Talking Popcorn

Too cool :) Nina Katchadourian's sound sculpture puts an interesting perspective on the search for meaning and significance in patterns.

Science, Religion, Democracy, and Wikipedia

A controversy currently raging in the Wikipedia community prompted me to think about the fascinating puzzle presented by "open" systems like Science and Democracy.

All such systems are based on a few rules (e.g. science begins with the idea that no fact should be held true in the face of contradicting evidence) and this eventually give rise to a guardian class whose job is to enforce the rules.

If the guardian class is too weak, anarchy is a likely result. If the guardian class is too strong, the system ceases to be "open" -- heresy is the life of a religion.

So how do you get the guardian class tuned just right?