Handmade Nation

The Quest for Unity of Knowledge : E.O.Wilson

The Quest for Unity of Knowledge
“Now, it is not quite so shocking to suggest that the brain is not a blank slate…that is a pivotal idea in addressing this subject intellectually.”


Consilience – Consilience is the key to unification. The word “consilience” was first used by the philosopher and historian of science William Whewell in 1840. It refers to a "jumping together" of knowledge by the linking of facts and fact-based theory across disciplines to create a common groundwork of explanation.
Natural Sciences – The study of the natural world, comprising physics, chemistry, and biology.
Humanistic Sciences – The study of human activity, thought, and behavior.

psychological immune system: Dan Gilbert

Dan Gilbert, who you might have seen in the PBS special This Emotional Life claims our "psychological immune system" lets us feel truly happy even when things don’t go as planned.

Don Norman on 3 ways good design makes you happy

Don Norman is a Cognitive scientist and design critic. According to TED.com: Don Norman is an anthropologist of modern life, studying the way we humans interact with our designed world. Though he has a slight reputation as a grumpy critic, his work is generous and insightful -- he wants nothing less than to close the gap between products and their users. If you've ever fought with an automatic faucet in an airport bathroom, or wondered which button to press in the anonymous row on top of your printer, it's good to know that Norman is in your corner. He's the author of a raft of books on design and the way we humans interact with it, including the classic "Design of Everyday Things." His next book, says his website, will be about sociable design.

Philosopher of art Denis Dutton & The Art Instinct

Philosopher of art Denis Dutton discussing his new book: The Art Instinct: Beauty, Pleasure, and Human Evolution, in which Dutton argues that art appreciation comes from evolutionary adaptions made during the Pleistocene (2.588 million to 12 000 years Before Present). The Pleistocene is the time period in which scientific evidence suggests that the transition from Homo erectus to Homo sapiens occured.

T O T H E N A Y S A Y E R S: Antonelli is attempting to unifying Art, Design and Science.

Paola Antonelli, design curator at New York’s Museum of Modern Art, shares her love for unifying Art, Design and Science.

Dan Dennett and Danger: Memes

From our beloved Wikapedia: " A meme is a postulated unit of cultural ideas, symbols or practices, which can be transmitted from one mind to another through speech, gestures, rituals or other imitable phenomena. Supporters of the concept regard memes as cultural analogues to genes, in that they self-replicate and respond to selective pressures.[3]

The British scientist Richard Dawkins introduced the word "meme" in The Selfish Gene (1976) as a basis for discussion of evolutionary principles in explaining the spread of ideas and cultural phenomena. Examples of memes given in the book included melodies, catch-phrases, beliefs (notably religious beliefs), clothing fashion, and the technology of building arches."