An ape brain, evolved for raw survival on the African savanna, is capable, without further evolution, of understanding the expanding universe; of building quantum theory, computers, CERN; of coordinating the pianist’s fast fingers; of being moved to tears by Bach & Shakespeare

The video of Edward Snowden talking about #Aadhaar. Thanks Rachna Khaira for the sharing

Since the Universe has no center, you can’t be it.

Steve showed me—and all of us—what it means to serve humanity. We miss him, today and every day, and we’ll never forget the example he set for us.

Just as a rope that is not clearly ascertained at dusk is imagined to be such things a snake or a line of water, so likewise the Self is imagined as various objects.

Technology is capable of doing great things. But it doesn’t want to do great things. It doesn’t want anything. That part takes all of us. We are optimistic about technology’s awesome potential for good — but we know that it won’t happen on its own.

Seems to me, if an Octopus wanted to lock a human in a room, it would just need to design the exit with three doorknobs.

Just finished Enlightenment Now. I regard Steven Pinker as our leading public intellectual. If the Nobel Prize for literature were to go to a scientist (which it should), he’d be the prime candidate. Delighted to be presenting the Human Roots Award to him at MonRepos in Germany.

One question I often get: is the universe a computer simulation? I don't think so. E.g. the weather is so complex that the smallest object that can simulate the weather is the weather itself. If we add the quantum theory, no digital computer can possibly simulate quantum atoms.

One loophole: maybe space is actually discrete. This might be possible, since the smallest piece of space is the Planck length or the size of a string. But even if space is discrete, no computer can calculate on such mictoscopic scales, so reality is not a simulation.

#StephenHawking after A brief history of time,The theory of everything and other books,This one is another masterpiece giving answers of the questions.Introduction by Kip Thorne was brilliant.Chapter 9."Will artificial intelligence outsmart us?" Quoting Elon Musk was mind blowing

Difference between machine learning and AI: If it is written in Python, it's probably machine learning If it is written in PowerPoint, it's probably AI

Can you prove the existence of God? Probably not. Science is based on evidence which is testable, reproducible, and falsifiable. So God is outside the usual boundary of science. Also, it is impossible to disprove a negative, so you cannot disprove the existence of God, either.

Negativity doesn’t get anybody anywhere. It takes reacting to all of life in a positive way to make the most out of what you’ve experienced and to make a better life and a better world. #resilience

When Isaac Newton stayed at home to avoid the 1665 plague, he discovered the laws of gravity, optics, and he invented calculus. It’s rumored that there was a strict “No TV” rule in his household.

A bit of physics on a Sunday morning. My diagram showing how the different physical phenomena/forces/theories are unified (dashed lines means work in progress). From #TheWorldAccordingToPhysics

Thank you TOOL for spending 2,568 minutes with me this year on Spotify. You are my #1.Maynard J Keenan Adam Jones TOOL effing TOOL #2020Wrapped open.spotify.com/artist/2yEwvVS…

If the number 666 is considered evil, then technically, 25.8069758 is the root of all evil.

A thread with some diagrams, as y'all seem to like them :-)