Because of the way mathematical ideas build on other mathematical ideas, the order in which these ideas were discovered/invented is often the same as the order in which they are taught. All humans typically start where humanity (is thought to have) started, with counting objects and identifying simple shapes. From there, we begin making calculations….
Tag: history
Stories in the history of written language (part 7)
The origins of literature To define narrative formally is to accept, perhaps dangerously, the idea or the feeling that the origins of narrative are self-evident, that nothing is more natural than to tell a story or to arrange a group of actions into a myth, a short story, an epic, a novel. (Genette and Levonas…
“Can a whole country have main character syndrome?”
This is a quote from YouTuber Emma Thorne in her video Evangelical Conspiracy Movie: Trump 2024 Recap, referring to the United States. Thorne herself is from the UK. Main character syndrome is an informal, nonscientific term to describe someone who thinks of their life like a story in which they are the main character. In…
The legend of Alfred Nobel
Alfred Nobel was a Swedish chemist who is famous for two things: inventing dynamite and establishing the Nobel Prize. Nobel observed that nitroglycerin, an explosive available at the time, was too volatile to handle safely and caused many accidental deaths. He discovered that by getting nitroglycerin to soak into diatomaceous earth (a kind of fine…
Stories in the history of written language (part 5)
Magic words, mysticism, curses, and prayer A long-held belief within virtually every culture across the world is that language has a special power to affect the physical, mental, or spiritual. There are some prominent examples that are worth looking at in more detail. There are essentially two ways in which a written word can have…
The decline and fall of young earth creationism
For most of human history, the age of the earth was unknown. Many believed it was created at some point in the past by supernatural forces, and others hypothesized that the earth always existed. Within the Abrahamic tradition, genealogical lists have been used to trace back to Adam and the date of creation as described…
Stories in ludology & narratology (part 1)
Ludology and narratology are the two sides of the coin that is the study of games (in the non-mathematical sense). Ludology is the study of game mechanics and rules, and narratology is the study of story and setting. Ludology is closer to math, while narratology is closer to literary analysis. Narratology of games is particularly…
Stories in the history of written language (Part 2)
In Part 1, we looked at the early development of writing, the spread of different scripts, and the historical example of ancient Egyptian. In Part 2, we’ll look at a modern example of written language, some scripts that were invented in unusual ways, and how writing has been used as an art form. The history…
Stories in the history of written language (Part 1)
Homo sapiens is the only species known to have developed language. Many other animals have the ability to communicate, especially through vocalization but also through visual displays, pheromones, etc. Human language is thought to have originated from more basic vocalizations. However, no animal aside from humans uses anything quite like written language. Like most technology,…
thoughts on mind 