Re: merry newtonmas

From: Eliezer S. Yudkowsky (sentience@pobox.com)
Date: Mon Dec 25 2000 - 11:14:52 MST


Spike Jones wrote:
>
> There were other great thinkers who discovered some concepts,
> but there were two giants, Newton and Galileo, who had critical
> insights. Galileo because he showed that scientists thru observation
> could overturn established church dogma, and Newton because
> he developed theory that was powerful enough to move minds,
> yet simple enough to be within the grasp of the proletariat masses.
>
> So Newton and Galileo, the great theorist and the great observer
> of nature, together made critically important contributions to the
> present that their influence will be of prime importance to either
> the coming age of nanotechnology or the singularity. Darwin is
> in the same class with these two.

Let's not forget Einstein, who's in a class with Newton, Galileo, and
Darwin for sheer brilliance, and who also established the popular romance
of science that dominated the twentieth century.

-- -- -- -- --
Eliezer S. Yudkowsky http://singinst.org/
Research Fellow, Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence



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