Philosophy
The art and science of formal classification owes its origin to the great philosopher Aristotle, who conceived of a conceptual tree whose trunk and branches denote different divisions of ontology, hierarchies of being, logical and natural relations, etc. This tree metaphor became ubiquitous until very recently. It's been used to map historical and genealogical changes and hierarchies among subjects ranging from family blood lines to languages, the history of religious evolution, biological taxonomies, scientific branches, corporate maps, etc. Darwin, of course, famously used such a tree to explain his idea of common ancestry.
Helpful as it's been, and given current levels of computational power, the traditional genealogical tree may no longer be the most useful took for mapping out various sorts of relationships. In the following fascinating RSA Animate presentation, Manuel Lima explores the power of network visualization.
That blithely romanticized ending didn't quite do it for me, but the entire presentation did get me thinking about the mathematical explanatory power of fractals...
- Darwin: The Most Revolutionary Scientist Of All Time
150 years ago today, Chuck Darwin published his famous On the Origin of Species, so it's appropriate to dedicate today's entry to the brilliance and imaginative power of this radical intellectual. In the following thought-provoking lecture, Richard...
- The Symbolic Conifer
King Tut never saw a Christmas tree, but he would have understood the tradition which traces back long before the first Christmas, says David Robson. The Egyptians were part of a long line of cultures that treasured and worshipped evergreens. When the...
- Those Rare Trees Of Age
INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF FORESTS My colleague Tim sent me some information and a photo of the "Homon Sugi" on Japan's Yaku Island. The estimated age of this tree is 7,200 years. This made me wonder what the oldest living things on Earth are. Well,...
- "trees" At The Getty
INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF FORESTS Fort Osage, Missouri Uranyl Nitrate/Sepia ca. 1967 An Oak Tree in Winter William Henry Fox Talbot ca 1842-43 "Trees branch out at the Getty" by Liesl Bradner February 19th, 2011 The Los Angeles Times Throughout history,...
- "franklinia Alatamaha" Tree
International Year of Biodiversity What's that...its a very special tree that has never been seen in the wild since 1803. The tree was named by two brothers, American botanists John Bartram [March 23rd, 1699] and William. All Franklinias today are...
Philosophy
Manuel Lima - The Power of Networks
Helpful as it's been, and given current levels of computational power, the traditional genealogical tree may no longer be the most useful took for mapping out various sorts of relationships. In the following fascinating RSA Animate presentation, Manuel Lima explores the power of network visualization.
That blithely romanticized ending didn't quite do it for me, but the entire presentation did get me thinking about the mathematical explanatory power of fractals...
- Darwin: The Most Revolutionary Scientist Of All Time
150 years ago today, Chuck Darwin published his famous On the Origin of Species, so it's appropriate to dedicate today's entry to the brilliance and imaginative power of this radical intellectual. In the following thought-provoking lecture, Richard...
- The Symbolic Conifer
King Tut never saw a Christmas tree, but he would have understood the tradition which traces back long before the first Christmas, says David Robson. The Egyptians were part of a long line of cultures that treasured and worshipped evergreens. When the...
- Those Rare Trees Of Age
INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF FORESTS My colleague Tim sent me some information and a photo of the "Homon Sugi" on Japan's Yaku Island. The estimated age of this tree is 7,200 years. This made me wonder what the oldest living things on Earth are. Well,...
- "trees" At The Getty
INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF FORESTS Fort Osage, Missouri Uranyl Nitrate/Sepia ca. 1967 An Oak Tree in Winter William Henry Fox Talbot ca 1842-43 "Trees branch out at the Getty" by Liesl Bradner February 19th, 2011 The Los Angeles Times Throughout history,...
- "franklinia Alatamaha" Tree
International Year of Biodiversity What's that...its a very special tree that has never been seen in the wild since 1803. The tree was named by two brothers, American botanists John Bartram [March 23rd, 1699] and William. All Franklinias today are...