One of the most interesting books I've read in a long while.

One of the most interesting books I've read in a long while. In short, modern science owes a debt to medieval theology that many people today would like to forget. Unlike both modern militant atheists and religious fundamentalists, the world of medieval theological inquiry was surprisingly tolerant of different ideas.

Many of the popular images of the medieval Church as having held back the development of science are simply wrong. While religious teachings did sometimes clash directly with scientific discoveries, most people were happy to interpret the Bible figuratively rather than literally when the evidence was sufficient. The famous trials of Bruno and Galileo were a lot more complicated than is often depicted today - Bruno was a nutcase, and Galileo got into trouble more for insulting the Pope than he did for his observations.

Basic research is not an optional extra

Basic research can mean an element of ivory-tower academics doing nothing of any interest to anyone in the real world. It also means things like electricity, satellites, and the internet. Basic research doesn't contribute to the economy - it transforms it out of all recognition.

http://feedly.com/e/P08XorgF

Something something quantum

Originally shared by Jonathan Langdale

"These arguments have injected new life into a deterministic (as opposed to probabilistic) theory of the microscopic world first proposed, and rejected, at the birth of quantum mechanics."

This conclusion is inevitable.
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http://www.wired.com/2014/06/the-new-quantum-reality/