Reattaching Shadows: Dancing with Schopenhauer

Dancing with black holes

We describe efforts over the last six years to implement regularization methods suitable for studying one or more interacting black holes by direct N-body simulations. Three different methods have been adapted to large-N systems: (i) Time-Transformed Leapfrog, (ii) Wheel-Spoke, and (iii) Algorithmic Regularization. These methods have been tried out with some success on GRAPE-type computers. Spe...

Dancing with your ride

The technologies that make this possible are those of miniaturized electronics, digital communications, inexpensive distributed computation, and advanced control software. They enable us to get rid of most of the junk that currently encumbers automobiles – engines, power trains, dashboards, and steering wheels. They allow us to define a fundamentally new, radically restructured architecture for...

Compassion in Schopenhauer and Śāntideva

Although it is well known that Schopenhauer claimed that Buddhism closely reflected his own philosophy, this claim was largely ignored until the mid-late Twentieth century. Most commentators on Schopenhauer (with some recent exceptions) since then have mentioned his Buddhist affinities but have been quite broad and general in their treatment. I feel that any general comparison of Schopenhauer’s...

Dancing with Bees

Notes on Schopenhauer and the Natural Sciences

The following notes were prepared in response to criticism of Schopenhauer’s philosophy in a mailing list. The impression given was that the advances of the natural sciences since his death make his work irrelevant to modern science. I for one do not think that this is true. In these notes I do not try to convince the reader otherwise but select few examples of important scientists that were in...