Wednesday, October 27, 2010

What next?

The dominant worldview in the West seems ready to shift from secularism to pantheism, or 'New Age spirituality', according to Nancy Pearcy. I expect this movement to become prominent in my lifetime, and here is one of the ways it should be identifiable:

The scientific theory of evolution will continue to be taught, but its supposed mechanism will change. Instead of primarily natural selection of genetic mutations, it will be physical forces driving the mutation of species. It will be said that the universe has an inherent property of promoting complexity, diversity, life, and and even consciousness, just as it has an inherent property of attraction of matter, called gravitation. It is already acknowledged that Darwinian natural selection is not adequate by itself, but a better successor is not forthcoming. The acceptance of this new evolutionary mechanism requires (and may encourage) the worldview shift that I foresee.

What other epistemological trends we should be watching today?

Friday, October 1, 2010

Gmail

WHY are the buttons in Gmail always changing their height? You know, the Archive, Report Spam, etc row across the top. 15px, 16px, 17 px, you think somebody could make up their own mind. I finally decided to take things into my own hands and go with 16px for myself:
.J-Zh-I {height: 16px !important}