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Science and Philosophy Spot. I heard on a programme on Radio 4 someone mention the "invention" of electricity. Immediately in my mind I saw the image of lightning illuminating a landscape, and it led me to this thought: Electricity was not invented. I might go further and say it wasn't really even discovered, as such (ref my lightning example above).

I'd say the invention was the *harnessing* of electricity. And perhaps the discovery was the figuring out how that bad boy works. Differences. Big. Huge.

Or: Richard Feynman and the Beauty of a Flower

On Science. This morning at breakfast my youngest daughter bemoaned the fact that her weekly Science class in school comes round so quickly - i.e. today already. "What's the point of Science? Who invented Science?" she asked. This led to a short conversation in which Science got a little bit of support and justification, but she's not converted. I'm sad that my enthusiasm for Science has not been inherited by my children. They will make wonderful artists and historians, for sure.

Here's Richard Feynman arguing Science's corner for beauty. There are a few reasons why one lifetime is not enough. The fact that there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in any philosophy is just one of them.

Here's some interview footage from 1966 with Carl Sagan talking about UFOs. He makes some refreshing and insightful points about the low likelihood of aliens visiting the Earth, specially based on the alleged numbers of visitations, without taking a dogmatic position, all the while "keeping it Science"...

RSA Animate - The Divided Brain:-

A short talk on the hemispheres of the brain by Iain McGilchrist. Really interesting.

While I am in the mood for star gazing, here's another video showing the results of the Hubble Space Telescope.