Wherever we find orderly, stable systems in Nature, we find that they are hierarchically structured, for the simple reason that without such structuring of complex systems into sub-assemblies, there could be no order and stability- except the order of a dead universe filled with a uniformly distributed gas.
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The collective matrix of a science at a given time is determined by a kind of establishment, which includes universities, read more
The collective matrix of a science at a given time is determined by a kind of establishment, which includes universities, learned societies, and, more recently, the editorial offices of technical journals. Like other establishments, they are consciously or unconsciously bent on preserving the status quo- partly because unorthodox innovations are a threat to their authority, but also because of the deeper fear that their laboriously erected an intellectual edifice might collapse under the impact.
Under normal conditions the research scientist is not an innovator but a solver of puzzles, and the puzzles upon which read more
Under normal conditions the research scientist is not an innovator but a solver of puzzles, and the puzzles upon which he concentrates are just those which he believes can be both stated and solved within the existing scientific tradition.
The real cause of personal existence is not the favor of the Almighty, but the sexual love of one's earthly read more
The real cause of personal existence is not the favor of the Almighty, but the sexual love of one's earthly parents.
The only meaning of life worth caring about is one that can withstand our best efforts to examine it.
The only meaning of life worth caring about is one that can withstand our best efforts to examine it.
It is easier to show the disorder that must accompany reform than the order that should follow it.
It is easier to show the disorder that must accompany reform than the order that should follow it.
Controversy is only dreaded by the advocates of error.
Controversy is only dreaded by the advocates of error.
You can only cure retail but you can prevent wholesale.
You can only cure retail but you can prevent wholesale.
A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at read more
A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to fear. The traitor is the plague.
There is a fundamental difference between the appeal of a mass movement and the appeal of a practical organization. The read more
There is a fundamental difference between the appeal of a mass movement and the appeal of a practical organization. The practical organization offers opportunities for self-advancement, and its appeal is mainly to self-interest. On the other hand, a mass movement, particularly in its active, revivalist phase, appeals not to those intent on bolstering and advancing a cherished self, but to those who crave to be rid of an unwanted self. A mass movement attracts and holds a following not because it can satisfy the desire for self-advancement, but because it can satisfy the passion for self-renunciation.
