]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[technology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[NASA]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Neil deGrasse Tyson]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.brainpickings.org/?p=18972</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[&#8220;…if we ignore the calls of the sky, who then will draw the maps of the universe?&#8221; Our voyage into space, propelled by equal parts curiosity and awe, is among humanity&#8217;s bravest quests and most rewarding leaps of the imagination. Carl Sagan knew it. Neil deGrasse Tyson knows it. We believe it. And yet the [...]<p><em><strong>Brain Pickings takes 450+ hours a month to curate and edit across the different platforms, and remains banner-free. If it brings you any joy and inspiration, please consider a modest <a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/donate/" target="_blank">donation</a> – it lets me know I'm doing something right.</em></strong>

<a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/donate/" target="_blank"><img style="margin-left: 50px;" src="http://www.brainpickings.org/donate.png" /></a>

<a href="http://www.share.holstee.com/l/6/2669" target="_blank">
<img src="http://www.share.holstee.com/m/6" width="728" height="90" alt="Holstee" border="0"/></a>


</p>
]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p class="intro"><em>&#8220;…if we ignore the calls of the sky, who then will draw the maps of the universe?&#8221;</em></p>
<p>Our voyage into space, propelled by equal parts curiosity and <a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/04/24/happy-birthday-hubble/">awe</a>, is among humanity&#8217;s bravest quests and most rewarding leaps of the imagination. <strong>Carl Sagan</strong> <a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2011/01/17/carl-sagan-cosmos/">knew it</a>. <strong>Neil deGrasse Tyson</strong> <a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/03/06/neil-degrasse-dyson-space-chronicles-universe/">knows it</a>. We <a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2011/07/11/carl-sagan-space-shuttle-remix/">believe it</a>. And yet the future of space exploration is <a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/03/09/neil-degrasse-tyson-senate/">more precarious than ever</a>. From University of Oregon copywriter <a href="http://nicksugai.com/" target="_blank">Nickolaus Sugai</a> and interaction designer <a href="http://cargocollective.com/laurengeschke" target="_blank">Lauren Geschke</a> comes this poignant, poetic piece of video poetry, a kind of love letter to NASA posing a difficult question that we as a culture and a society must answer.</p>
<p><iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/40067920?byline=0&amp;portrait=0&amp;color=ffdb00" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen></iframe></p>
<blockquote><p>…because if we ignore the calls of the sky, who then will draw the maps of the universe?</p></blockquote>
<p>Visit <a href="http://pages.uoregon.edu/nsugai/Nasa%20Micro%20Site/" target="_blank">theskyiscalling.us</a> to tell Congress you want more of your taxpayer money diverted to space exploration. For a deeper look at the politics of the issue and just what&#8217;s at stake, see Neil deGrasse Tyson&#8217;s <a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/03/06/neil-degrasse-dyson-space-chronicles-universe/#spacechronicles"><em>Space Chronicles</em></a>.</p>
<p class="author" style="background: #f8f8f8;margin: 15px 0;padding: 10px 15px;color: #000;"><a target="_blank" href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/newsletter/"><img align="left" style="margin: 3px 7px 3px 0" src="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/themes/BrainPickings/images/email.png" alt="https://www.amazon.com/dp/0375869832/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=braipick-20&#038;camp=0&#038;creative=0&#038;linkCode=as4&#038;creativeASIN=0375869832&#038;adid=02YXM5MD2VFTBCC5WMM6&#038;" width="50" /></a>Brain Pickings has a free weekly newsletter and people <a target="_blank" href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/newsletter/">say it&#8217;s cool</a>. It comes out on Sundays and offers the week&#8217;s best articles. Here&#8217;s <a target="_blank" href="http://us2.campaign-archive1.com/?u=13eb080d8a315477042e0d5b1&#038;id=bc17357199&#038;e=b2dbad0745">what to expect</a>. Like? <a target="_blank" href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/newsletter/">Sign up.</a></p>
<div class="tweetmeme_button" style="float: right; margin-top: 10px; margin-left: 5px;">
			<a href="http://api.tweetmeme.com/share?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.brainpickings.org%2Findex.php%2F2012%2F04%2F25%2Fthe-sky-is-calling-us-nickolaus-sugai%2F"><br />
				<img src="http://api.tweetmeme.com/imagebutton.gif?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.brainpickings.org%2Findex.php%2F2012%2F04%2F25%2Fthe-sky-is-calling-us-nickolaus-sugai%2F&amp;source=brainpicker&amp;style=compact&amp;service=bit.ly&amp;service_api=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.j.mp%2Fv3%2Fshorten%3Flogin%3Dbrainpicker%26apiKey%3DR_1c3cc3da619e2391f246157a3c5cedae%26longUrl%3D%25%40%26format%3Dtxt&amp;b=2" height="61" width="50" /><br />
			</a>
		</div>
<p><em><strong>Brain Pickings takes 450+ hours a month to curate and edit across the different platforms, and remains banner-free. If it brings you any joy and inspiration, please consider a modest <a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/donate/" target="_blank">donation</a> – it lets me know I'm doing something right.</em></strong>

<a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/donate/" target="_blank"><img style="margin-left: 50px;" src="http://www.brainpickings.org/donate.png" /></a>

<a href="http://www.share.holstee.com/l/6/2669" target="_blank">
<img src="http://www.share.holstee.com/m/6" width="728" height="90" alt="Holstee" border="0"/></a>


</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/04/25/the-sky-is-calling-us-nickolaus-sugai/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Happy Birthday, Hubble: Celebrating 22 Years of Stunning Space Images</title>
		<link>http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/04/24/happy-birthday-hubble/</link>
		<comments>http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/04/24/happy-birthday-hubble/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 24 Apr 2012 11:30:20 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Maria Popova</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[culture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[photography]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[science]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[technology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[history]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[NASA]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.brainpickings.org/?p=18945</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[From black holes to star births, or what two decades of cosmic awe have to do with the future of space exploration.<p><em><strong>Brain Pickings takes 450+ hours a month to curate and edit across the different platforms, and remains banner-free. If it brings you any joy and inspiration, please consider a modest <a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/donate/" target="_blank">donation</a> – it lets me know I'm doing something right.</em></strong>

<a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/donate/" target="_blank"><img style="margin-left: 50px;" src="http://www.brainpickings.org/donate.png" /></a>

<a href="http://www.share.holstee.com/l/6/2669" target="_blank">
<img src="http://www.share.holstee.com/m/6" width="728" height="90" alt="Holstee" border="0"/></a>


</p>
]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p class="intro"><em>From black holes to star births, or what decades of cosmic awe have to do with the future of space exploration.</em></p>
<p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/1426208944/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=braipick-20&#038;camp=0&#038;creative=0&#038;linkCode=as4&#038;creativeASIN=1426208944&#038;adid=1ECW8M56DGH7DPYVGVFJ&#038;" target="_blank"><img align="right" style="margin: 9px 0 3px 15px;" src="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/hubble.jpg" width="205" /></a>It&#8217;s a bittersweet week for space exploration. On this day in 1990, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubble_Space_Telescope" target="_blank">Hubble Space Telescope</a> was carried into orbit by the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Discovery" target="_blank">Space Shuttle <em>Discovery</em></a>. <em>Discovery</em> has just rolled into its <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/04/pictures/120419-space-shuttle-discovery-nasa-smithsonian-arrives-museum/" target="_blank">&#8220;new home&#8221;</a> &#8212; a polite way to say it&#8217;s become space taxidermy &#8212; but Hubble&#8217;s legacy endures, having engendered some of the most spectacular space images humanity has ever glimpsed, and there&#8217;s hardly a better way to celebrate it than with <em>National Geographic&#8217;</em>s <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/1426208944/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=braipick-20&#038;camp=0&#038;creative=0&#038;linkCode=as4&#038;creativeASIN=1426208944&#038;adid=1ECW8M56DGH7DPYVGVFJ&#038;" target="_blank"><strong><em>Hubble: Imaging Space and Time</em></strong></a>, the most glorious collection of space images since Michael Benson&#8217;s <a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2010/01/11/michael-benson-far-out/"><em>Far Out</em></a>. With more than 120 breathtaking photographs that take us to the very edge of known space, contextualized in the Hubble&#8217;s history, the lavish tome looks back on two decades of the telescope&#8217;s service in orbit and sets the stage for its successor, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Webb_Space_Telescope" target="_blank">James Webb Space Telescope</a>, scheduled to launch in 2013.</p>
<p>From black holes to star births to giant galaxies cannibalizing smaller ones, the images capture the thriving ecosystem of the cosmos, with all its magnificent nebulae, dazzling stars, and majestic planets.</p>
<p>Here are some of my favorite Hubble gems of all time.</p>
<div class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 510px"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/1426208944/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=braipick-20&#038;camp=0&#038;creative=0&#038;linkCode=as4&#038;creativeASIN=1426208944&#038;adid=1ECW8M56DGH7DPYVGVFJ&#038;" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/catseyenebula.jpg" width="480" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">
<p><em>The Cat's Eye Nebula, one of the first planetary nebulae discovered, also has one of the most complex forms known to this kind of nebula. Eleven rings, or shells, of gas make up the Cat's Eye.</em></p>
<p></p></div>
<div class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 510px"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/1426208944/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=braipick-20&#038;camp=0&#038;creative=0&#038;linkCode=as4&#038;creativeASIN=1426208944&#038;adid=1ECW8M56DGH7DPYVGVFJ&#038;" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/crabnebula.jpg" width="480" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">
<p><em>The Crab Nebula is a supernova remnant, all that remains of a tremendous stellar explosion. Observers in China and Japan recorded the supernova nearly 1,000 years ago, in 1054.</em></p>
<p></p></div>
<div class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 510px"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/1426208944/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=braipick-20&#038;camp=0&#038;creative=0&#038;linkCode=as4&#038;creativeASIN=1426208944&#038;adid=1ECW8M56DGH7DPYVGVFJ&#038;" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/mars.jpg" width="480" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">
<p><em>Taken within minutes of Mars' closest approach to Earth in 60,000 years, on Aug. 27, 2003, this image captures the red planet some 34,647,420 miles from Earth.</em></p>
<p></p></div>
<div class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 510px"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/1426208944/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=braipick-20&#038;camp=0&#038;creative=0&#038;linkCode=as4&#038;creativeASIN=1426208944&#038;adid=1ECW8M56DGH7DPYVGVFJ&#038;" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/carinanebula.jpg" width="480" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">
<p><em>A mountain of dust and gas rising in the Carina Nebula. The top of a three-light-year tall pillar of cool hydrogen is being worn away by the radiation of nearby stars, while stars within the pillar unleash jets of gas that stream from the peaks.</em></p>
<p></p></div>
<div class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 510px"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/1426208944/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=braipick-20&#038;camp=0&#038;creative=0&#038;linkCode=as4&#038;creativeASIN=1426208944&#038;adid=1ECW8M56DGH7DPYVGVFJ&#038;" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/supernova.jpg" width="480" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">
<p><em>A ribbon of gas, a very thin section of a supernova remnant caused by a stellar explosion that occurred more than 1,000 years ago, floats in our galaxy. The supernova that created it was probably the brightest star ever seen by humans.</em></p>
<p></p></div>
<div class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 510px"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/1426208944/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=braipick-20&#038;camp=0&#038;creative=0&#038;linkCode=as4&#038;creativeASIN=1426208944&#038;adid=1ECW8M56DGH7DPYVGVFJ&#038;" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/saturnauroras.jpg" width="480" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">
<p><em>Saturn's dynamic auroras</em></p>
<p></p></div>
<div class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 510px"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/1426208944/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=braipick-20&#038;camp=0&#038;creative=0&#038;linkCode=as4&#038;creativeASIN=1426208944&#038;adid=1ECW8M56DGH7DPYVGVFJ&#038;" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/m51.jpg" width="480" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">
<p><em>Section of M51 with Progenitor Star</em></p>
<p></p></div>
<div class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 510px"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/1426208944/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=braipick-20&#038;camp=0&#038;creative=0&#038;linkCode=as4&#038;creativeASIN=1426208944&#038;adid=1ECW8M56DGH7DPYVGVFJ&#038;" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/saturn_UV.jpg" width="480" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">
<p><em>Saturn's rings in ultraviolet light</em></p>
<p></p></div>
<div class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 510px"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/1426208944/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=braipick-20&#038;camp=0&#038;creative=0&#038;linkCode=as4&#038;creativeASIN=1426208944&#038;adid=1ECW8M56DGH7DPYVGVFJ&#038;" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/tarantulanebula.jpg" width="480" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">
<p><em>The Tarantula Nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud</em></p>
<p></p></div>
<div class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 510px"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/1426208944/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=braipick-20&#038;camp=0&#038;creative=0&#038;linkCode=as4&#038;creativeASIN=1426208944&#038;adid=1ECW8M56DGH7DPYVGVFJ&#038;" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/starbirth.jpg" width="480" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">
<p><em>Star birth in Galaxy M83</em></p>
<p></p></div>
<div class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 510px"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/1426208944/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=braipick-20&#038;camp=0&#038;creative=0&#038;linkCode=as4&#038;creativeASIN=1426208944&#038;adid=1ECW8M56DGH7DPYVGVFJ&#038;" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/jupiter.jpg" width="480" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">
<p><em>New red spot appears on Jupiter</em></p>
<p></p></div>
<div class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 510px"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/1426208944/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=braipick-20&#038;camp=0&#038;creative=0&#038;linkCode=as4&#038;creativeASIN=1426208944&#038;adid=1ECW8M56DGH7DPYVGVFJ&#038;" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/starforming.jpg" width="480" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">
<p><em>Hubble/Subaru Composite image of star-forming region S106</em></p>
<p></p></div>
<div class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 510px"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/1426208944/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=braipick-20&#038;camp=0&#038;creative=0&#038;linkCode=as4&#038;creativeASIN=1426208944&#038;adid=1ECW8M56DGH7DPYVGVFJ&#038;" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/spiral.jpg" width="480" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">
<p><em>Face-on Spiral Galaxy NGC 3982</em></p>
<p></p></div>
<div class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 510px"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/1426208944/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=braipick-20&#038;camp=0&#038;creative=0&#038;linkCode=as4&#038;creativeASIN=1426208944&#038;adid=1ECW8M56DGH7DPYVGVFJ&#038;" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/eggnebula.jpg" width="480" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">
<p><em>The Egg Nebula</em></p>
<p></p></div>
<div class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 510px"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/1426208944/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=braipick-20&#038;camp=0&#038;creative=0&#038;linkCode=as4&#038;creativeASIN=1426208944&#038;adid=1ECW8M56DGH7DPYVGVFJ&#038;" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/saturn2.jpg" width="480" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">
<p><em>Saturn with rings tilted towards the Earth</em></p>
<p></p></div>
<p>At a time when <a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/03/09/neil-degrasse-tyson-senate/">the future of space exploration is hanging by a thread</a>, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/1426208944/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=braipick-20&#038;camp=0&#038;creative=0&#038;linkCode=as4&#038;creativeASIN=1426208944&#038;adid=1ECW8M56DGH7DPYVGVFJ&#038;" target="_blank"><strong><em>Hubble: Imaging Space and Time</em></strong></a> is a magnificent living manifesto for just what&#8217;s at stake.</p>
<p class="via"><em>Images courtesy of <a href="http://hubblesite.org/gallery/album/" target="_blank">NASA</a></em></p>
<p class="author" style="background: #f8f8f8;margin: 15px 0;padding: 10px 15px;color: #000;"><a target="_blank" href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/newsletter/"><img align="left" style="margin: 3px 7px 3px 0" src="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/themes/BrainPickings/images/email.png" alt="" width="50" /></a>Brain Pickings has a free weekly newsletter and people <a target="_blank" href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/newsletter/">say it&#8217;s cool</a>. It comes out on Sundays and offers the week&#8217;s best articles. Here&#8217;s <a target="_blank" href="http://us2.campaign-archive2.com/?u=13eb080d8a315477042e0d5b1&#038;id=41f88a3ce2&#038;e=b2dbad0745">what to expect</a>. Like? <a target="_blank" href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/newsletter/">Sign up.</a></p>
<div class="tweetmeme_button" style="float: right; margin-top: 10px; margin-left: 5px;">
			<a href="http://api.tweetmeme.com/share?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.brainpickings.org%2Findex.php%2F2012%2F04%2F24%2Fhappy-birthday-hubble%2F"><br />
				<img src="http://api.tweetmeme.com/imagebutton.gif?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.brainpickings.org%2Findex.php%2F2012%2F04%2F24%2Fhappy-birthday-hubble%2F&amp;source=brainpicker&amp;style=compact&amp;service=bit.ly&amp;service_api=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.j.mp%2Fv3%2Fshorten%3Flogin%3Dbrainpicker%26apiKey%3DR_1c3cc3da619e2391f246157a3c5cedae%26longUrl%3D%25%40%26format%3Dtxt&amp;b=2" height="61" width="50" /><br />
			</a>
		</div>
<p><em><strong>Brain Pickings takes 450+ hours a month to curate and edit across the different platforms, and remains banner-free. If it brings you any joy and inspiration, please consider a modest <a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/donate/" target="_blank">donation</a> – it lets me know I'm doing something right.</em></strong>

<a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/donate/" target="_blank"><img style="margin-left: 50px;" src="http://www.brainpickings.org/donate.png" /></a>

<a href="http://www.share.holstee.com/l/6/2669" target="_blank">
<img src="http://www.share.holstee.com/m/6" width="728" height="90" alt="Holstee" border="0"/></a>


</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/04/24/happy-birthday-hubble/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>It Started with Muybridge: Vintage Short Film by the U.S. Department of Defense, 1965</title>
		<link>http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/04/11/it-started-with-muybridge-1965/</link>
		<comments>http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/04/11/it-started-with-muybridge-1965/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 11 Apr 2012 11:30:05 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Maria Popova</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[culture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[film]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[photography]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[PICKED]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[science]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[technology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[documentary]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[history]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[public domain]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[vintage]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.brainpickings.org/?p=18709</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[What galloping horses have to do with nuclear reactors and supersonic missiles.<p><em><strong>Brain Pickings takes 450+ hours a month to curate and edit across the different platforms, and remains banner-free. If it brings you any joy and inspiration, please consider a modest <a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/donate/" target="_blank">donation</a> – it lets me know I'm doing something right.</em></strong>

<a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/donate/" target="_blank"><img style="margin-left: 50px;" src="http://www.brainpickings.org/donate.png" /></a>

<a href="http://www.share.holstee.com/l/6/2669" target="_blank">
<img src="http://www.share.holstee.com/m/6" width="728" height="90" alt="Holstee" border="0"/></a>


</p>
]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p class="intro"><em>What galloping horses have to do with nuclear reactors and supersonic missiles.</em></p>
<p><img align="right" style="margin: 9px 0 3px 15px;" src="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/itstartedwithmuybridge.jpg" width="240" />This week marked the 182nd birthday of photographer <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eadweard_Muybridge" target="_blank">Eadweard Muybridge</a>, who conducted some of the earliest experiments in <a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2011/05/13/etienne-jules-marey/">chronophotography</a> and whose locomotion studies <a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2011/07/05/animation-pioneers/#muybridge">shaped early animation</a>. In 1965, more than half a century after Muybridge passed away, the U.S. Department of Defense commissioned <a href="http://archive.org/details/gov.dod.dimoc.25029" target="_blank"><strong><em>It Started with Muybridge</em></strong></a> &#8212; a fascinating short documentary, currently in the public domain, tracing how Muybridge&#8217;s motion studies contributed to the science and technology of the Atomic Age, from testing the safety limits of nuclear reactors to measuring the speed of supersonic missiles.</p>
<p><iframe width="500" height="369" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/WQRmjU6EbRk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>Towards the beginning of the film is also a fine addition to this omnibus of famous <a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/04/06/what-is-science/">definitions of science</a>:</p>
<blockquote><p>Discovery begins with observation. The scientist studies forms, movement, patterns &#8212; the commonplace with the unusual.</p></blockquote>
<p>For some ownable Muybridge, see <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/3836509415/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=braipick-20&#038;camp=213381&#038;creative=390973&#038;linkCode=as4&#038;creativeASIN=3836509415&#038;adid=1YTNA80HC8RS9HP5MM4H&#038;" target="_blank"><em>Eadweard Muybridge: The Human and Animal Locomotion Photographs</em></a> and grab a print of his most iconic work from <a href="http://www.20x200.com/artist/231-eadweard-muybridge" target="_blank">20&#215;200</a>.</p>
<p class="via"><em><a href="http://www.curatorscode.org" target="_blank" style="font-family:sans-serif;text-decoration:none;">&#x21ac;</a> <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/video/archive/2012/04/it-started-with-muybridge-1965/255620/" target="_blank">The Atlantic</a></em></p>
<p class="author" style="background: #f8f8f8;margin: 15px 0;padding: 10px 15px;color: #000;"><a target="_blank" href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/newsletter/"><img align="left" style="margin: 3px 7px 3px 0" src="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/themes/BrainPickings/images/email.png" alt="" width="50" /></a>Brain Pickings has a free weekly newsletter and people <a target="_blank" href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/newsletter/">say it&#8217;s cool</a>. It comes out on Sundays and offers the week&#8217;s best articles. Here&#8217;s <a target="_blank" href="http://us2.campaign-archive2.com/?u=13eb080d8a315477042e0d5b1&#038;id=41f88a3ce2&#038;e=b2dbad0745">what to expect</a>. Like? <a target="_blank" href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/newsletter/">Sign up.</a></p>
<div class="tweetmeme_button" style="float: right; margin-top: 10px; margin-left: 5px;">
			<a href="http://api.tweetmeme.com/share?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.brainpickings.org%2Findex.php%2F2012%2F04%2F11%2Fit-started-with-muybridge-1965%2F"><br />
				<img src="http://api.tweetmeme.com/imagebutton.gif?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.brainpickings.org%2Findex.php%2F2012%2F04%2F11%2Fit-started-with-muybridge-1965%2F&amp;source=brainpicker&amp;style=compact&amp;service=bit.ly&amp;service_api=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.j.mp%2Fv3%2Fshorten%3Flogin%3Dbrainpicker%26apiKey%3DR_1c3cc3da619e2391f246157a3c5cedae%26longUrl%3D%25%40%26format%3Dtxt&amp;b=2" height="61" width="50" /><br />
			</a>
		</div>
<p><em><strong>Brain Pickings takes 450+ hours a month to curate and edit across the different platforms, and remains banner-free. If it brings you any joy and inspiration, please consider a modest <a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/donate/" target="_blank">donation</a> – it lets me know I'm doing something right.</em></strong>

<a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/donate/" target="_blank"><img style="margin-left: 50px;" src="http://www.brainpickings.org/donate.png" /></a>

<a href="http://www.share.holstee.com/l/6/2669" target="_blank">
<img src="http://www.share.holstee.com/m/6" width="728" height="90" alt="Holstee" border="0"/></a>


</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/04/11/it-started-with-muybridge-1965/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>How Ignorance Fuels Science and the Evolution of Knowledge</title>
		<link>http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/04/02/stuart-firestein-ignorance-science/</link>
		<comments>http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/04/02/stuart-firestein-ignorance-science/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 02 Apr 2012 13:00:46 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Maria Popova</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[culture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[science]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[technology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[books]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[innovation]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.brainpickings.org/?p=18521</guid>
		<description><![CDATA["We judge the value of science by the ignorance it defines."<p><em><strong>Brain Pickings takes 450+ hours a month to curate and edit across the different platforms, and remains banner-free. If it brings you any joy and inspiration, please consider a modest <a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/donate/" target="_blank">donation</a> – it lets me know I'm doing something right.</em></strong>

<a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/donate/" target="_blank"><img style="margin-left: 50px;" src="http://www.brainpickings.org/donate.png" /></a>

<a href="http://www.share.holstee.com/l/6/2669" target="_blank">
<img src="http://www.share.holstee.com/m/6" width="728" height="90" alt="Holstee" border="0"/></a>


</p>
]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p class="intro"><em>&#8220;We judge the value of science by the ignorance it defines.&#8221;</em></p>
<p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/0199828075/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=braipick-20&#038;camp=0&#038;creative=0&#038;linkCode=as4&#038;creativeASIN=0199828075&#038;adid=15Z644DVWS80ST0CHZE4&#038;" target="_blank"><img align="right" style="margin: 9px 0 3px 15px;" src="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/ignorance.jpg" alt="" width="190" /></a>&#8220;Science is always wrong,&#8221; <strong>George Bernard Shaw</strong> famously proclaimed in a toast to <a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/03/19/einstein-on-kindness/">Albert Einstein</a>. &#8220;It never solves a problem without creating 10 more.&#8221;</p>
<p>In the fifth century BC, long before science as we know it existed, <strong>Socrates</strong>, the very first philosopher, famously observed, &#8220;I know one thing, that I know nothing.&#8221; Some 21 centuries later, while inventing calculus in 1687, <strong>Sir Isaac Newton</strong> likely knew all there was to know in science at the time &#8212; a time when it was possible for a single human brain to hold all of mankind&#8217;s scientific knowledge. Fast-forward 40 generations to today, and the average high school student has more scientific knowledge than Newton did at the end of his life. But somewhere along that superhighway of progress, we seem to have developed a kind of fact-fetishism that shackles us to the allure of the known and makes us indifferent to the unknown knowable. Yet it&#8217;s the latter &#8212; the <a href="http://exp.lore.com/post/19687508854/ted-curator-chris-anderson-shares-some-fascinating" target="_blank">unanswered questions</a> &#8212; that makes science, and life, interesting. That&#8217;s the eloquently argued case at the heart of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/0199828075/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=braipick-20&#038;camp=0&#038;creative=0&#038;linkCode=as4&#038;creativeASIN=0199828075&#038;adid=15Z644DVWS80ST0CHZE4&#038;" target="_blank"><strong><em>Ignorance: How It Drives Science</em></strong></a>, in which <strong>Stuart Firestein</strong> sets out to debunk the popular idea that knowledge follows ignorance, demonstrating instead that it&#8217;s the other way around and, in the process, laying out a powerful manifesto for getting the public engaged with science &#8212; a public to whom, as <a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/03/09/neil-degrasse-tyson-senate/">Neil deGrasse Tyson recently reminded Senate</a>, the government is accountable in making the very decisions that shape the course of science.</p>
<p>The tools and currencies of our information economy, Firestein points out, are doing little in the way of fostering the kind of question-literacy essential to cultivating curiosity:</p>
<blockquote><p>Are we too enthralled with the answers these days? Are we afraid of questions, especially those that linger too long? We seem to have come to a phase in civilization marked by a voracious appetite for knowledge, in which the growth of information is exponential and, perhaps more important, its availability easier and faster than ever.*</p></blockquote>
<p>(For a promise of a solution, see Clay Johnson&#8217;s excellent <a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/01/19/the-information-diet-clay-johnson/"><em>The Information Diet</em></a>.)</p>
<p>The cult of expertise &#8212; whose currency are static answers &#8212; obscures the very capacity for cultivating a thirst for ignorance:</p>
<blockquote><p>There are a lot of facts to be known in order to be a professional anything &#8212; lawyer, doctor, engineer, accountant, teacher. But with science there is one important difference. The facts serve mainly to access the ignorance… Scientists don&#8217;t concentrate on what they know, which is considerable but minuscule, but rather on what they don&#8217;t know…. Science traffics in ignorance, cultivates it, and is driven by it. Mucking about in the unknown is an adventure; doing it for a living is something most scientists consider a privilege.</p>
<p>[…]</p>
<p>Working scientists don&#8217;t get bogged down in the factual swamp because they don&#8217;t care all that much for facts. It&#8217;s not that they discount or ignore them, but rather that they don&#8217;t see them as an end in themselves. They don&#8217;t stop at the facts; they begin there, right beyond the facts, where the facts run out. Facts are selected, by a process that is a kind of controlled neglect, for the questions they create, for the ignorance they point to.</p></blockquote>
<p><img src="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/curie.jpg" alt="" width="500" /></p>
<p>Firestein, who chairs the Department of Biological Sciences at Columbia University, stresses that beyond simply accumulating facts, scientists use them as raw material, not finished product. He cautions:</p>
<blockquote><p>Understanding the raw material for the product is a subtle error but one that can have surprisingly far-reaching consequences. Understanding this error and its ramifications, and setting it straight, is crucial to understanding science.</p></blockquote>
<p>What emerges is an elegant definition of science:</p>
<blockquote><p>Real science is a revision in progress, always. It proceeds in fits and starts of ignorance.</p></blockquote>
<p>(What is true of science is actually also true of all creativity: As <strong>Jonah Lehrer</strong> puts it <a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/03/20/jonah-lehrer-imagine-how-creativity-works/">&#8220;The only way to be creative over time — to not be undone by our expertise — is to experiment with ignorance, to stare at things we don’t fully understand.&#8221;</a> <strong>Einstein</strong> knew that, too, when he noted that without a preoccupation with <a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/03/19/einstein-on-kindness/">&#8220;the eternally unattainable in the field of art and scientific research, life would have seemed… empty.&#8221;</a> And <strong>Kathryn Schulz</strong> touched on it with her meditation on <a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/02/14/this-will-make-you-smarter-brockman-edge-question/#schulz">pessimistic meta-induction</a>.)</p>
<p><a name="keats" title="keats"></a>In highlighting this commonality science holds with other domains of creative and intellectual labor, Firestein turns to the poet <strong>John Keats</strong>, who described the ideal state of the literary psyche as <em>Negative Capability</em> &#8212; &#8220;that is when a man is capable of being in uncertainties, Mysteries, doubts without any irritable teaching after fact &#038; reason.&#8221; Firestine translates this to science:</p>
<blockquote><p>Being a scientist requires having faith in uncertainty, finding pleasure in mystery, and learning to cultivate doubt. There is no surer way to screw up an experiment than to be certain of its outcome.</p></blockquote>
<p><img src="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/science1.jpg" alt="" width="500" /></p>
<p>He captures the heart of this argument in an eloquent metaphor:</p>
<blockquote><p>Science, then, is not like the onion in the often used analogy of stripping away layer after layer to get at some core, central, fundamental truth. Rather it&#8217;s like the magic well: no matter how many buckets of water you remove, there&#8217;s always another one to be had. Or even better, it&#8217;s like the widening ripples on the surface of a pond, the ever larger circumference in touch with more and more of what&#8217;s outside the circle, the unknown. This growing forefront is where science occurs… It is a mistake to bob around in the circle of facts instead of riding the wave to the great expanse lying outside the circle.</p></blockquote>
<p>However, more important than the limits of our knowledge, Firestein is careful to point out, are the limits to our ignorance. (Cue in Errol Morris&#8217;s fantastic 2010 five-part <em>New York Times</em> series, <a href="http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/tag/anosognosics-dilemma/" target="_blank"><em>The Anosognosic&#8217;s Dilemma</em></a>.) Science historian and Stanford professor <strong>Robert Proctor</strong> has even coined a term for the study of ignorance &#8212; <em>agnotology</em> &#8212; and, Firestein argues, it is a conduit to better understanding progress.</p>
<p>Science historian and philosopher <strong>Nicholas Rescher</strong> has offered a different term for a similar concept: <em>Copernican cognitivism</em>, suggesting that just like Copernicus showed us there was nothing privileged about our position in space by debunking the geocentric model of the universe, there is also nothing privileged about our cognitive landscape.</p>
<p>But the most memorable articulation of the limits of our own ignorance comes from the Victorian novella <a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2011/01/20/vi-hart-flatland-on-a-mobius-strip/"><em>Flatland</em></a>, where a three-dimensional sphere shows up in a two-dimensional land and inadvertently wreaks havoc on its geometric inhabitants&#8217; most basic beliefs about the world as they struggle to imagine the very possibility of a third dimension.</p>
<p><img src="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/genedavis.jpg" alt="" width="500" /></p>
<p>An engagement with the interplay of ignorance and knowledge, the essential bargaining chips of science, is what elevated modern civilization from the intellectual flatness of the Middle Ages. Firestein points out that &#8220;the public&#8217;s direct experience of the empirical methods of science&#8221; helped humanity evolve from the magical and mystical thinking of Western medieval thought to the rational discourse of contemporary culture.</p></blockquote>
<p>At the same time, Firestein laments, science today is often &#8220;as inaccessible to the public as if it were written in classical Latin.&#8221; Making it more accessible, he argues, necessitates introducing explanations of science that focus on the unknown as an entry point &#8212; a more inclusive gateway than the known.</p>
<p>In one of the most compelling passages of the book, he broadens this insistence on questions over answers to the scientific establishment itself:</p>
<blockquote><p>Perhaps the most important application of ignorance is in the sphere of education, particularly of scientists… We must ask ourselves how we should educate scientists in the age of Google and whatever will supersede it… The business model of our Universities, in place now for nearly a thousand years, will need to be revised.</p>
<p>[…]</p>
<p>Instead of a system where the collection of facts is an end, where knowledge is equated with accumulation, where ignorance is rarely discussed, we will have to provide the Wiki-raised student with a taste of and for boundaries, the edge of the widening circle of ignorance, how the data, which are not unimportant, frames the unknown. We must teach students how to think in questions, how to manage ignorance. W. B. Yeats admonished that &#8216;education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.&#8217;</p></blockquote>
<p>(For a taste of what modern science education can and should be like beyond the academy, see Joe Hanson&#8217;s <a href="http://www.itsokaytobesmart.com/" target="_blank"><em>It&#8217;s Okay To Be Smart</em></a>, Ed Yong&#8217;s <a href="http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/" target="_blank"><em>Not Exactly Rocket Science</em></a>, and Bora Zivkovic&#8217;s <a href="http://twitter.com/boraz" target="_blank">Twitter feed</a>.)</p>
<p><img src="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/science2.jpg" alt="" width="500" /></p>
<p>Firestein sums it up beautifully:</p>
<blockquote><p>Science produces ignorance, and ignorance fuels science. We have a quality scale for ignorance. We judge the value of science by the ignorance it defines. Ignorance can be big or small, tractable or challenging. Ignorance can be thought about in detail. Success in science, either doing it or understanding it, depends on developing comfort with the ignorance, something akin to Keats&#8217; <a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/04/02/stuart-firestein-ignorance-science/#keats">negative capability</a>.</p></blockquote>
<p class="via">* See some thoughts on <a href="http://www.niemanlab.org/2011/08/accessibility-vs-access-how-the-rhetoric-of-rare-is-changing-in-the-age-of-information-abundance/" target="_blank">the difference between access and accessibility</a>.</p>
<p class="via"><em><a href="http://www.curatorscode.org" target="_blank" style="font-family:sans-serif;text-decoration:none;">&#x21ac;</a> <a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=what-science-wants-to-kno" target="_blank">Scientific American</a></em></p>
<p class="author" style="background: #f8f8f8;margin: 15px 0;padding: 10px 15px;color: #000;"><a target="_blank" href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/newsletter/"><img align="left" style="margin: 3px 7px 3px 0" src="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/themes/BrainPickings/images/email.png" alt="" width="50" /></a>Brain Pickings has a free weekly newsletter and people <a target="_blank" href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/newsletter/">say it&#8217;s cool</a>. It comes out on Sundays and offers the week&#8217;s best articles. Here&#8217;s <a target="_blank" href="http://us2.campaign-archive2.com/?u=13eb080d8a315477042e0d5b1&#038;id=41f88a3ce2&#038;e=b2dbad0745">what to expect</a>. Like? <a target="_blank" href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/newsletter/">Sign up.</a></p>
<div class="tweetmeme_button" style="float: right; margin-top: 10px; margin-left: 5px;">
			<a href="http://api.tweetmeme.com/share?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.brainpickings.org%2Findex.php%2F2012%2F04%2F02%2Fstuart-firestein-ignorance-science%2F"><br />
				<img src="http://api.tweetmeme.com/imagebutton.gif?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.brainpickings.org%2Findex.php%2F2012%2F04%2F02%2Fstuart-firestein-ignorance-science%2F&amp;source=brainpicker&amp;style=compact&amp;service=bit.ly&amp;service_api=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.j.mp%2Fv3%2Fshorten%3Flogin%3Dbrainpicker%26apiKey%3DR_1c3cc3da619e2391f246157a3c5cedae%26longUrl%3D%25%40%26format%3Dtxt&amp;b=2" height="61" width="50" /><br />
			</a>
		</div>
<p><em><strong>Brain Pickings takes 450+ hours a month to curate and edit across the different platforms, and remains banner-free. If it brings you any joy and inspiration, please consider a modest <a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/donate/" target="_blank">donation</a> – it lets me know I'm doing something right.</em></strong>

<a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/donate/" target="_blank"><img style="margin-left: 50px;" src="http://www.brainpickings.org/donate.png" /></a>

<a href="http://www.share.holstee.com/l/6/2669" target="_blank">
<img src="http://www.share.holstee.com/m/6" width="728" height="90" alt="Holstee" border="0"/></a>


</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/04/02/stuart-firestein-ignorance-science/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>The Idea Factory: Insights on Creativity from Bell Labs and the Golden Age of Innovation</title>
		<link>http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/03/28/the-idea-factory-bell-labs/</link>
		<comments>http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/03/28/the-idea-factory-bell-labs/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 28 Mar 2012 12:00:36 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Michelle Legro</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[culture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[technology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[books]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[creativity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[history]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[innovation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[science]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.brainpickings.org/?p=18450</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Successful innovation requires the meeting of the right people at the right place with just the right problem.<p><em><strong>Brain Pickings takes 450+ hours a month to curate and edit across the different platforms, and remains banner-free. If it brings you any joy and inspiration, please consider a modest <a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/donate/" target="_blank">donation</a> – it lets me know I'm doing something right.</em></strong>

<a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/donate/" target="_blank"><img style="margin-left: 50px;" src="http://www.brainpickings.org/donate.png" /></a>

<a href="http://www.share.holstee.com/l/6/2669" target="_blank">
<img src="http://www.share.holstee.com/m/6" width="728" height="90" alt="Holstee" border="0"/></a>


</p>
]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p class="intro"><em>Successful innovation requires the meeting of the right people at the right place with just the right problem.</em></p>
<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/1594203288/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=mlegro-20&#038;camp=0&#038;creative=0&#038;linkCode=as4&#038;creativeASIN=1594203288&#038;adid=0MXHAGRTBEFBC8FYBYE5" target="_blank"><img align="right" style="margin: 9px 0 3px 15px;" src="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/IdeaFactoryCover.jpg" width="190" /></a>At the turn of the twentieth century, <a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2011/02/11/edison-the-invention-of-movies-1891-1918/">Thomas Edison</a> was the most famous inventor in the world. He hoarded useful materials, from rare metals to animal bones, and through careful, methodical testing, he made his new inventions work, and previous inventions work better. Churning out patent after patent, Edison&#8217;s particular form of innovation was about the <em>what</em>, and not about the <em>how</em> &#8212; the latter he could outsource and hire for.</p>
<p>&#8220;In 1910, few Americans knew the difference between a scientist, an engineer, and an inventor&#8221; explains <strong>Jon Gertner</strong> at the beginning of his lively book about a place that fostered a home for all three, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/1594203288/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=mlegro-20&#038;camp=0&#038;creative=0&#038;linkCode=as4&#038;creativeASIN=1594203288&#038;adid=0MXHAGRTBEFBC8FYBYE5"><strong><em>The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation</em></strong></a>. The difference was clear to Edison, who was generally disinterested in the theory behind his inventions, filling his Menlo Park complex with specialists to do the work he&#8217;d rather not. &#8220;I can always hire mathematicians,&#8221; he said, &#8220;but they can&#8217;t hire me.&#8221;</p>
<div class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 510px"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/0226520811/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=braipick-20&#038;camp=0&#038;creative=0&#038;linkCode=as4&#038;creativeASIN=0226520811&#038;adid=1QB4PKRK18TJCNJH5GX6&#038;" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/menlopark.jpg" width="480" /></a></p>
<p><p class="wp-caption-text">
<p><em>At Menlo Park, Edison hired scientists to do the theoretical work so that he could concentrate on testing his inventions.</em></p>
<p></p></div>
<p>To be an inventor, Gertner insists, one needed &#8220;mainly mechanical skill and ingenuity, not scientific knowledge and training.&#8221; (Qualities that the ingenious <strong>Hedy Lamarr</strong> had alongside her mechanical partner George Antheil, an unlikely artistic pair who <a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2011/12/08/hedys-folly/">invented an essential frequency-hopping radio signal</a> during World War II that later gave us technologies like Bluetooth and wifi.) For more than sixty years, from the 1920s to the 1980s, Bell Labs would bring together all of the above to create essential inventions of the twentieth century: the transistor, radar, the laser, communication satellites, UNIX, and the C++ programming language.</p>
<div class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 510px"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/0226520811/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=braipick-20&#038;camp=0&#038;creative=0&#038;linkCode=as4&#038;creativeASIN=0226520811&#038;adid=1QB4PKRK18TJCNJH5GX6&#038;" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/radioboys.jpg" width="480" /></a></p>
<p><p class="wp-caption-text">
<p><em>Adventure stories about 'wireless boys' and 'radio boys' were popular around the turn of the century.</em></p>
<p></p></div>
<p>It was the child-tinkerers during the first decades of the century who would populate Bell Labs during its explosive growth in the 30s and 40s. Adventure books recounted tales of &#8220;Wireless Boys&#8221; (or &#8220;Radio Boys&#8221;) who solved dastardly crimes and helped those in need, all by building their own wireless telegraphs at home. &#8220;Wireless is a thrilling pastime!,&#8221; <a href="http://www.laphamsquarterly.org/voices-in-time/turn-on-tune-in.php?page=all" target="_blank">exclaims</a> the author of one of these books:</p>
<blockquote><p>To be a wireless boy and make your own apparatus is to have the kind of stuff in you of which successful men are made &#8212; men who, if they were shipwrecked on a desert isle at daybreak, would have something to eat by noon, a spring bed to sleep on by night and a wireless station the next day sending out an SOS to ships below the horizon, for help.</p></blockquote>
<p>Around this time, Alexander Graham Bell&#8217;s American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&#038;T) had a massive, government-sanctioned monopoly on all telephone subscriptions, buying regional phone companies, single-handedly manufacturing all of the parts for all of the cables, switches, repeaters, and vacuum-tubes. AT&#038;T made the phones work, it made the parts that made the phones work, and it hired scientists and engineers to make the phones work better. During the 1920s, this third arm is what became Bell Labs.</p>
<div class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 510px"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/0226520811/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=braipick-20&#038;camp=0&#038;creative=0&#038;linkCode=as4&#038;creativeASIN=0226520811&#038;adid=1QB4PKRK18TJCNJH5GX6&#038;" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/satellite.jpg" width="480" /></a></p>
<p><p class="wp-caption-text">
<p><em>Tesla I communications satellite for television signals and space data, 1962. (Alcatel-Lucent USA Inc. and the AT&#038;T Archives and History Center)</em></p>
<p></p></div>
<p>In the beginning, Bell Labs was populated with grown-up wireless boys &#8212; physics, engineering, and chemistry grad students and junior professors seduced away from colleges with astronomically better pay. The new recruits were required to climb telephone poles, operate a switchboard, and sign a paper that sold all rights to any future patents to AT&#038;T for a dollar.</p>
<div class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 510px"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/0226520811/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=braipick-20&#038;camp=0&#038;creative=0&#038;linkCode=as4&#038;creativeASIN=0226520811&#038;adid=1QB4PKRK18TJCNJH5GX6&#038;" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/picturephone.jpg" width="480" /></a></p>
<p><p class="wp-caption-text">
<p><em>The Picturephone, from the 1964 New York World's Fair (AT&#038;T Archives and History Center)</em></p>
<p></p></div>
<p>Bell Labs was a place for discovery, which wasn&#8217;t always profitable, and invention, which usually was. During World War II, the US government invested $2 billion into the development of the atomic bomb, but they invested around $3 billion in the development of radar, much of which took place at Bell Labs. (&#8220;Scientists who worked on radar often quipped that radar won the war,&#8221; Gertner writes, &#8221; whereas the atomic bomb merely ended it.&#8221;)</p>
<div class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 510px"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/0226520811/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=braipick-20&#038;camp=0&#038;creative=0&#038;linkCode=as4&#038;creativeASIN=0226520811&#038;adid=1QB4PKRK18TJCNJH5GX6&#038;" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/saarinen.jpg" width="480" /></a></p>
<p><p class="wp-caption-text">
<p><em>In 1961, Bell Labs moved to a campus designed by Eero Saarinen. It was sold by the company in 2006.</em></p>
<p></p></div>
<p>During the post-war reorganization of the Labs, older management was demoted, younger management given new titles, and, most importantly, every research group was interdisciplinary: chemists mingled with physicists who chatted with metallurgists who lunched with engineers. Every building in the New Jersey campus was interconnected and no one was allowed to shut their door. This was the beginning of a newly innovative time, but not the same &#8220;genius&#8221;-driven <em>Eureka!</em> moments that seemingly characterized the work of Edison. Gertner writes:</p>
<blockquote><p>At the start, forces that precede an invention merely begin to align, often imperceptibly, as a group of people and ideas converge, until over the course of months or years (or decades) they gain clarity and momentum and the help of additional ideas and actors. Luck seems to matter, and so does timing, for it tends to be the case that the right answers, the right people, the right place &#8212; perhaps all three &#8212; require a serendipitous encounter with the right problem. And then &#8212; sometimes &#8212; a leap. Only in retrospect do leaps look obvious.</p></blockquote>
<p>(&#8220;Chance favors the connected mind,&#8221; <a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2010/09/23/steven-johnson-where-good-ideas-come-from/">Steven Johnson famously observed</a> in his own exploration of how innovation happens.)</p>
<p>The story of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/1594203288/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=mlegro-20&#038;camp=0&#038;creative=0&#038;linkCode=as4&#038;creativeASIN=1594203288&#038;adid=0MXHAGRTBEFBC8FYBYE5"><strong><em>The Idea Factory</em></strong></a> is one of individuals, architecture, millions of tiny moving parts, deliberate work, and, of course, luck and timing. It was a <a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/03/20/jonah-lehrer-imagine-how-creativity-works/">culture of creativity</a> that worked for its age, impossible to reproduce in quite the same way, nor would we want to. Today, we might subscribe to the philosophy that <a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2011/10/20/i-steve-steve-jobs-in-his-own-words/#creativity">&#8220;creativity is just connecting things,&#8221;</a> as Steve Jobs once said about his own idea factory, but first someone has to test, apply, develop, and manufacture all of those connectors.</p>
<p class="author"><img align="left" style="margin-right: 15px" src="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/themes/brainpickings_p2h/images/michellelegro.png" alt="" width="50" /><strong>Michelle Legro</strong></em> is an associate editor at <a target="_blank" href="http://www.laphamsquarterly.org/" target="_blank">Lapham&#8217;s Quarterly</a>. You can find her on <a target="_blank" href="http://twitter.com/michellelegro" target="_blank">Twitter</a>.</p>
<p class="author" style="background: #f8f8f8;margin: 15px 0;padding: 10px 15px;color: #000;"><a target="_blank" href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/newsletter/"><img align="left" style="margin: 3px 7px 3px 0" src="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/themes/BrainPickings/images/email.png" alt="" width="50" /></a>Brain Pickings has a free weekly newsletter and people <a target="_blank" href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/newsletter/">say it&#8217;s cool</a>. It comes out on Sundays and offers the week&#8217;s best articles. Here&#8217;s <a target="_blank" href="http://us2.campaign-archive2.com/?u=13eb080d8a315477042e0d5b1&#038;id=41f88a3ce2&#038;e=b2dbad0745">what to expect</a>. Like? <a target="_blank" href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/newsletter/">Sign up.</a></p>
<div class="tweetmeme_button" style="float: right; margin-top: 10px; margin-left: 5px;">
			<a href="http://api.tweetmeme.com/share?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.brainpickings.org%2Findex.php%2F2012%2F03%2F28%2Fthe-idea-factory-bell-labs%2F"><br />
				<img src="http://api.tweetmeme.com/imagebutton.gif?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.brainpickings.org%2Findex.php%2F2012%2F03%2F28%2Fthe-idea-factory-bell-labs%2F&amp;source=brainpicker&amp;style=compact&amp;service=bit.ly&amp;service_api=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.j.mp%2Fv3%2Fshorten%3Flogin%3Dbrainpicker%26apiKey%3DR_1c3cc3da619e2391f246157a3c5cedae%26longUrl%3D%25%40%26format%3Dtxt&amp;b=2" height="61" width="50" /><br />
			</a>
		</div>
<p><em><strong>Brain Pickings takes 450+ hours a month to curate and edit across the different platforms, and remains banner-free. If it brings you any joy and inspiration, please consider a modest <a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/donate/" target="_blank">donation</a> – it lets me know I'm doing something right.</em></strong>

<a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/donate/" target="_blank"><img style="margin-left: 50px;" src="http://www.brainpickings.org/donate.png" /></a>

<a href="http://www.share.holstee.com/l/6/2669" target="_blank">
<img src="http://www.share.holstee.com/m/6" width="728" height="90" alt="Holstee" border="0"/></a>


</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/03/28/the-idea-factory-bell-labs/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>PBS Off Book: Art in the Age of the Internet</title>
		<link>http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/03/23/pbs-off-book-art-in-the-age-of-the-internet/</link>
		<comments>http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/03/23/pbs-off-book-art-in-the-age-of-the-internet/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 23 Mar 2012 12:00:33 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Maria Popova</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[art]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[culture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[design]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[film]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social web]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[technology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[PBS Off Book]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.brainpickings.org/?p=18399</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[How the digital age is changing the rhetoric and regimes of creative expression.<p><em><strong>Brain Pickings takes 450+ hours a month to curate and edit across the different platforms, and remains banner-free. If it brings you any joy and inspiration, please consider a modest <a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/donate/" target="_blank">donation</a> – it lets me know I'm doing something right.</em></strong>

<a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/donate/" target="_blank"><img style="margin-left: 50px;" src="http://www.brainpickings.org/donate.png" /></a>

<a href="http://www.share.holstee.com/l/6/2669" target="_blank">
<img src="http://www.share.holstee.com/m/6" width="728" height="90" alt="Holstee" border="0"/></a>


</p>
]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p class="intro"><em>How the digital age is changing the rhetoric and regimes of creative expression.</em></p>
<p><img align="right" style="margin: 9px 0 3px 5px;" src="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/offbookart.jpg" alt="" width="180" />Over the past few months, the fine folks at PBS Arts have been exploring various facets of creative culture &#8212; including <a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2011/08/05/off-book-typography-pbs-arts/">typography</a>, <a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2011/12/13/product-design-a-pbs-off-book-documentary/">product design</a>, <a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2011/12/07/pbs-off-book-generative-art/">generative art</a>, <a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2011/12/30/pbs-offbook-book-art-papercraft/">papercraft</a>, and more &#8212; and their evolution in the digital age as part of the ongoing <a href="http://video.pbs.org/program/off-book/" target="_blank"><em>Off Book</em></a> series. The latest installment explores art in the era of the Internet, and features <a href="http://kickstarter.com" target="_blank">Kickstarter</a> founder <strong>Yancey Strickler</strong>, <a href="http://creativecommons.org" target="_blank">Creative Commons</a> mastermind <strong>Lawrence Lessig</strong>, and my dear friend <strong>Julia Kaganskiy</strong>, editor of <a href="http://creatorsproject.com" target="_blank">Creators Project</a>, along with her colleague and creative director <strong>Ciel Hunter</strong>.</p>
<p><iframe width="500" height="254" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/024vLBBJf4I" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<blockquote><p>When extend the life of a physical project on the web, and give people the ability to remix that media, they&#8217;ll do some really inventive stuff with it.&#8221; ~ <strong>Julia Kaganskiy</strong>, Creators Project</p></blockquote>
<blockquote><p>The Internet&#8217;s incredible ability to align people with similar interests makes it very possible for normal people to make big things happen, and that&#8217;s something that wasn&#8217;t possible at any other time.&#8221; ~ <strong>Yancey Strickler</strong>, Kickstarter</p></blockquote>
<blockquote><p>We had a regime of copyright and the Internet completely flipped the technical foundation upon which that regime had been built. […] My creative utopia is that we have a huge proportion of all of us creating all the time.&#8221; ~ <strong>Lawrence Lessig</strong>, Creative Commons</p></blockquote>
<p>As <a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2011/12/15/edward-gorey-pbs-mystery/">Edward Gorey might remind you</a>, PBS is public media supported by &#8220;viewers like you&#8221; &#8212; show them some love <a href="https://www.pbs.org/donate/pbs-foundation/" target="_blank">here</a>.</p>
<p class="via"><a href="http://www.curatorscode.org" target="_blank" style="font-family:sans-serif;text-decoration:none;">&#x21ac;</a> <a href="http://twitter.com/juliaxgulia" target="_blank">@juliaxgulia</a></p>
<p class="author" style="background: #f8f8f8;margin: 15px 0;padding: 10px 15px;color: #000;"><a target="_blank" href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/newsletter/"><img align="left" style="margin: 3px 7px 3px 0" src="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/themes/BrainPickings/images/email.png" alt="" width="50" /></a>Brain Pickings has a free weekly newsletter and people <a target="_blank" href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/newsletter/">say it&#8217;s cool</a>. It comes out on Sundays and offers the week&#8217;s best articles. Here&#8217;s <a target="_blank" href="http://us2.campaign-archive2.com/?u=13eb080d8a315477042e0d5b1&#038;id=41f88a3ce2&#038;e=b2dbad0745">what to expect</a>. Like? <a target="_blank" href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/newsletter/">Sign up.</a></p>
<div class="tweetmeme_button" style="float: right; margin-top: 10px; margin-left: 5px;">
			<a href="http://api.tweetmeme.com/share?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.brainpickings.org%2Findex.php%2F2012%2F03%2F23%2Fpbs-off-book-art-in-the-age-of-the-internet%2F"><br />
				<img src="http://api.tweetmeme.com/imagebutton.gif?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.brainpickings.org%2Findex.php%2F2012%2F03%2F23%2Fpbs-off-book-art-in-the-age-of-the-internet%2F&amp;source=brainpicker&amp;style=compact&amp;service=bit.ly&amp;service_api=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.j.mp%2Fv3%2Fshorten%3Flogin%3Dbrainpicker%26apiKey%3DR_1c3cc3da619e2391f246157a3c5cedae%26longUrl%3D%25%40%26format%3Dtxt&amp;b=2" height="61" width="50" /><br />
			</a>
		</div>
<p><em><strong>Brain Pickings takes 450+ hours a month to curate and edit across the different platforms, and remains banner-free. If it brings you any joy and inspiration, please consider a modest <a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/donate/" target="_blank">donation</a> – it lets me know I'm doing something right.</em></strong>

<a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/donate/" target="_blank"><img style="margin-left: 50px;" src="http://www.brainpickings.org/donate.png" /></a>

<a href="http://www.share.holstee.com/l/6/2669" target="_blank">
<img src="http://www.share.holstee.com/m/6" width="728" height="90" alt="Holstee" border="0"/></a>


</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/03/23/pbs-off-book-art-in-the-age-of-the-internet/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>People-Dependent Technology: Designing with Our Highest Ideals for One Another</title>
		<link>http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/03/21/john-chris-jones-people-dependent-technology/</link>
		<comments>http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/03/21/john-chris-jones-people-dependent-technology/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 21 Mar 2012 13:00:13 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Maria Popova</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[culture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[design]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[PICKED]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[software]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[technology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[books]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[history]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[innovation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[philosophy]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.brainpickings.org/?p=18362</guid>
		<description><![CDATA["…design everything on the assumption that people are not heartless or stupid but marvellously capable, given the chance."<p><em><strong>Brain Pickings takes 450+ hours a month to curate and edit across the different platforms, and remains banner-free. If it brings you any joy and inspiration, please consider a modest <a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/donate/" target="_blank">donation</a> – it lets me know I'm doing something right.</em></strong>

<a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/donate/" target="_blank"><img style="margin-left: 50px;" src="http://www.brainpickings.org/donate.png" /></a>

<a href="http://www.share.holstee.com/l/6/2669" target="_blank">
<img src="http://www.share.holstee.com/m/6" width="728" height="90" alt="Holstee" border="0"/></a>


</p>
]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p class="intro"><em>&#8220;…design everything on the assumption that people are not heartless or stupid but marvellously capable, given the chance.&#8221;</em></p>
<p> <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/1899858202/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=braipick-20&#038;camp=0&#038;creative=0&#038;linkCode=as4&#038;creativeASIN=1899858202&#038;adid=0A7TA1723CEZGE0G4N49&#038;" target="_blank"><img align="right" style="margin: 9px 0 3px 15px;" src="http://brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/theinternetandeveryone1.jpg" width="190" /></a>Someone dear once lent me a remarkable out-of-print book by <strong>John Chris Jones</strong>, the first professor of design at the Open University, entitled <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/1899858202/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=braipick-20&#038;camp=0&#038;creative=0&#038;linkCode=as4&#038;creativeASIN=1899858202&#038;adid=0A7TA1723CEZGE0G4N49&#038;" target="_blank"><strong><em>The Internet and Everyone</em></strong></a>* &#8212; a tiny, thick tome printed in an impossibly small font that embodies the uncomfortable, nonlinear urgency of the budding medium it explores. It contains a series of letters Jones had written in the mid-90s, as the Internet was beginning to take shape, &#8220;without knowing what was coming next.&#8221; Sometimes erratic, often intense, always insightful, these meditative missives present a rare time-capsule of a tipping point in the history of contemporary culture and media &#8212; an early vision for the Internet as a force of cultural awakening.</p>
<p>Among Jones&#8217; many keen observations is a response to a question by Thomas Mitchell about what constitutes bad design. This particular portion, exploring &#8220;people-dependent technology,&#8221; is reminiscent of <a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2011/01/27/paola-antonelli-talk-to-me/">Paola Antonelli&#8217;s insistence upon humanized technology</a>:</p>
<p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/1899858202/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=braipick-20&#038;camp=0&#038;creative=0&#038;linkCode=as4&#038;creativeASIN=1899858202&#038;adid=0A7TA1723CEZGE0G4N49&#038;"><img src="http://brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/johnchrisjones2.jpg" width="500" /></a></p>
<blockquote><p>3 &#8216;PEOPLE-DEPENDENT TECHNOLOGY&#8217;</p>
<p>That is a new term for which as yet I can think of no examples &#8212; it is my current hope.</p>
<p>What I envisage is that, instead of designing everything (and particularly computer software) on the assumption that &#8216;people are going to behave like machines&#8217; &#8212; that is, without feeling, love, hatred, anticipation, intuition, imagination, etc. (the very qualities we think of when we ask what it is to be human) &#8212; we design everything on the assumption that people are not heartless or stupid but marvellously capable, given the chance, each and every one. I&#8217;d like to see machines, systems, environments of all kinds, made such that if they are to work well everyone who uses or inhabits them is challenged to act at her or his best and that there are no built-in obstacles to doing that. The main obstacles to this at present are not so much the machines and technical processes but the presence of our other selves, as paid guardians, &#8216;protecting&#8217; every one of us from our &#8216;mechanically stupefied selves&#8217; and enforcing rules of behaviour and design which assume that &#8216;users know nothing and producers know all&#8217;.</p></blockquote>
<p>An edited version of this correspondence appears in Mitchell&#8217;s 1996 book, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/0471286044/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=braipick-20&#038;camp=0&#038;creative=0&#038;linkCode=as4&#038;creativeASIN=0471286044&#038;adid=1DH20TMWPNBC5G59B3XQ&#038;" target="_blank"><em>New Thinking in Design: Conversations on Theory and Practice</em></a>.</p>
<p class="via">* Does the cover feel familiar? Perhaps it&#8217;s because it inspired the cover of another, much more recent and equally important media bible &#8212; James Gleick&#8217;s <a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2011/03/30/james-gleick-the-information/"><em>The Information: A History, A Theory, A Flood</em></a>.</p>
<p class="author" style="background: #f8f8f8;margin: 15px 0;padding: 10px 15px;color: #000;"><a target="_blank" href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/newsletter/"><img align="left" style="margin: 3px 7px 3px 0" src="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/themes/BrainPickings/images/email.png" alt="" width="50" /></a>Brain Pickings has a free weekly newsletter and people <a target="_blank" href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/newsletter/">say it&#8217;s cool</a>. It comes out on Sundays and offers the week&#8217;s best articles. Here&#8217;s <a target="_blank" href="http://us2.campaign-archive2.com/?u=13eb080d8a315477042e0d5b1&#038;id=41f88a3ce2&#038;e=b2dbad0745">what to expect</a>. Like? <a target="_blank" href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/newsletter/">Sign up.</a></p>
<div class="tweetmeme_button" style="float: right; margin-top: 10px; margin-left: 5px;">
			<a href="http://api.tweetmeme.com/share?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.brainpickings.org%2Findex.php%2F2012%2F03%2F21%2Fjohn-chris-jones-people-dependent-technology%2F"><br />
				<img src="http://api.tweetmeme.com/imagebutton.gif?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.brainpickings.org%2Findex.php%2F2012%2F03%2F21%2Fjohn-chris-jones-people-dependent-technology%2F&amp;source=brainpicker&amp;style=compact&amp;service=bit.ly&amp;service_api=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.j.mp%2Fv3%2Fshorten%3Flogin%3Dbrainpicker%26apiKey%3DR_1c3cc3da619e2391f246157a3c5cedae%26longUrl%3D%25%40%26format%3Dtxt&amp;b=2" height="61" width="50" /><br />
			</a>
		</div>
<p><em><strong>Brain Pickings takes 450+ hours a month to curate and edit across the different platforms, and remains banner-free. If it brings you any joy and inspiration, please consider a modest <a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/donate/" target="_blank">donation</a> – it lets me know I'm doing something right.</em></strong>

<a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/donate/" target="_blank"><img style="margin-left: 50px;" src="http://www.brainpickings.org/donate.png" /></a>

<a href="http://www.share.holstee.com/l/6/2669" target="_blank">
<img src="http://www.share.holstee.com/m/6" width="728" height="90" alt="Holstee" border="0"/></a>


</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/03/21/john-chris-jones-people-dependent-technology/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>27 of History&#8217;s Strangest Inventions</title>
		<link>http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/03/21/strange-invetions/</link>
		<comments>http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/03/21/strange-invetions/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 21 Mar 2012 12:30:48 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Maria Popova</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[just weird]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[photography]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[science]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[technology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[bizarre]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[history]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.brainpickings.org/?p=18355</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[If you can&#8217;t deliver the newspaper on your amphibious bicycle, you can always fax it. &#8220;If at first an idea is not absurd,&#8221; Albert Einstein famously said, &#8220;then there is no hope for it.&#8221; Sometimes, however, absurd is just absurd &#8212; yet, even so, it&#8217;s a fascinating slice of history&#8217;s collective direction of curiosity and [...]<p><em><strong>Brain Pickings takes 450+ hours a month to curate and edit across the different platforms, and remains banner-free. If it brings you any joy and inspiration, please consider a modest <a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/donate/" target="_blank">donation</a> – it lets me know I'm doing something right.</em></strong>

<a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/donate/" target="_blank"><img style="margin-left: 50px;" src="http://www.brainpickings.org/donate.png" /></a>

<a href="http://www.share.holstee.com/l/6/2669" target="_blank">
<img src="http://www.share.holstee.com/m/6" width="728" height="90" alt="Holstee" border="0"/></a>


</p>
]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p class="intro"><em>If you can&#8217;t deliver the newspaper on your amphibious bicycle, you can always fax it.</em></p>
<p>&#8220;If at first an idea is not absurd,&#8221; <a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/03/19/einstein-on-kindness/">Albert Einstein famously said</a>, &#8220;then there is no hope for it.&#8221; Sometimes, however, absurd is just absurd &#8212; yet, even so, it&#8217;s a fascinating slice of history&#8217;s collective direction of curiosity and experimental innovation. After those <a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2011/09/19/vintage-versions-of-modern-startups/">vintage versions of modern social media</a> and <a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2011/09/27/vintage-visions-for-the-future-of-technology/">yesteryear&#8217;s visions for the future of technology</a>, here come some of history&#8217;s most weird and wonderful inventions, from wooden swimwear to spectacles for reading in bed, captured in archival public domain images by Holland&#8217;s <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nationaalarchief/" target="_blank">Nationaal Archief</a>.</p>
<div class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 510px"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nationaalarchief/4193508328/in/set-72157623018193396/" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/madeinholland3.jpg" width="480" /></a></p>
<p><p class="wp-caption-text">
<p><strong><em>One-wheel motorcycle</em></strong></p>
<p><em>Germany, 1925</em></p>
<p></p></div>
<div class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 510px"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nationaalarchief/4192046971/in/set-72157623018193396/" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/madeinholland1.jpeg" width="480" /></a></p>
<p><p class="wp-caption-text">
<p><strong><em>Manual dredger</em></strong></p>
<p>Workers operated the so-called bucket dredger with their arms and legs using stepper boards. The machine is a small model, but whether it was actually realized is unknown.
<p><em></em></p>
<p></p></div>
<div class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 510px"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nationaalarchief/4193508398/in/set-72157623018193396/" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/madeinholland2.jpeg" width="480" /></a></p>
<p><p class="wp-caption-text">
<p><strong><em>Bike tyre used as a swimming aid</em></strong></p>
<p>Invented by Italian M. Goventosa de Udine; maximum speed: 150 kilometers per hour (93 mph).
<p><em></em></p>
<p></p></div>
<div class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 510px"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nationaalarchief/4192807776/in/set-72157623018193396/" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/madeinholland5.jpeg" width="480" /></a></p>
<p><p class="wp-caption-text">
<p><strong><em>Steam automobile design circa 1845</em></strong></p>
<p></p></div>
<div class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 510px"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nationaalarchief/4193508602/in/set-72157623018193396/" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/madeinholland4.jpeg" width="480" /></a></p>
<p><p class="wp-caption-text">
<p><strong><em>Amphibious bicycle</em></strong></p>
<p><em>This land-and-water bike can carry a load of 120 pounds; Paris, 1932</em></p>
<p></p></div>
<div class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 510px"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nationaalarchief/4192749411/in/set-72157623018193396/" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/madeinholland6.jpeg" width="480" /></a></p>
<p><p class="wp-caption-text">
<p><strong><em>All-terrain car</em></strong></p>
<p><em>This all-terrain car can descend slopes up to 65 degrees; England, 1936.</em></p>
<p></p></div>
<div class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 510px"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nationaalarchief/4193508474/in/set-72157623018193396/" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/madeinholland7.jpeg" width="480" /></a></p>
<p><p class="wp-caption-text">
<p><strong><em>Radio stroller</em></strong></p>
<p><em>Stroller equipped with a radio, including antenna and loudspeaker, to keep the baby quiet; USA, 1921.</em></p>
<p></p></div>
<div class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 510px"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nationaalarchief/4194412077/in/set-72157623018193396/" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/madeinholland8.jpeg" width="480" /></a></p>
<p><p class="wp-caption-text">
<p><strong><em>Wooden bathing suits</em></strong></p>
<p><em>Wooden bathing suits, supposed to make swimming a lot easier; Haquian, Washington, USA, 1929</em></p>
<p></p></div>
<div class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 510px"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nationaalarchief/4192046915/in/set-72157623018193396/" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/madeinholland9.jpg" width="480" /></a></p>
<p><p class="wp-caption-text">
<p><strong><em>Ice sailboat</em></strong></p>
<p><em>In the 17th century, it was so cold that meteorologists spoke of a Little Ice Age. The ice sailboat addressed the challenge of transporting goods over frozen lakes and rivers. Designed by A. Terrier, January 17, 1600</em></p>
<p></p></div>
<div class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 510px"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nationaalarchief/4193509510/in/set-72157623018193396/" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/madeinholland10.jpg" width="480" /></a></p>
<p><p class="wp-caption-text">
<p><strong><em>Radio hat</em></strong></p>
<p><em>Portable radio in a straw hat, made by an American inventor in 1931</em></p>
<p></p></div>
<div class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 510px"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nationaalarchief/4192807680/in/set-72157623018193396/" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/madeinholland11.jpg" width="480" /></a></p>
<p><p class="wp-caption-text">
<p><strong><em>Wetlands windmill</em></strong></p>
<p><em>A windmill for draining wetlands, lightweight enough to function in marshy areas. It was designed by C.D. Muys in 1589 but was never built.</em></p>
<p></p></div>
<div class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 510px"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nationaalarchief/4192748893/in/set-72157623018193396/" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/madeinholland12.jpeg" width="480" /></a></p>
<p><p class="wp-caption-text">
<p><strong><em>Bulletproof glass</em></strong></p>
<p><em>Demonstration by NYPD's finest shooter, 1931</em></p>
<p></p></div>
<div class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 510px"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nationaalarchief/4192807826/in/set-72157623018193396/" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/madeinholland13.jpeg" width="480" /></a></p>
<p><p class="wp-caption-text">
<p><strong><em>Clap skate</em></strong></p>
<p><em>In 1936, inventor R. Handl came up with the movable heel plate, but it wasn't until 1996 that this concept revolutionized skating.</em></p>
<p></p></div>
<div class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 510px"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nationaalarchief/4193510018/in/set-72157623018193396/" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/madeinholland14.jpeg" width="480" /></a></p>
<p><p class="wp-caption-text">
<p><strong><em>Extensible caravan</em></strong></p>
<p><em>Built by an unknown French engineer in 1934.</em></p>
<p></p></div>
<div class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 510px"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nationaalarchief/4192748677/in/set-72157623018193396/" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/madeinholland15.jpeg" width="480" /></a></p>
<p><p class="wp-caption-text">
<p><strong><em>Piano for the bedridden</em></strong></p>
<p><em>Piano especially designed for people confined to bedrest; Great Britain, 1935</em></p>
<p></p></div>
<div class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 510px"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nationaalarchief/4192749083/in/set-72157623018193396/" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/madeinholland16.jpeg" width="480" /></a></p>
<p><p class="wp-caption-text">
<p><strong><em>Hamblin glasses for reading in bed</em></strong></p>
<p><em>A pair of spectacles especially designed for reading in bed; England, 1936</em></p>
<p></p></div>
<div class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 510px"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nationaalarchief/4193509008/in/set-72157623018193396/" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/madeinholland17.jpg" width="480" /></a></p>
<p><p class="wp-caption-text">
<p><strong><em>Electrically heated jacket</em></strong></p>
<p><em>Electrically heated vest, developed for the traffic police in the United States, 1932. The power is supplied by electric contacts in the street.</em></p>
<p></p></div>
<div class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 510px"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nationaalarchief/4192807760/in/set-72157623018193396/" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/madeinholland18.jpeg" width="480" /></a></p>
<p><p class="wp-caption-text">
<p><strong><em>Loetafoon</em></strong></p>
<p><em>A turntable linked to a film projector. It comes with single, dual and triple turntable. Designed by F.B.A. Prinsen, 1929</em></p>
<p></p></div>
<div class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 510px"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nationaalarchief/4192749199/in/set-72157623018193396/" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/madeinholland19.jpeg" width="480" /></a></p>
<p><p class="wp-caption-text">
<p><strong><em>Car with shovel for pedestrians</em></strong></p>
<p><em>Invented for the purpose of 'reducing the number of casualties among pedestrians;' Paris, 1924</em></p>
<p></p></div>
<div class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 510px"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nationaalarchief/4192749347/in/set-72157623018193396/" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/madeinholland20.jpg" width="480" /></a></p>
<p><p class="wp-caption-text">
<p><strong><em>Hearing light for the blind</em></strong></p>
<p><em>1912</em></p>
<p></p></div>
<div class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 510px"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nationaalarchief/4192749543/in/set-72157623018193396/" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/madeinholland21.jpg" width="480" /></a></p>
<p><p class="wp-caption-text">
<p><strong><em>Early GPS</em></strong></p>
<p><em>Yesteryear's TomTom, a rolling key map that passes through the screen in a tempo determined by the speed of the car; 1932</em></p>
<p></p></div>
<div class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 510px"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nationaalarchief/4192749615/in/set-72157623018193396/" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/madeinholland22.jpeg" width="480" /></a></p>
<p><p class="wp-caption-text">
<p><strong><em>Folding bridge for emergencies</em></strong></p>
<p><em>The emergency bridge can easily be transported on a handcart; invented by L. Deth. The Netherlands, 1926</em></p>
<p></p></div>
<div class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 510px"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nationaalarchief/4193508778/in/set-72157623018193396/" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/madeinholland23.jpeg" width="480" /></a></p>
<p><p class="wp-caption-text">
<p><strong><em>Booted rubber boat</em></strong></p>
<p><em>Drawing of a 'pneumatic sports- fish and hunt boat,' an inflatable boat for one person with boots attached; The Netherlands, 1915</em></p>
<p></p></div>
<div class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 510px"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nationaalarchief/4193509648/in/set-72157623018193396/" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/madeinholland24.jpeg" width="480" /></a></p>
<p><p class="wp-caption-text">
<p><strong><em>Faxed newspaper</em></strong></p>
<p><em>In 1938, the world's first wireless newspaper was sent from WOR radio station in New York City. In this photo, children are reading the children’s page of a Missouri paper.</em></p>
<p></p></div>
<div class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 510px"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nationaalarchief/4193509756/in/set-72157623018193396/" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/madeinholland25.jpeg" width="480" /></a></p>
<p><p class="wp-caption-text">
<p><strong><em>Snowstorm mask</em></strong></p>
<p><em>Plastic face protection from snowstorms. Canada, Montreal, 1939</em></p>
<p></p></div>
<div class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 510px"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nationaalarchief/4192750051/in/set-72157623018193396/" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/madeinholland26.jpeg" width="480" /></a></p>
<p><p class="wp-caption-text">
<p><strong><em>Gas-resistant stroller</em></strong></p>
<p><em>A wartime stroller equipped with gas protection; England, Hextable, 1938</em></p>
<p></p></div>
<div class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 510px"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nationaalarchief/4192750189/in/set-72157623018193396/" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/madeinholland27.jpg" width="480" /></a></p>
<p><p class="wp-caption-text">
<p><strong><em>Revolver camera</em></strong></p>
<p><em>A Colt 38 carrying a small camera that automatically takes a picture when you pull the trigger. At the left: six pictures taken by the camera. New York, 1938.</em></p>
<p></p></div>
<p class="author" style="background: #f8f8f8;margin: 15px 0;padding: 10px 15px;color: #000;"><a target="_blank" href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/newsletter/"><img align="left" style="margin: 3px 7px 3px 0" src="http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/themes/BrainPickings/images/email.png" alt="" width="50" /></a>Brain Pickings has a free weekly newsletter and people <a target="_blank" href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/newsletter/">say it&#8217;s cool</a>. It comes out on Sundays and offers the week&#8217;s best articles. Here&#8217;s <a target="_blank" href="http://us2.campaign-archive2.com/?u=13eb080d8a315477042e0d5b1&#038;id=41f88a3ce2&#038;e=b2dbad0745">what to expect</a>. Like? <a target="_blank" href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/newsletter/">Sign up.</a></p>
<div class="tweetmeme_button" style="float: right; margin-top: 10px; margin-left: 5px;">
			<a href="http://api.tweetmeme.com/share?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.brainpickings.org%2Findex.php%2F2012%2F03%2F21%2Fstrange-invetions%2F"><br />
				<img src="http://api.tweetmeme.com/imagebutton.gif?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.brainpickings.org%2Findex.php%2F2012%2F03%2F21%2Fstrange-invetions%2F&amp;source=brainpicker&amp;style=compact&amp;service=bit.ly&amp;service_api=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.j.mp%2Fv3%2Fshorten%3Flogin%3Dbrainpicker%26apiKey%3DR_1c3cc3da619e2391f246157a3c5cedae%26longUrl%3D%25%40%26format%3Dtxt&amp;b=2" height="61" width="50" /><br />
			</a>
		</div>
<p><em><strong>Brain Pickings takes 450+ hours a month to curate and edit across the different platforms, and remains banner-free. If it brings you any joy and inspiration, please consider a modest <a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/donate/" target="_blank">donation</a> – it lets me know I'm doing something right.</em></strong>

<a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/donate/" target="_blank"><img style="margin-left: 50px;" src="http://www.brainpickings.org/donate.png" /></a>

<a href="http://www.share.holstee.com/l/6/2669" target="_blank">
<img src="http://www.share.holstee.com/m/6" width="728" height="90" alt="Holstee" border="0"/></a>


</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/03/21/strange-invetions/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
	</channel>
</rss>
