John Brockman’s “What’s
Your Law?” has garnered quite some attention. Some of the greatest minds of today have offered their own proverbs and truths; it’s quite a good read. It’s also overwhelmingly lengthy, but being stuck home ill over the weekend I read the whole thing and want to save a few gems.
In the off-the-wall category, Stuart Hameroff tries to revive Cartesian
dualism:
The sub-conscious mind is to consciousness what the quantum world is to the classical world.
Sir Roger Penrose…and I have put forth a specific model of consciousness involving quantum computation in microtubules within the brain’s neurons.
while Nancy Etcoff wisely warns
against any dualism:
Instead, of acting in opposition, in nature two forces are likely to dependent, interactive and interwoven; sometimes they are merely two names for the same thing.
Andy Clark is also espouses
generalism:
Everything leaks.
Edward O. Laumann asserts that monogomy is
healthy:
Moderation in levels of partnered sex activity is the mode for the bulk of humankind and is consistent with high levels of subjective well-being. Low levels of subjective sexual well-being is associated with poor physical, emotional, and mental health.
Leo Chalupa’s Second Law is depressing:
…there is a price to pay for originality and every working scientist knows this is the case.
Roger Schank explains open-mindedness:
The good news is that for some people, failure to comprehend is the beginning of understanding. For most, of course, it is the beginning of dismissal.
Beatrice
Golomb is a bit defeatist:
Everything in biology is more complicated than you think it is…
…which might contradict Gerwitz’s Law for science, from someone not noteworthy enough for Edge:
The cause is simpler than you expect.
and has a corollary:
The effects are more complex than you can measure.