Sublime
An inspiration engine for ideas
As basaltic lava cools, it contracts and forms hexagonal columns. While appearing geometrically perfect, slight irregularities in these formations help dissipate stress, preventing fractures from propagating easily.
atom. Heisenberg wished to understand what elementary particles were and to unearth the common root of all natural phenomena.
Benjamin Labatut • When We Cease to Understand the World
In Cartesian coordinates, the line element
Sean M. Carroll • The Biggest Ideas in the Universe: Space, Time, and Motion
David Deutsch • The Beginning of Infinity – Explanations that Transform the World
While scientific progress, then, proceeds by curiously exploring adjacent possibilities, preference is given to work closely tied to existing science and conducted by a privileged subset of scientists.
Perry Zurn, Dani S. Bassett • Curiosity and Networks of Possibility
Although science may proceed through the experimental pluck of one scientist or another, it is ultimately a collaborative endeavor. Similarly, speculative fiction is read by the singular reader but experienced by a fanbase and sometimes a whole culture (or cultures).
Perry Zurn, Dani S. Bassett • Curiosity and Networks of Possibility
For scientists, what remains of a theory after its contact with data is what is deemed beautiful.
Avi Loeb • Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth
Einstein’s and Eddington’s