[HN Gopher] Science's Demons, from Descartes to Darwin and Beyond
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Science's Demons, from Descartes to Darwin and Beyond
        
       Author : fortran77
       Score  : 46 points
       Date   : 2021-01-08 15:29 UTC (1 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.newyorker.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.newyorker.com)
        
       | threeden wrote:
       | > Most of us would consider the discriminatory insurance demon to
       | be truly demonic, but, in general, scientific demons simply
       | represent gaps in our existing knowledge, anthropomorphic
       | accounts of the unknown or the unexplained. Given their
       | aspirational quality--a longing toward greater understanding--
       | these roles might at first seem better filled by angels. But,
       | because they often represent theories that violate laws of time
       | or space, machines that exceed human capacities, and technologies
       | that threaten human existence, the use of demons feels
       | appropriate; their very identity suggests the workings of a
       | mischievous or malevolent force
       | 
       | This characterization of the supernatural being is irrelevant to
       | their nature.
       | 
       | > Canales quotes a computer scientist at Microsoft who argued
       | that Internet and finance companies today "are trying to become
       | Maxwell's demons in an information network." His example was a
       | health-insurance company using Big Data to sort desirable
       | customers from undesirable customers
       | 
       | That's a cute thought experiment albeit not directly the of the
       | same kind previously discussed. This person is clearly discussing
       | aggregated human effects, nothing hard to prove there.
       | 
       | > This strange being disappears entirely from the final version
       | of "On the Origin of Species," where only the theory of natural
       | selection appears, absent any miraculous causes or supernatural
       | forces.
       | 
       | Makes you wonder if the publication would have received the same
       | attention had this part not being removed from the final
       | revision.
       | 
       | > Still, among those who studied it more closely, Maxwell's demon
       | has inspired new technologies and theories in fields as diverse
       | as chemistry, cosmology, nanotechnology, neuroscience, and
       | cybernetics.
       | 
       | The article, albeit being a great summary, does little effort to
       | acknowledge the difference between demons being merely analogies
       | for the unknown versus being the catalyst of new ways to tame
       | nature.
        
       | chrischapman wrote:
       | 2,665,866,746,644 is my new favorite number.
        
       | harscoat wrote:
       | Socrate's demon not mentioned?
       | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daemon_(classical_mythology)#S...
        
         | gshubert17 wrote:
         | Perhaps the difference is that according to the article, the
         | scientific demons are explanatory metaphors, presumed to be
         | imaginary; and according to Plato, Socrates acted like his
         | daemon is real?
         | 
         | [edit, wording and punctuation]
        
       | B1FF_PSUVM wrote:
       | _" According to such taxonomies, demons were a busy bunch, tasked
       | with everything from promoting quarrels, discord, and war (the
       | work of a demon called Bufas) to inserting errors into the
       | manuscripts of scribes and keeping tabs on the mispronunciations
       | of preachers during worship (the work of Titivillus)."_
       | 
       | I'll say the old theology (with deities, etc.) had more amusing
       | bits than the modern scientific theology, which tends to be dour
       | and self-righteous.
       | 
       | (But, hey, miracles now are a lot cheaper ...)
        
       ___________________________________________________________________
       (page generated 2021-01-09 23:02 UTC)