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Frederick...made linguistic experiments on the vile bodies of hapless infants, "bidding foster-mothers and nurses to suckle and bathe and wash the children, but in no wise to prattle or speak with them; for he would have learnt whether they would speak the Hebrew language (which had been the first), or Greek, or Latin, or Arabic, or perchance the tongue of their parents of whom they had been born. But he laboured in vain, for the children could not live without clappings of the hands, and gestures, and gladness of countenance, and blandishments."
posted to MetaFilter by voltairemodern
at 8:23 AM on August 4, 2008
(27 comments)
Wittgenstein, in a letter to Norman Malcolm, wrote:
"...A couple of years ago I read with great pleasure a detective story called Rendezvous With Fear by a man Norbert Davis. I enjoyed it so much that I gave it not only to Smythies but also to Moore to read and both shared my high opinion of it. For, though, as you know, I’ve read hundreds of stories that amused me and that I liked reading, I think I’ve only read two perhaps that I’d call good stuff, and Davis’s is one of them... It may sound crazy, but when I recently re-read the story I liked it again so much that I thought I’d really like to write to the author and thank him. If this is nuts don’t be surprised, for so am I..." Though it is discussed by both Ray Monk, in his
biography of Wittgenstein, and Edmonds and Eidenow, in their
popular book about Wittgenstein's philosophical clash with Popper (and an aging Russell), it is always interesting to read about this strange man's love of detective fiction. Though I don't necessarily agree with the linked author's conclusions, it makes for a good read.
posted to MetaFilter by voltairemodern
at 11:26 AM on June 19, 2006
(22 comments)
Why SETI's search
for intelligent extraterrestrial life is different from the work of proponents of Intelligent Design. An interesting bit of argumentation regarding the distinction between the simple signals searched for by SETI and the complex signals used in arguments for ID.
posted to MetaFilter by voltairemodern
at 7:41 AM on December 2, 2005
(55 comments)
The most expensive $20 you’ll never see.
(Unless you happen to be kickin’ it in
Long Beach next month...) The 1933 “double eagle”, a one oz. gold coin minted by the United States just prior to dropping the gold standard, is now worth approximately $10,000,000 and is the stuff of coin collection legend. A collector by the name of Israel “Izzy” Switt acquired and held on to 10 of them—just after the last “double eagle” had officially been melted down by the government in 1937. (
Timeline.) Now, decades later, the coins are the subject of an
intense legal battle between the US government and Switt’s descendants.
“It’s a hell of a story.”
posted to MetaFilter by voltairemodern
at 12:18 PM on August 29, 2005
(20 comments)
