State capture is a form of systemic political corruption in which private interests manipulate state institutions to their advantage. This typically involves powerful individuals or groups exerting influence over government policies, laws, and practices to benefit their own financial interests, often at the expense of the public good and the rule of law.
Epistemic privilege refers to the advantages or insights that individuals or groups have based on their social position, experiences, and perspectives, particularly in the context of knowledge production and understanding. This concept is often discussed in epistemology, social theory, and critical theory to highlight how different identities (such as race, gender, class, and other social categories) can shape what people know, how they know it, and how their knowledge is valued within society.
The term "numinous" generally refers to a sense of the divine or the spiritual, often associated with feelings of awe, wonder, and reverence. It is derived from the Latin word "numen," which means "divine will" or "divine presence." In religious and philosophical contexts, the numinous can describe experiences that transcend ordinary reality, connecting individuals to something greater than themselves.
The phrase "object of the mind" can refer to different concepts depending on the context in which it is used. Here are a few interpretations: 1. **Philosophical Context**: In philosophy, particularly in discussions of perception and consciousness, the "object of the mind" refers to anything that can be thought about or perceived. This includes tangible objects (like a tree or a chair) as well as abstract ideas (such as love, justice, or mathematical concepts).
Memetics is a theoretical framework that describes the way ideas, behaviors, and cultural phenomena spread within a society, analogous to the biological concept of genetics. The term "meme," which originates from Richard Dawkins' 1976 book "The Selfish Gene," refers to any unit of cultural transmission or imitation, such as an idea, song, fashion trend, or religious belief.
The concept of the soul has various interpretations across different cultures, religions, and philosophies. Generally, it can be understood as follows: 1. **Philosophical Perspective**: In philosophy, the soul is often considered the essence of a person, encompassing consciousness, identity, and personality. It raises questions about existence, the nature of self, and what it means to be human. 2. **Religious Context**: Many religions view the soul as an immortal essence that transcends physical existence.
The subjective character of experience, often referred to as "qualia," relates to the personal, internal experiences that individuals have which are inherently unique and private. This concept emphasizes how each person's perception and experience of the world can differ fundamentally, even when faced with the same external stimuli. Key points about the subjective character of experience include: 1. **Personal Perspective**: Every individual's experiences are colored by their emotions, memories, and personal history.
Perception is the process by which individuals interpret and make sense of sensory information received from the environment. It involves the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory stimuli, allowing people to understand and respond to their surroundings. Perception is influenced not only by sensory data but also by prior experiences, beliefs, cultural context, and psychological factors.
The problem of other minds is a philosophical issue that questions how one can know that other minds exist outside of one's own. It arises from the difficulty of inferring the mental states, thoughts, feelings, and experiences of others, as these are inherently private and subjective. The challenge stems from the fact that we can only directly access our own thoughts and feelings. We rely on external behaviors, language, and expressions to make inferences about what others might be experiencing or thinking.
Thought is a complex mental process that involves the manipulation of information, ideas, and concepts. It encompasses a range of cognitive activities, including reasoning, problem-solving, decision-making, planning, and creativity. Thought can be both conscious and unconscious and may involve linguistic elements (like language and verbal reasoning) as well as non-linguistic elements (like visual imagery and intuition). Philosophically, thought has been explored in various ways, including its relationship to consciousness, perception, and reality.
In the context of measurement, a continuum refers to a continuous sequence or range of values that can be measured, rather than a discrete set of distinct values. This concept is often applied in various scientific and mathematical fields where phenomena or quantities vary smoothly and can take on an infinite number of values within a specified range. For example: 1. **Physical Measurements**: In physics, quantities like temperature, time, and distance are often treated as continuous variables.
Epistemological rupture is a term often associated with the philosopher Michel Foucault, particularly in his discussions of the history of ideas and knowledge. It refers to a significant break or transformation in the way knowledge is understood, produced, and organized within a particular historical context. This concept suggests that knowledge is not static but is subject to radical changes that can redefine what is considered true or valid within a discipline.
The "growth of knowledge" refers to the process by which human understanding and awareness expand over time through various means such as research, discovery, education, communication, and the accumulation of experiences. This concept encompasses developments in multiple fields, including science, technology, philosophy, art, and culture. Key aspects of the growth of knowledge include: 1. **Accumulation**: Knowledge builds upon itself. New discoveries often rely on existing frameworks and information, leading to deeper insights.
In the philosophy of science, the concept of a "limiting case" refers to a scenario or situation where certain variables or parameters approach a specific extreme, often resulting in simplified or idealized conditions. This idea is significant in the formulation and testing of scientific theories and models. Limiting cases are employed for several reasons: 1. **Simplification**: By studying a system in a limiting case, scientists can simplify complex models, making them easier to analyze and understand.
Segmented scan is a parallel algorithm used primarily in the context of computing, particularly in parallel computing and graphics processing. It is an extension of the traditional scan (or prefix sum) algorithm, which computes the cumulative sums (or other associative operations) of an array. The segmented scan handles arrays that are divided into segments, allowing for operations to be performed independently within those segments.
Edward Penhoet is an American biochemist and entrepreneur known for his contributions to the fields of biotechnology and molecular biology. He has been involved in both academic and industry settings, often focusing on the development and commercialization of new biotechnological products. Penhoet served as a co-founder and CEO of several biotech companies, including Chiron Corporation, which played a notable role in the development of important medical therapies and vaccines.
The Grünbaum–Rigby configuration is a specific arrangement of points and lines in projective geometry. It consists of 10 points and 10 lines, with particular properties regarding their incidence. The configuration can be visualized as follows: 1. There are 10 points, typically labeled A, B, C, ..., J. 2. There are 10 lines, which can also be labeled. 3. Each point lies on exactly 3 lines.
The MMR vaccine is a combination vaccine that protects against three contagious diseases: measles, mumps, and rubella. It is typically administered to children in two doses, with the first dose usually given around the age of 12 to 15 months and the second dose around 4 to 6 years of age.
Regulatory capture is a phenomenon that occurs when regulatory agencies tasked with overseeing and enforcing regulations for specific industries or sectors become dominated or influenced by the very entities they are supposed to regulate. This can lead to a situation where the interests of the industry come to take precedence over the public interest, resulting in policies and regulations that favor the industry rather than the consumers or the broader community.
The Right of Option, often referred to simply as an "option," is a financial term that typically refers to a contract that grants the holder the right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell a specific asset at a predetermined price (known as the "strike price") within a specified time frame. Options are commonly used in financial markets for various purposes, including hedging, speculation, or income generation.
Pinned article: Introduction to the OurBigBook Project
Welcome to the OurBigBook Project! Our goal is to create the perfect publishing platform for STEM subjects, and get university-level students to write the best free STEM tutorials ever.
Everyone is welcome to create an account and play with the site: ourbigbook.com/go/register. We belive that students themselves can write amazing tutorials, but teachers are welcome too. You can write about anything you want, it doesn't have to be STEM or even educational. Silly test content is very welcome and you won't be penalized in any way. Just keep it legal!
Intro to OurBigBook
. Source. We have two killer features:
- topics: topics group articles by different users with the same title, e.g. here is the topic for the "Fundamental Theorem of Calculus" ourbigbook.com/go/topic/fundamental-theorem-of-calculusArticles of different users are sorted by upvote within each article page. This feature is a bit like:
- a Wikipedia where each user can have their own version of each article
- a Q&A website like Stack Overflow, where multiple people can give their views on a given topic, and the best ones are sorted by upvote. Except you don't need to wait for someone to ask first, and any topic goes, no matter how narrow or broad
This feature makes it possible for readers to find better explanations of any topic created by other writers. And it allows writers to create an explanation in a place that readers might actually find it.Figure 1. Screenshot of the "Derivative" topic page. View it live at: ourbigbook.com/go/topic/derivativeVideo 2. OurBigBook Web topics demo. Source. - local editing: you can store all your personal knowledge base content locally in a plaintext markup format that can be edited locally and published either:This way you can be sure that even if OurBigBook.com were to go down one day (which we have no plans to do as it is quite cheap to host!), your content will still be perfectly readable as a static site.
- to OurBigBook.com to get awesome multi-user features like topics and likes
- as HTML files to a static website, which you can host yourself for free on many external providers like GitHub Pages, and remain in full control
Figure 3. Visual Studio Code extension installation.Figure 4. Visual Studio Code extension tree navigation.Figure 5. Web editor. You can also edit articles on the Web editor without installing anything locally.Video 3. Edit locally and publish demo. Source. This shows editing OurBigBook Markup and publishing it using the Visual Studio Code extension.Video 4. OurBigBook Visual Studio Code extension editing and navigation demo. Source. - Infinitely deep tables of contents:
All our software is open source and hosted at: github.com/ourbigbook/ourbigbook
Further documentation can be found at: docs.ourbigbook.com
Feel free to reach our to us for any help or suggestions: docs.ourbigbook.com/#contact





