Over at The Edge‘s World Question Centre John Brockman has asked a bunch of interesting people to contribute a new scientific laws:
There is some bit of wisdom, some rule of nature, some law-like pattern, either grand or small, that you’ve noticed in the universe that might as well be named after you. Gordon Moore has one; Johannes Kepler and Michael Faraday, too. So does Murphy.
And it’s a good excuse to gorge yourself on quotable titbits. On ourselves:
Pinker’s First Law
Human intelligence is a product of analogy and combinatorics. Analogy allows the mind to use a few innate ideas?space, force, essence, goal?to understand more abstract domains. Combinatorics allows an a finite set of simple ideas to give rise to an infinite set of complex ones.
On science:
Warwick’s Second Law
Art tells the jokes that science insists on explaining.
Sapolsky’s Second Law
It’s okay to think about nonsense, as long as you don’t believe in it.
Sapolsky’s Third Law
Often, the biggest impediment to scientific progress is not what we don’t know, but what we know.
And reason:
Kai’s Example Dilemma
A good analogy is like a diagonal frog.
Harari?s Law of Science Education
The faster Science and Technology advance?the more important it is to teach and to learn the basics of Math and Science and the less important it is to teach and to learn the latest developments.
If you visit also check out P?ppel’s Universal and Ogilvy’s Law. The prize for insightful brevity is shared between Andy Clark and Steve Grand. Enjoy