“An awful character isn’t he?”, remarked Walter Rathenau upon seeing his likeness portrayed by Edvard Munch: “That’s what you get for having your portrait done by a great artist—you look more like yourself than you really are”. Rathenau was a German-Jewish industrialist, statesman and writer. He rose to prominence through entrepreneurship in electrical supply-chain management,Continue reading “On Talent”
Author Archives: patrick
to want without wanting
on occasion i see a glimpse reflected in a misplaced word a sigh, or a glance hovering, a littletoo close for comfort do I love each letter that fits in my hand? the rumbling gets louder and harder to ignore I still trip over every raindrop to park your car in front of the emptyContinue reading “to want without wanting”
a sea change
a lion is bornwhen white smoke wispsits wayfrom under the frescoes towards the Adriatic it chases a deer over those same mountainsand rivers depicted on scrolls that still line the narrow corridorsof an empty palace is it a coincidence, thenthat a giraffeshould be spotted,not striped,not painted blue,or purple, or green,or any colour for that matter?Continue reading “a sea change”
a birdsong
what does it meanto crawl out,fully formed? into the arms of a stranger A certain longingA knowing smileA restless wave what does it mean to stand firm? in the precipice — when songbirds whistle outsideyour window. You’d never noticeif they didn’t quietly interruptyour sleep to be born, fully formed, is to forgo the birdsong toContinue reading “a birdsong”
ghosts
time, time always bringstears to my eyesto stand thereto watch himto sigh at weaknesssplit down the bone no story has that tragicending, where the herofights bravely, and sacrificeshis love on the altar the only ghosts there truly areare conjuredby twists of fateand tired eyes ghosts of the broken,the wounds that haunt usheal,not with the passageContinue reading “ghosts”
books i read in 2024
2666 – Roberto Bolaño (4/5)Master Builder – Alfonso Martinez Arias (4/5)The Red Shoes – Clarissa Pinkola Estés (3/5)Thinking in Systems – Donella Meadows (4/5)Orthodoxy – G.K. Chesterton (5/5)Heretics – G.K. Chesterton (3/5)Motes and Beams – Michael Pierce (2/5)Advice for a Young Investigator – Santiago Ramón y Cajal (4/5)Cognitive Personality Theory – Harry Murrell (4/5)Atomic HabitsContinue reading “books i read in 2024”
Anagoge
From Wikipedia: Anagoge (ἀναγωγή), sometimes spelled anagogy, is a Greek word suggesting a climb or ascent upwards. The anagogical is a method of mystical or spiritual interpretation of statements or events, especially scriptural exegesis, that detects allusions to the afterlife.[1] Certain medieval theologians describe four methods of interpreting the scriptures: literal/historical, tropological/moral, allegorical/typological, and anagogical. The four methods of interpretation point in four different directions: The literal/historicalContinue reading “Anagoge”
Stochastic Tunnel
If you have two states that require an large amounts of energy/distance to travel between them, it is not likely that state one will become state two. However, if there is enough random fluctuation, state two will eventually be sampled, and if it is a stable minimum, this can lead to conversion from state oneContinue reading “Stochastic Tunnel”
Post-Kuhn: The Age of Molecular Biology
I argue here that Kuhn’s observations of scientific practice are inadequate as a rational take on scientific nature. Kuhn’s reliance on human psychology during ‘normal science’ causes him to confuse sociology with logical development. ———- Before the writings of Thomas Kuhn, science was generally seen as the cumulative growth of human knowledge. Kuhn was opposed to this perspective; he believed that science was dividedContinue reading “Post-Kuhn: The Age of Molecular Biology”
Hysteresis
The best way to explain this is the meme that came about from Kamala Harris asking if ‘(you) think you just fell out of a coconut tree?’. Hysteresis, broadly speaking, is the phenomenon of a state identity having a dependency on its past states. Examples of this include magnetic fields, elastic bands, and marital satisfaction.
patrick 林香麟 